This article contains spoilers for the Season 2 finale of “Interview with the Vampire.”
Rollin Jones is currently the showrunner for AMC’s Interview with the Vampire, but he wasn’t initially familiar with the Anne Rice novels featured in the TV series.
He first met with AMC executives in 2020 to discuss shows that could potentially be developed into series for the network. As he was preparing to leave, an executive happened to mention that the company had recently acquired the rights to Rice’s book. Interested?
“I was actually really interested in creating a love story and doing something grand and big.” Jones said in a Zoom interview earlier this month. “I wanted to see if I could make something like David Lean.”
Jones, who has appeared on critically acclaimed shows such as “Friday Night Lights,” “Boardwalk Empire” and the revamped “Perry Mason,” read Rice’s “Interview With the Vampire” and her debut novel. , I saw the 1994 film adaptation starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. He quickly realized that he would approach the series very differently than the film. He said AMC executives went through a rigorous evaluation process to decide what the show would look like.
“They didn’t just want a pilot, they didn’t just want a season one,” Jones said. “They wanted to know what the hell this is, and how long it could be on the air.”
Now fans have had two critically acclaimed seasons of the gothic horror story starring Jacob Anderson and Sam Reid as vampires Louis de Pointe du Lac and Lestat de Lioncourt, respectively. The Season 2 finale aired on Sunday, marking the end of Louis’ journey as he recounts his human and vampire lives to reporter Daniel Molloy, played by Eric Bogosian.
The story follows Louis, played this season by Delainey Hayles, and the young vampire Claudia, as they grapple with the consequences of their failed murder attempt on Lestat and the moral implications of being a vampire. They travel through Europe and eventually arrive in Paris, where they encounter a coven of theatrical vampires founded by Lestat. Louis finds new love in the coven’s 500-year-old leader, Armand (played by Assad Zaman).
Louis and Claudia, who kept their relationship with Lestat a secret, are eventually discovered and put on trial and punished for breaking several “great laws” that all vampires must follow. Sunday’s finale, titled “And That’s the End. Nothing Else,” follows the aftermath of Claudia’s death. Louis burns down the theater, killing most of the coven members, and reconnects with his toxic ex-lover when he learns that it was Lestat who saved him during the trial.
Sam Reid as Lestat De Lioncourt in Season 2 of AMC’s “Interview with the Vampire.”
(Larry Horricks / AMC)
The series was renewed for a third season on Wednesday and will primarily focus on the events taking place in Rice’s “Vampire Lestat.” In this case, Lestat reclaims his story as a rock star (during the interview, Jones proudly showed off his notes in the margins of his book). The renewal comes after Jones signed a new multi-year overall contract. AMC Studios.
Jones spoke with The Times about Delainey Hayles, who replaced Bailey Bass as Claudia in Season 2. the complex bond between Louie, Armand, and Lestat; And the stories the show will explore in season 3 and beyond. This is an edited excerpt from the conversation.
How do you feel after finishing season 2?
Look at Jacob Anderson’s first shot in Season 1 and the last shot in Season 2 and see the difference in his face. You can see how much work went into it over the course of three and a half years. It was an exhausting and satisfying ending to everything. And it was rigged not to work. We went through a lot of obstacles. It wasn’t just the (writers’ and actors’) strike. There were a lot of snakebites along the way, and I’m not sure if it’s going to last.
The reason we reshot some scenes from season 2 is because the point is that Louis is struggling with his memory. Whose version of events are we supposed to believe?
He basically says to Molloy, “I think you should hear Lestat’s version.” (Louis) just comes over and says, “Maybe I’m still trying to preserve myself as a hero or something, or I’m saying this from a place where things are broken.”
I’ll listen to Louis. The show is about Louis coming to terms with it all. He went through a lot of torture getting there. But eventually he gets on a plane and goes back to New Orleans to find Lestat. There’s no chaos there. There’s just a little bit of remorse, a little bit of forgiveness, and a little ramp to start rebuilding everything. That’s the beauty of the show. There can be darkness.
