Interview with the Vampire is getting its own Talking Dead, unfortunately not titled Talking Undead. Per Variety, the newly announced after-show The Vampire Lestat: After Dark is coming to AMC+ with a special preview episode on May 31, and then following subsequent new episodes of The Vampire Lestat beginning on June 7.
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Sam Reid, Jacob Anderson, Assad Zaman, Eric Bogosian, and Delainey Hayles will all appear on the show, as will showrunner Rolin Jones and executive producer Mark Johnson. Our host? Writer, producer, and “What Went Wrong” podcaster Lizzie Bassett. Unlike the long-running Walking Dead after-show, it doesn’t seem like The Vampire Lestat: After Dark will have a live audience or call-in element. Next season, perhaps? Fingers crossed…
This is a very good idea, in my humble opinion. You may have noticed from the promotional materials is The Vampire Lestat appears to be a smidge more chaotic than its predecessor, and possibly nonlinear in its storytelling. As the Brat Prince says in the latest trailer (and have you seen the latest trailer), this is far from the “psychodrama of Dubai” that framed the first two seasons of Interview with the Vampire. Lestat is not a cooperative interview subject–but Reid and the rest of the cast are.
The Vampire Lestat: After Dark will provide context and therapy.
It’s nice that AMC is providing a weekly platform to unpack this season, especially for those who haven’t read Anne Rice’s books. Say what you will about the 1994 movie Interview with the Vampire, but I have to imagine that a decent amount of non-book readers have at least seen it and knew the major plot points. (I don’t think the same can be said for 2002’s Queen of the Damned…)
Far fewer casual fans are going to come to this season emotionally prepared for the already established “complicated” relationship between Lestat and his mother, any potential changes in the complicated relationship between Daniel and Armand, and the mysterious arc from later books that Rolin and company has cooked up for Louis.
There’s nothing wrong with watching an adaptation without having read the source material. However, I have a feeling that some folks might appreciate a little additional context this go-around. Plus, unless you’ve had time to rewatch Interview with the Vampire season 1 and season 2 to refresh your memory on how Louis de Pointe du Lac recounts Lestat’s history, you might not remember every detail. And as an intermediate reader myself, I can surmise that things are only going to get weirder and more twisted. We’re also going to appreciate seeing the smiling faces of the actors.
On the lighter side, it will also be nice to get some BTS of all the music elements. Horrors aside, it looked like The Vampire Lestat was very fun to make. Let us live vicariously through every single delicious detail, please and thank you!
(featured image: AMC+)
