Interview with the Vampire‘s showrunner discusses whether they will rename the hit TV show again sometime in the future, as it is technically now titled The Vampire Lestat. From AMC, the new adaptation of Anne Rice’s genre-defining novel, Interview with the Vampire, kicked off in 2022, changing the story from the source material in several generally well-received ways.
Interview with the Vampire season 2’s ending brought the plot roughly to the end of the original book’s narrative, with Louis de Point du Lac (Jacob Anderson) having concluded his interview with reporter Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian). It was subsequently announced that the show would be rebranded as The Vampire Lestat, the title of the second book in The Vampire Chronicles.
With Louis having told his life story and recounted the events that led up to Claudia’s (Bailey Bass/Delainey Hayles) death, the show will now shift its focus to Lestat (Sam Reid), both Louis and Claudia’s maker. However, there are more than a dozen Vampire Chronicles books, and it is uncertain how long the show will go on for, something addressed in a new Entertainment Weekly interview.
Showrunner Rolin Jones was asked: “Does that mean you’ll rename it again in future seasons as The Queen of the Damned, and so on?“ How the show is branded would be decided by various producers, as Jones first responded: “There’s a lot of very, very smart people above me who are making those decisions. Yeah, I think it should go that way, because then you’ll know that’s what that is.“
However, Jones suggests that the more important thing to consider is when the story of The Vampire Lestat is properly over, and shares that they are combining elements from different books. Some plot points left over from Interview with the Vampire may come into play in The Vampire Lestat/season 3, and it may also draw upon subsequent books. Check out Jones’ full comments below:
I guess, the bigger question is, have we done the whole book? There’s parts of Interview With the Vampire that still might pop up. We’re digging from all of the books right now. There’s a satisfying [arc] for this season, but it definitely feels to me like part one of two parts, and people should be prepared for that.
It gets expansive and we leave a lot up in the air. Everybody’s seen the pattern — there was a season 1 and there were a lot of unanswered questions, and then there was a season 2, and that mostly wrapped that up, but there were a lot of little things left over from that too. It’s just a continuum.
Season 3 will follow Lestat in the modern day, going on tour as part of a rock band, while exploring his origins. The Queen of the Damned is the third book in The Vampire Chronicles, titled for Akasha, the original vampire in Rice’s love. Akasha is mentioned in the season 2 finale and will be introduced in season 3 with other new Anne Rice characters, being played by Sheila Atim.
The series has plenty of source material to adapt, while being titled Interview with the Vampire or The Vampire Lestat worked best at different times, rather than just calling the entire project The Vampire Chronicles. The Vampire Lestat has a summer 2026 release window, and it will be years before audiences know the show’s full scope, but Jones is open to the title evolving as they go along.
- Release Date
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October 2, 2022
- Showrunner
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Mark Johnson
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Jacob Anderson
Louis de Pointe du Lac
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Sam Reid
Lestat de Lioncourt
