The Vampire Lestat Fans Should Prepare for More Justin Kirk (And Why That’s a Good Thing)

If AMC greenlights more seasons of television from the vampire branch of the Anne Rice Immortal Universe, then fans need to prepare for more Justin Kirk on their TV screens. Trust me, this isn’t a bad thing, because it means several more seasons are on the way after The Vampire Lestat bows.

As I write this, The Vampire Lestat is heading into episode 5 and as of this writing, AMC has been mum about future seasons of the show.  We know from the industry buzz that the show is performing well on AMC+, which makes a renewal almost a sure thing. These days you never know, of course, but I’m willing to bet that more vampires are in the cards.

After the vampires get renewed, there’s the question of what comes next. I have a feeling that if AMC grants the vampires more seasons, it’s possible we’ll leave The Vampire Lestat behind and move into Queen of the Damned since we’ve already covered a lot of ground this season. (Rolin Jones said on After Dark that they’d originally intended one season of Interview with the Vampire but ended up splitting it in half)

It’s also possible that another spinoff – say, the Night Island – might pop up before returning to the Vampire Chronicles. This would give AMC some time to get ready for the next story while Assad Zaman, Eric Bogosian and Luke Brandon Field take over the canvas. I’ve written about what that might look like here.

And after QOTD, of course, is The Tale of the Body Thief. If The Tale of the Body Thief were to be made into a season of the show, fans will have to adjust to Lestat (Sam Reid) being in the body of Raglan James (Kirk) while Raglan James is wreaking havoc from Lestat’s body. Suddenly, it’s Kirk who will be headling the show while Reid will take a backseat in the story…unless, of course, the showrunners give us more of the story from Raglan James’ perspective.

Justin Kirk has been a fun addition to the Anne Rice Immortal Universe. It’s an added bonus that he’s even more fun to watch in his disarmingly charming way, because he’s the one who would presumably step into Lestat’s shoes and split “Lestat duty” in a season dedicated to The Tale of the Body Thief.

I think this was a wise move on the show’s part. Casting Raglan James with the intention of having him play this future role in The Tale of the Body Thief gives fans time to get used to him. Since he’s already here, we can imagine what it would be like for Kirk to have Lestat’s personality while Reid has Raglan James’ personality.

Of course, there are some fans who think that we’ve already seen Justin Kirk as Lestat. Thinking back to the season premiere, Raglan James was at the auction with Armand and Louis. There was definitely something going on that was bigger than the auction itself. Many fans wondered where Lestat was…but what if he was there, in Raglan James’ body? Was Rolin Jones giving us a hint of what’s to come, hiding the clues in plain sight?

The bottom line is that if The Tale of the Body Thief were to be made into a season of the franchise, it would come after at least one, if not two, seasons of Queen of the Damned. That means we’d be looking at having at least two more seasons of the show, if not three or four depending on how they split the seasons up. This would be tremendous news for fans of the Anne Rice Immortal Universe.

Are you ready to see Sam Reid splitting his “Lestat duty” with Justin Kirk in the future? Let us know in the comments!