As we await the premiere of The Vampire Lestat on June 7, AMC+ subscribers were treated to The Vampire Lestat: After Dark Preview Special on May 24. Hosted by Lizzie Bassett, the first episode of the new companion series featured Sam Reid (Lestat), Jacob Anderson (Louis), Delainey Hayles (Claudia), Assad Zaman (Armand), Eric Bogosian (Daniel), showrunner Rolin Jones and executive producer Mark Johnson. Here are our top 21 moments from the show.
- After Bassett said she’s been looking at the TVL sub Reddit, Reid wanted to know what the “main Reddit” was. It turned out no one really knew the answer to the question, but Jones revealed that he just learned how to use Drop Box so all is well. There were plenty of laughs all around.
- The first question was about what they were all most nervous about getting into in the new season. “Just the pilot. We’re about to change the whole thing,” Jones said, noting that everyone had to change their entire mindset after where things ended with Interview with the Vampire.
- Anderson noted that the After Dark set smells better than Lestat’s tour bus. “It’s musty,” he said. “The upstairs is beautiful. It’s like potpourri. Clean. But downstairs smells like beans.” He believes that Ryan Kattner, aka Salamander, may have been the bean culprit.
- Bogosian jumps in on Zoom, referring to himself as Daniel Molloy, of course, to give a summary of the first two seasons of the show. He refers to Lestat and Louis’ relationship as a “century-long toxic spiral,” which elicits lots of laughter from the couch.
- Bassett notes that the reunion between Lestat and Louis at the end of season 2 marked the first time they story moved out of Louis’ memories and into Lestat’s memories. She asked how that changed the way Reid played Lestat. “I was just a bit more freer with Lestat,” Reid said. “I think he’s very messy as an individual.” The new season gives the audience to see him have more space when he says things and the reactions that come from it.
- Jones is asked what it felt like to let go after the first two seasons. “It was terrifying and messy,” he said. “And it took forever…I think the thing we had in the writer’s room was anytime it felt well-made or choreographed or elegant, it just smelt a little inauthentic or a little off. And so, we just started writing from our gut and the id and the episodes ended up feeling, to me, more like tracks on an album.”
- Bassett asked what role music will play this season. “It’s everything,” Jones replied. “He makes a very odd, strange, excitable choice to go on a rock tour in 2025.” He notes that rock music isn’t exactly huge these days, making this a rare choice. Johnson jumped in to point out that composer Daniel Hart played an “integral role in the writer’s room. He was very involved in writing the episodes along with the music.” Jones added that Hart would get up from the table and go into his studio and write songs based on what they were talking about.
- Anderson is asked about handing over the “narrative crown” this season. “I definitely had more of a sense of some of the things Sam was maybe experiencing on the first two seasons,” he said, noting that he and Sam would talk about how things were coming from the perspective of a certain character and it didn’t always happen that way. He also said that this season is “like a funhouse mirror version of Louis.” Anderson also said that he felt Louis’ story was wrapped up very elegantly at the end of season 2 but now in season 3 Jones and the team went and “rub some dirt in it.”
- Bassett noted that there are a lot of Easter Eggs in the writing for this season that work “backwards and forwards.”
- Fan question: How much time has passed between seasons 2 and 3? Jones said it’s about 1.5 to 2 years later.
- Fan question: Do any of them get one day of peace and joy in this season? “Yes,” Jones said instantly. “At least one evening,” Sam added. “Where?” Anderson asked, adding that “I don’t think Louis does in this season.” Sam jumped in, saying “I feel like we had one peaceful evening.” Laughing, Anderson said “it doesn’t last.”
- Fan question: Who gets the “c****” bob this season? There are multiple possibilities…
- Fan question: Do we get Auvergne Nickystat? “A version of it,” Reid admits after a moment’s hesitation.
- Alexandra Daddario zoomed in a question. Mayfair Witches has new cast members this season, so she’d like to hear more about TVL’s new cast members. “We have a relevant character,” Reid teased. “And there may be one character who appears in all three shows,” Johnson added, confirming that After Dark was taped before Talamasca was cancelled.
- Delainey Hayles joined the group and took a seat.
- Fan Question: Is Armand finally getting therapy? Assad Zaman pops up from behind the couch to answer. “I’ve had a lot of soul searching going on,” he said. “And yeah, I found my safe space, which is behind this sofa.”
- Delainey is asked about her reaction finding out she was coming back this season. She said she was so happy after Claudia was “gone so quickly.” She describes her arc this season with three words: “Dark, tortuous, relieving.”
- Assad is asked why Armand turned Daniel. He immediately jokes that no one really knows if that’s true or not before admitting that it’s true and adds that “it was an act, a moment of savage madness…and I guess he did, in that moment, the one thing that he’s always despised…in that moment he hated Daniel for breaking what he’d been working so hard to keep together.” They tease the fine line between love and hate and reveal that things will happen in season 3 so stay tuned.
- Bassett asks about behind the scenes moments. They all agree that they had a lot of fun. Hayles shares that she fell off the stage in the theater. “It was funny and also painful.” She said she told Roxane Duran about someone falling off the stage right before she did it herself. Jones said he got food poisoning and lost 25 pounds. Anderson talked about the goat in season 1 and how he was told to stay behind the goat because Louis was injured. The goat was too fast so he had to keep speeding up.
- Is Armand being nice this season? “Armand has always been good,” Zaman insists amid snorts and giggles. “Armand doesn’t think of himself as evil.”
- Parting words:
- Hayles: “Love you.”
- Anderson: “Watch it. You’re going to love it.”
- Jones: “You’re in for it.”
- Anderson: “Good luck.”
- Reid, in agreement: “Good luck.”
- Zaman: “Good luck getting through it.”
If you don’t have access to AMC+, you’ll be able to tune into the first episode of The Vampire Lestat: After Dark on Sunday, May 31, on AMC.
