‘Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire’ (Season 2) Review: The Toxic Love Triangle From Hell Returns
My first and only introduction to Anne Rice’s gothic horror novel series was Neil Jordan’s 1994 film, Interview with the Vampire, starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt as the vampire and subject’s doomed relationship. The movie was queer, memorable and influential that received a devoted fanbase for decades.
Two years ago, when AMC Networks announced that the novels would be adapted to television and cast Jacob Anderson (whose talents were wasted as Grey Worm in Game of Thrones) as Louis de Pointe du Lac — but with slight modifications to his backstory — I was excited about the series. To no one’s surprise, Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire did not disappoint.
In the first season, a vampire named Louis de Pointe du Lac (Anderson) recruits a human journalist, Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) to recount his life’s story. The story is set in 2022, decades after the 1973 interview. Louis lives lavishly in Dubai with his manservant Rashid (Assad Zaman). Daniel spent his life neglecting his family and dealing with substance abuse. He wants to complete the unfinished work with Vampire Louis. The interviews cover Louis’ life in New Orleans as a brothel owner, rather than the white plantation owner.
When Louis meets Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid), the magnetic, angry, sultry and rich French vampire, they become inseparable. Louis and Lestat have a toxic relationship — a constant game of cat and mouse that never ends. Their doomed relationship takes up a notch when Claudia (Bailey Bass, Avatar: The Way of Water, plays the character in the first season), a 14-year-old vampire, joins the family. When Lestat’s demands trap Louis and Claudia in New Orleans, they conspire to kill him and venture off to find Old World Vampires in Europe.
After Louis is unable to dispose of Lestat’s ‘dead’ body, Claudia (played by Delaine Hayles) refuses to speak to him. They travel from one country to another during the Second World War to search for more Vampires. When they arrive in Paris, Louis and Claudia meet a coven and theatre troupe called Theatre Des Vampires, headed by Vampire Armand.
The duo discovers that Armand and the coven have deep connections with the founder of the theatre coupe: Lestat. Claudia wants to find her purpose in life. She believes joining in the coven’s ritualistic activities will help, whereas, Louis is still heartbroken by Lestat’s ‘death.’ He finds a new hobby and a new love affair with Armand. While Daniel records Louis and Armand’s life stories, he uncovers some secrets from what happened in the 1973 interview and begins to question the vampires to get to the bottom of the truth.
Interview with the Vampire boldly expands beyond the streets of New Orleans to Paris with delicious and complex characters. After the grand reveal of Armans’s identity in the season one finale, he takes the central stage revealing his side of the story with splendour. Undoubtedly, he fills the void of Lestat’s absence. Armand’s connection to Lestat and the Theatre Des Vampires unravels slowly.
Also, his relationship with Louis in the current timeline answers many questions about the ancient vampire’s backstory and what happened in the original interview in 1973. Armand and Daniel are constantly against each other’s heads in the series, becoming sceptical of their stories, especially Armand. Daniel is slowly reckoning with a hidden secret that hinges on the truth. But it’s layered with betrayal and deception that will ultimately reveal the true nature of the characters’ intentions and morality.
Even though Lestat’s absence is felt in the second season, he is not entirely erased from the story. After Louis and Claudia fail to burn his body, Lestat only exists as a figment of his former lover’s imagination constantly criticising him for his choices. The charismatic and toxic vampire lingers everywhere in Louis’ new life. He makes fun of Louis’ growing attraction to Armand. This hallucinogenic presence is a reminder, at least for Louis, of what he had done to his former lover back in New Orleans; a horrifying, tantalising memory that he cannot seem to throw away because of their deep connection to each other.
Even outside Louis’ presence, Lestat’s association with the theatre troupe where they hang a portrait of him backstage. When Louis and Claudia are introduced to the theatre’s members, they realise they are very dedicated loyalists to Lestat which complicates everything in the new lives in Paris. Santiago (Ben Daniels, who is a delight in this role) and his friends are convinced that Claudia and Louis are hiding something, and they are willing to get to the bottom of it.
One of the most important characters in Interview with the Vampire is Claudia. She is the heart of the story. Her inevitable death has been lingering since the first episode. Claudia has gone through a dramatic character development. From being frustrated for being a third-wheeler in Louis and Lestat’s relationship to finally freeing herself from home, she sets out to find more of her kind, to understand the history.
But it doesn’t go exactly how she would have hoped. She’s defeated but finds a renowned purpose: an actor in the Theatre Des Vampires. She has found her family — a coven. But the older infantilising behaviour from people begins to reveal itself. Again, she’s back in the same circle. Another vampire stuck in a loop who can never escape the dangerous and sometimes frustrating realities of living as an immortal. Hayles, who picks the role from Bass, doesn’t miss a beat. She delivers the role with the same ferocity and innocence, but with a bit more maturity, as her character has grown from her past mischievous outings. She is torn between her desire to be free from the rules of the coven and finding more vampires like her to get answers about their history.
Interview with the Vampire makes bold choices. Even though the showrunners have taken major liberties with the location, timeline and characters, the series doesn’t lose the magic of Rice’s themes and story. The second season kicks off exactly where it left off, wasting no time to continue the present-day interviews with Louis and Armand. It’s a series that twists and shocks the audience. There’s a lot more room for the series to explore given that there are 14 books in the series. Rice’s Interview with the Vampire is not just a reflection of the world that we live in, it explores the deeper meaning of relationships and eternal devotion that makes the series so grounded and successful in its approach.
Here are some reading materials to learn about the genocide and ethnic cleansing in Palestine and the BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanction) movement:
Books about Palestine on Verso Books
Books about Palestine on Haymarket Books
