Sam Reid as The Vampire Lestat. Photo: AMC
Buckle up, Beautiful Unwell, because The Vampire Lestat takes us on one hell of a ride. Showrunner Rolin Jones and his team have taken Anne Rice’s iconic body of work and turned it into the must-watch show of the decade. And from the look of things, they’re just getting started.
The media was provided with the first six episodes of the seven-episode season. From the very first moments of the season premiere until the final thrilling moments of episode six, I was struck by a huge revelation: Jones, AMC’s social media team and the entire cast of The Vampire Lestat have been giving us so much more than breadcrumbs in all of the teasers, trailers and social media content — so much has been hiding in plain sight this whole time. You’ll want to make plans to go back after the season wraps up to connect all of the dots.
Truth be told, I binged all six episodes back to back. I was up until 4am because I couldn’t stop watching. I kept thinking back to my 15-year-old self reading The Vampire Lestat as a sophomore in high school during the week when the teachers were out on strike. I don’t think I could have imagined the book coming to life so perfectly and yet here we are.
The Vampire Lestat is prestige television at its finest. It’s the definition of appointment television and it’s the kind of show where you’ll be on social media (the new water cooler) during commercial breaks to see if anyone else picked up on everything you just witnessed.
Chock full of Easter Eggs, unrelenting pace, a story that masterfully blends several books into one narrative and the most cohesive and talented cast imaginable, The Vampire Lestat has it all. Here’s my spoiler-free review.
The gist of it
After rejoining society, Lestat (Sam Reid) is forging a path for himself in this new era. He’s writing music and he’s flirting with Louis (Jacob Anderson). His biggest concern is the noise coming from the “garage band” across the street from his flat in Montreal.
His peaceful existence is upended when Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) publishes Interview with the Vampire. Suddenly, everyone is talking about vampires. There are kids dressed up as Armand (Assad Zaman) and Claudia (Delainey Hayles) for Halloween.
Furious with his portrayal in the book, Lestat turns to music as a way to leave his mark on the world while also doing a complete re-write of Molloy’s completely inaccurate tale. Lestat, ever the thespian, wants to live in the limelight again so he sets out to become a rock star.
He has a band and a tour bus and a lawyer and the music, but he’s not selling out stadiums. Jones hinted at this in The Vampire Lestat: After Dark, noting that becoming a rock star in the mid-2020s is a choice. Rock music isn’t what it used to be and Lestat wants more.
The narrative jumps around from the recent past to recent events to the distant past and back to the present. Viewers get a glimpse of Lestat’s tortured childhood, the people who shaped his journey and the bold choices he’s making now as a rock star in the crosshairs.
As much as the story revolves around Lestat, so much of Lestat’s story is rooted in the people around him. Louis, Daniel, Armand, Gabriella (Jennifer Ehle), the members of his band and so many more…Lestat is the sum of his parts.
A masterclass in acting
Reid delivers the performance of a lifetime. Lestat is a lot. He’s high and low and happy and sad and everything in between, all at once. And he’s a rockstar. Reid navigates it all and makes it look so easy, even though there’s no way that everything he’s doing takes a ton of hard work, dedication, focus and a team of people to help make it happen and, most importantly, make it look good. If he’s not nominated for an Emmy it’ll be a crime.
Though Louis’ story seemingly came to an end in Interview with the Vampire, there is plenty for Anderson to explore this season. This is post-IWTV Louis. He’s walked through the fire (proverbially, of course!) and comes out stronger than ever. Anderson gets to play in a unique sandbox where Louis is navigating Lestat being Lestat while also living in a world that knows his secrets. It’s a lot, but Anderson dazzles in bringing Louis 2.0 to life.
We’ve seen a lot of Daniel Molloy in all of the teasers and trailers for the series. Bogosian gets to play Daniel as a young vampire who lived his mortal life as an investigative journalist, and he’s after another story. Specifically, he wants Lestat’s story. He’s putting together a documentary, which means he’s got an all-access pass into Lestat’s world. We get to see Bogosian and Reid together and as someone who lived through the drug-fueled seventies and eighties as a mortal man, Daniel Molloy might be the only vampire who can keep up with Lestat’s antics. Bogosian has his fingerprint all over Daniel Molloy this season and it’s so much fun to see.
Daniel’s maker, the vampire Armand, is in a very different place this season. His world has once again been turned upside down and he’s struggling to find his place in a world that knows so many of his secrets. Zaman gets to play a whole new Armand this season. Gone is the ancient vampire in control of his destiny who has been tampering with Louis and Daniel’s memories. This Armand is on a journey, and Zaman gets to bring out his vulnerable side as Armand works things out.
