Assad Zaman as Armand - Interview with the Vampire _ Season 2, Episode 8 - Image Courtesy of AMC Network Entertainment LLC
The Vampire Lestat: After Dark Preview Show left a trail of breadcrumbs for eager fans hoping to glean any and all clues about the upcoming season of The Vampire Lestat. For fans of Assad Zaman and his on-screen alter ego, the vampire Armand, there was a veritable treasure trove of revelations about our favorite “gremlin.” Host Lizzie Bassett had quite a few questions for Zaman, but one question in particular stood out: “Is he nice?”
Here’s how the conversation played out:
Lizzie Bassett: “Is Armand being good this season? Is he nice?”
Assad Zaman: “Armand has always been good. I keep getting these questions. What’s Armand’s big, evil plan? Armand doesn’t think of himself as evil. He thinks of himself…he doesn’t know…. He’s desperate. He’s always desperate. Even when things are good and calm and he should just be happy, he’s desperate.”
We know Armand has a lot to account for after the stunning revelations at the end of Interview with the Vampire season 2. Not only did he turn Daniel (Eric Bogosian) into a vampire, he also needs to account for his role in Claudia’s (Delainey Hayles) demise. He’s been living a seven-decade lie with Louis (Jacob Anderson) and now it’s all gone to hell…but it’s a hell of his own making.
So this brings us back to the question of whether he’s “nice” this season. I think Zaman did a very good job sidestepping the question by pointing to Armand’s desperation. Desperate times call for desperate measures, of course, and he’s in desperate times heading into The Vampire Lestat. He’s not exactly a send-a-bouquet-of-flowers-and-say-you’re-sorry kind of guy.
He’s not going to apologize for anything, which leads me to think that he’s still nursing some pretty hurt feelings. And in vampire parlance, this pain is still an open wound. Rolin Jones said on the show that less than two years have passed since the end of Interview with the Vampire season 2, which means Armand’s pain is still festering. That makes his dangerous and reactive, not “nice.”
I’ve always loved Armand as a character, both in the books and in the show, so I’m very eager to see how things play out in The Vampire Lestat.
What do you think? Will Armand be “nice” this season? Let me know what you think in the comments.
The Vampire Lestat premieres Sunday, June 7, at 9pm ET/PT on AMC and streams on AMC Plus.
