Interview with the Vampire is the best show you're not watching, plain and simple. The series that brings Anne Rice's iconic books to life has been a smash hit from AMC, spawning two more shows in the Immortal Universe with Mayfair Witches and the upcoming The Talamasca: The Secret Order. Just to have an excuse to scream about one of my favorite series, let's dive into why you should give it a try.
Here are 3 reasons you should be watching Interview with the Vampire.
1. The Story
When Rice published her first novel in The Vampire Chronicles in 1976, she probably didn't realize how many barriers she was breaking. Doing the best she could in the age with the queer subtext of the book, Interview with the Vampire became an instant classic with themes that still resonate today.
What the AMC show does is take that subtext and makes it textual, updating it to a modern standard. Instead of having to queer code the characters, Louis de Pointe du Lac is a closeted gay man who falls in love with the charismatic Lestat de Lioncourt. They adopt Claudia, raising her as their daughter. There is no question, no way to deny it. These are openly queer characters.
The updates to the story also make for compelling storytelling. Unlike the books, Louis and Claudia are Black, adding an extra layer to their relationship with Lestat, a white man, in the early 1900s. Everyone is aged up a bit, too, with Claudia as a teenager and Armand, who becomes a major player in Season 2, as an adult. This allows for more intricate stories to be explored with their characters that you couldn't have with a child actor. It still keeps the heart of these characters, because these actors understand the assignment.
2. The Cast
I am almost positive that the spirit of Lestat possesses Sam Reid the moment the camera starts to roll, because he is Lestat.
It's a shame Interview with the Vampire doesn't have more award show buzz because of it being a genre series. As someone who has seen many of the big award shows like Severance, Succession, Andor, and The Bear, Interview should be right there in the mix with Emmy nominations. I'll even drop a hot take that it's better than the first two on that list and far more groundbreaking than the last one. Only Andor rivals Interview in important storytelling that's needed today, and I say that as the Site Expert for Dork Side of the Force.
Jacob Anderson, Sam Reid, and Assad Zaman own every single scene they're in. Bailey Bass and Delainey Hayles breathe new life into Claudia and her doomed by the narrative romance with Roxane Duran's Madeleine. In one episode, Luke Brandon Field strutted his acting chops, rivaling Eric Bogosian's just as good take on Daniel Molloy. Don't discount the supporting cast either. Ben Daniels, in all of his scene-chewing campy self, has no right being that good. Every single actor stuns, and they deserve so much more respect.
3. Made With Love
Before her passing, Anne Rice was an executive producer on the show, overseeing its creation. Since then, her son Christopher Rice has stepped in to carry on his mother's legacy. Not that he needed to, because showrunners Rolin Jones and Mark Johnson so deeply love these stories and characters.
They pay homages to the previous incarnations like the 1994 movie of the same name and look to be following in the footsteps of 2002's Queen of the Damned with Rock Star Lestat coming in Season 3. These creators and AMC believe in this Immortal Universe they're building so much that their sister show Mayfair Witches is heading into its third season, already with characters from Interview crossing over into it.
The actors love this show too. Sam Reid learned to sing, play piano, and speak in French to make sure he could fully embody Lestat. He's a lifelong fan and has been known to sing the quickly cancelled Elton John Broadway Musical Lestat, which can only be seen in bootleg (don't ask me how I know that). He loves this character and gives it his all, just like all of the actors in the series.
These creators adore this world, this story, and these characters. It's clear they do in every single scene of the show. You should be watching Interview with the Vampire. You can watch it on AMC+, Netflix, and Prime Video.