Jennifer Ehle is an utter delight as Gabriella. Lestat’s mother is wonderfully developed and multidimensional. As a vampire, she’s like a chameleon, fitting into any situation with ease. Her mortal life, however, was tortuous and lacking in joy, save for the bright spot that was her young son, Lestat. Ehle captures Gabriella’s joie de vivre as a vampire with ease. She loves her vampire nature and is quite the cheerleader for her son when he calls her for support. Ehle will no doubt become a fan favorite very quickly.
I can’t say much about Delainey Hayles just yet (we have a list of spoilers that can’t be revealed), but let me say that Hayles blew me away. I wondered how Claudia’s story would be incorporated into The Vampire Lestat and I wasn’t disappointed. The season truly wouldn’t work without Hayles being part of it.
And we have to talk about the supporting cast. Jeanine Serralles plays Lestat’s no-nonsense lawyer, Christine Claire. You don’t want to cross Christine, but it’s fun poking the bear to see how she reacts. Serralles is brilliant. I can’t think of better actors to play Satan’s Night Out. Noah Reid (Larry), Ryan Kattner (Salamander), Seamus Patterson (Alex) and Sarah Swire (TC) have the energy of a band on the verge of greatness while also being (more than slightly) afraid of their new lead singer. They play so well off each other.
A musical journey for the ages
With several singles released ahead of the premiere — “Long Face,” “All Fall Down,” “Butterscotch Bitch,” “Your Biggest Fan” and a cover of Billy Idol’s “Dancing With Myself” — fans have already been treated to a sampling of Daniel Hart’s incredible music. You already know the music is incredible and there’s no question Reid’s performance is incendiary.
When viewed through the lens of each episode, though, the music takes on a whole new form. It’s woven into the tapestry of the show, setting the tone while reflecting Lestat’s frenetic moods and, perhaps most importantly, telling his story. Lestat, through Hart’s lyrics, shares his past and his pain.
To the fans at his shows, the music is part of the spectacle.
To the vampires in attendance, the music is a history lesson — and a warning.
To viewers at home, the music paints a vivid picture of the man and the vampire that we came to know in Interview with the Vampire through Louis’ slightly muddled narrative.
The Vampire Lestat would still be a good show without Hart’s songs. But the score elevates the show to something special. The Primetime Emmys offers awards for outstanding scores and it will be a damn travesty if Hart isn’t recognized for his work.
The Vampire Lestat is a sprint in the middle of a marathon
Jones, Hannah Moscovitch and the members of the writers room had to do a hard reset after eloquently wrapping up two seasons of Interview with the Vampire. Suddenly, the perspective shifts and it’s very clear that we can’t trust anything we thought we knew. I can only imagine how much fun it was for them to put Lestat’s “rewrite” together.
Lestat’s world is a collision of the past and present; as a vampire, so many people from his past are alive and well in the present and so the writers were tasked with bringing the people of his past together with the people he’s surrounded by in the present. This includes his band, groupies and, perhaps most importantly, his lawyer.
The writers have brought Lestat’s story into the present in a way that makes so much sense. They confront doubts with totally believable explanations. They’ve got it so figured out that it’s easy to see how Lestat can move through the world without anyone thinking twice about his vampiric nature even though he’s doing nothing to hide it. Side note, it’s a travesty that AMC cancelled Talamasca: The Secret Order because it would have dovetailed so nicely with this season.
In terms of pacing, Lestat moves at breakneck speed throughout most of the story and that’s reflected in the pacing. When Lestat was on drugs, there were moments when I felt like I was on ether in the middle of Circus Circus on a Saturday night with Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson. It’s almost too much, but in the best of ways.
Reid’s energy comes through the screen and simply watching the show delivers a contact high that is intoxicating and addictive. It was wild and energetic and chaotic and so much fun that I couldn’t stop watching.
All of that said, I’ll say again what I’ve said so many times before: these series need to be longer. I love what Jones was able to do in these six episodes, and while I haven’t seen the season finale I’m thinking of what could come from eight or ten episodes. Or 16 episodes, split between the fall and spring, as was the case during The Walking Dead’s heyday. In the immortal words of Kirsten Dunst, “I want some more.”
Rolin’s vision for the vampires
One thing is abundantly clear: Rolin Jones and his team have a vision for how the vampires fit into the Anne Rice Immortal Universe. They’re juggling multiple stories across Anne Rice’s collection, and as a fan of both the books and the series I truly believe that everything we’ve seen across both seasons of Interview with the Vampire and now The Vampire Lestat are setting up a very bright future for the franchise.
The Vampire Lestat premieres Sunday, June 7, at 9pm ET/PT on AMC and streams the same day on AMC+.
