The Vampire Lestat Episode 2’s end credits began with a special tribute to a crew member, Stuart Howell. The episode came out on Sunday, June 14, on AMC. If you’re curious about the tribute to Howell, here’s what you need to know.
Who is Stuart Howell from The Vampire Lestat?
The Vampire Lestat Episode 2 tribute to Howell says, “In Loving Memory Stuart Howell BSC.” BSC is an abbreviation of British Society of Cinematographers, of which Howell was a member. (Check out his IMDb page here.)
Howell was a cinematographer who served as Director of Photography on four episodes of Interview With the Vampire: Season 2 Episode 1, “What Can the Damned Really Say to the Damned,” Season 2 Episode 2, “Do You Know What It Means to Be Loved by Death,” Season 2 Episode 5, “Don’t Be Afraid, Just Start the Tape,” and Season 2 Episode 6, “Like the Light by Which God Made the World Before He Made Light.”
Howell died on July 14, 2024, at the age of 55 after battling an aggressive and rare form of bladder cancer, according to his obituary in British Cinematographer.
Howell was diagnosed with cancer while filming Interview With the Vampire Season 2 in 2023, according to The Newsreader cinematographer Earle Dresner. Dresner stepped in for Howell when he had to leave the show due to his illness. Howell was working on Season 2 Episode 6 when Dresner was called in. The episode was directed by Emma Freeman, who directed every episode of The Newsreader, an Australian drama series that stars The Vampire Lestat‘s Sam Reid and Anna Torv.
“I got a phone call about a week out from shooting beginning, saying that Stuart had received an unfortunate diagnosis and would have to leave the show,” Dresner told Gold Derby in 2025. “So I jumped on a plane almost immediately and went over there, and I spent about a week with Stuart in Prague, kind of doing a very, very brief and quick prep.”
Interview With the Vampire Season 2 Episode 6 was Howell’s final TV credit. He shares the credit with Dresner, who took over as Director of Photography for Season 2 Episode 7, “I Could Not Prevent It.”
“I only got to spend a week with him, but obviously all the prep that he had done was invaluable, and I would hope that I saw it through to his vision of the show and did half the episode as close to as he would have wanted,” Dresner said.
Dresner collaborated with Howell on certain scenes in Episode 6, such as the flashbacks to Madeleine’s (Roxane Duran) past that showed as she was being turned into a vampire by Louis (Jacob Anderson).
“Stuart and I, for those sequences which we both shot parts of, switched things up quite a lot, switched anamorphic lenses, really tried to create a vintage style, an older style,” Dresner said. “But also more of a dreamlike style, so we were seeing into these visions. We started using things like smoke filters and an amazing confetti filter, which sort of streaks lights in kind of rainbow patterns, and that was probably the sequence that we really diverged a lot from the general style of the show.”
Howell’s last credit was 2025’s Ambleside, which came out after his death. Prior to Interview With the Vampire, Howell worked on A Million Days, A Small Light, The Peripheral, The Crown, Cursed, Catherine the Great, and more. He was also a camera operator on titles such as The Legend of Tarzan, Ex Machina, Kingsman: The Secret Service, and more.
The Vampire Lestat, Sundays, 9/8c, AMC, Streaming on AMC+