The Vampire Lestat came out of the gates swinging.
While audiences have gotten to know Lestat de Lioncourt over the first two seasons, you’re getting a whole lot more of the broody, complicated vampire as he navigates the glamorous highs and lows of his present-day rock star life.
It’s a sordid tale, with Lestat firmly in control of the narrative and the series embracing a significant tonal shift from its first two seasons, seen through the eyes of Lestat’s fledgling love, Louis de Pointe du Lac.
The Vampire Lestat Season 1 Episode 1 was a wonderful glimpse into Lestat’s mind in the aftermath of the release of the novel Interview with the Vampire.
With Daniel Malloy and a documentary camera crew in tow, Lestat and his band hop aboard the tour bus, and the audience gets to come along for the ride as things for Lestat get increasingly dire.
The tone of the opening hour of The Vampire Lestat is at times campy but also a perfect reflection of the centuries-old vampire. And when crafting this series, the producers wanted to stay true to Lestat.
As executive producer Hannah Moscovitch told us when asked about evolving the tone and structure of the season, “We’re in Lestat’s world, and so then the subjectivity and point of view had to change with Lestat because he is an entirely different vampire than Louis, who is a moody existentialist.
“And now, we’re with Lestat, who is a hot hurricane.
“And so the show had to do that, because we’ve always been about this objective, and the memories and reality and psyche of each character as they come to the fore, we have to honor that, and so this season is who we think Lestat is.”
Who exactly is Lestat?
It’s more complicated than just assigning him different attributes and adjectives, and much of the season delves into breaking down his past and present to better understand him.
Composer Daniel Hart, who is also a writer this season, had the task of crafting Lestat’s sound, which is on full display in the premiere, with “Long Face” and “Black Licorice” giving the viewers their first taste of the vampire rocker’s sound.
Hart had the herculean task of creating the sound that would define the man.
“I was in the writers’ room from the beginning, sitting around the writers’ room table with everyone, talking through story and character development and plot points, and so that made it much easier than it might have been otherwise if I was just sent off on my own to work on songs in a cave somewhere, he shared with us.
“But I would bring in song ideas before we had gotten to the place in an episode where they might exist, and so then that provided extra challenge for the writers having to write a scene around a song that I had already written.”
There was “a lot of back and forth” for Hart as the story continued to grow, with Moscovitch adding in, “The music was so beautiful and so inspiring and so fucking good.”
The process was highly collaborative, with Hart’s music sometimes shaping scenes as much as the scripts shaped the songs.
Of course, no version of Lestat’s story is complete without Louis.
While Louis isn’t a major figure in the novel The Vampire Lestat, he remains central to the series’ latest chapter.
The producers couldn’t go too in-depth about where his story will take him this season.
However, Moscovitch still disclosed some intel.
“One of the things Rolin [Jones] and I talked about when we were pacing around in Prague at the end of season two and we talked about it then, starting then was that you can put a yellow dress up on a wall in Dubai and you can say you’re honoring the dead and you can say that’s done, but that will never be true if it’s your daughter.
“And you cannot get away from the grief and the complicity in that grief and in that death. So that doesn’t go away. That’s going to come and come and come, and be a part of you.”
The series has a lot to say, and it’s only just getting started.
To hear more about what Moscovitch, Johnson, and Hart had to say about keeping fans’ expectations in mind, and how Hart managed both composing and writing this season, check out our full interview below.
You can watch The Vampire Lestat on Sundays at 9/8c on AMC and AMC+.
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We talked with the executive producers and composer of The Vampire Lestat about the big creative swing for this season and more. Check it out!
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We caught up with Criminal Record EP, Elaine Collins, to unpack the season’s timely, political theme, and June & Hegarty’s dynamic.
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We were lucky enough to chat with Sam Reid, Jacob Anderson, and Rolin Jones about The Vampire Lestat and what’s ahead. Check out our chat here!