How did you know Delainey Hayles was right? For ~ Claudia? (Hayles replaced Bass. left the series Last year due to “unforeseen circumstances”)
We have an amazing casting director, and she brought in four actors, and they were all great. The idea was to see all four of these actors. Then, we would go to a restaurant, sit down, and discuss all the actors we saw. We got there, looked at each other, and we all immediately said “Delainey”, there wasn’t much discussion. The other actors didn’t give bad performances, there was just a kind of magic that you felt. This is an actor we will be watching for the next four years. We met her for the first time.
Jacob Anderson plays Louis de Pointe du Lac, and Delaney Hales plays Claudia, who joined the series in season 2.
(Larry Horricks/AMC)
We all know Claudia is dead. Was there a version of her life?
No. Anne wrote the book out of grief over the loss of her child. The changes we made to the plot were really thought out and deliberate, and once we made them, we aggressively pursued them. We always tried to honor the spirit of what was happening in the novel above all else. So, no, Claudia would never live. It was a battle of how to give the character the most beautiful, most haunting, or most painful death—whatever you want to call it. Claudia will probably be on the show for a while.
Do you agree that she was rebellious in her last moments?
Defiant is right. She is arguably the most aggressive and vampiric of all the vampires we’ve seen so far. I think she’s a real predator and a really tough and ferocious individual.
There was also all There’s a big love triangle going on among the vampires this season. How do you think people are reacting to that kind of energy?
The weird and wonderful thing about this show’s reactions is that they seem equally thrilling and upsetting to everyone. Everyone stands on the shoulders of the vampire they sympathize with the most and gets angry at the vampire they don’t sympathize with. We were not a judgmental writers’ room. We were just tasked with embodying Anne’s really messed up character and messing it up.
People found it difficult to accept that Louis forgave Armand after he betrayed him in the last episode. Can you take it apart?
In the writers room, when we started season 2, we read parts 2 and 3 out loud as writers. One of the things that really struck us was Armand’s speech to Louis on the levee, where he talks about what he’s thrown at Louis over the years and what he’s given him, and Louis is just cold. The challenge was to make him as relatable as possible, not like a cartoon villain.
We’ve come to the idea that there are two moments where Armand is really weak. At the end of episode 6, “Hey, let’s get out of here with you. Let’s run away and stay together.” And he says this in episode 8: “The choice is between the covenant man who has been with me for 200 years, or you.” If you go back and see the kiss they had in that scene, Louis just walks away. Armand said, “This person can live without me. What am I doing?” The idea that we all want to judge everyone is not how writers’ rooms work. We’re trying to create very complex, very flawed people.
Rollin Jones on Armand’s (Assad Zaman) feelings for Louis: “He can live without me. What am I doing?”
(Larry Horricks / AMC)
Are you satisfied with Lestat’s journey this season? We last saw him living as a hermit in New Orleans for several years after saving Louis.
I think this season creates a desire in the audience to hear Lestat’s version. Looking back on this season, Louis slowly remembers that there was a different side to Lestat that he wasn’t actively selling to the audience. I am happy with where we have placed them. There’s a lot of work to be done. They have a dramatic place to go without being together at the end. They want 10 seasons of this show. They are not together in the end. That doesn’t happen.
Did Louis finally find peace?
Jacob Anderson had a very innocuous little line that was the most important to him, the one that kept him balanced all season. It was the moment at the end when he was telepathically talking to Molloy and he said, “I’m worried about you, Louis.” Jacob looked past the camera and said, “It’s okay.” It was the first time for Jacob to play a character where he felt like what he was saying was how he felt.
(At the end of episode 8) The camera pans straight to his face before he says, “I own the night.” That’s the idea that there’s a whole new set of stories to tell for that character now. There’s swagger and power there. Most of his baggage has been shipped. Louis is not leaving this show. That’s all I’m saying!
What will season 3 look like?
Lestat becomes a rock star. Let’s start from there. We’re going to do a lot of work on this and we’re excited to potentially collaborate with Daniel Hart, who did the music for the first two seasons. We’re going to try to beat “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” and “Rocky Horror.” We’re trying to make a little pop masterpiece.
Is there anything else you’d like to mention?
As I get deeper into the books (by Anne Rice), I’m slowly catching up to the love that people who really love this show have for these books, and I’m holding them close to my heart. Many artists who have participated in our shows have said that the tone of this book made them think about coming out. These books are important to people. I feel very honored and fortunate to be the one to bring this book to a new generation at this point.
