After years of ups and downs, Anne Rice’s beloved Vampire Chronicles novels are making their way to television. AMC snagged the rights to two of the late author’s supernatural series: Vampire Chronicles and The Lives of the Mayfair Witches. The deal encompasses 18 of Rice’s novels in total, spanning over 45 years of supernatural storytelling. Like the novels, the vampires and the witches will live in a shared universe. The new deal with AMC centers on television but will also include movies and internet content.
Here’s everything we know so far about the Interview with the Vampire series.
AMC Studios
Title
Like the 1994 film, show’s name, Interview with the Vampire, derives from the first novel in the Vampire Chronicles series.
Interview with the Vampire’s Plot
The show’s synopsis says:
Based on Anne Rice’s revolutionary gothic novel, Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire follows Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson), Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid) and Claudia’s (Bailey Bass) epic story of love, blood, and the perils of immortality, as told to journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian). Chafing at the limitations of life as a black man in 1900s New Orleans, Louis finds it impossible to resist the rakish Lestat’s offer of the ultimate escape: joining him as his vampire companion. But Louis’s intoxicating new powers come with a violent price, and the introduction of Lestat’s newest fledgling, the child vampire Claudia, soon sets them on a decades-long path of revenge and atonement.
AMC debuted the first Interview with the Vampire trailer at San Diego Comic-Con. And most recently revealed another in-depth look at the upcoming show.
And now, Interview With the Vampire has officially been renewed for season two, per Variety. That’s right, our favorite vampires will definitely be back for more. According to the publication, Interview With the Vampire‘s “8-episode second season will be set in Europe.”
Behind the Scenes
Rolin Jones, who co-created the Perry Mason reboot, is showrunner and executive producer for Interview with the Vampire. Mark Johnson, an executive producer on a number of AMC series, including Breaking Bad, Halt and Catch Fire, and Better Call Saul, is executive producing as well. Veteran director Alan Taylor, who recently helmed The Many Saints of Newark and is behind a handful of Game of Thrones episodes, directs the first two episodes.
Notably, Rice, who passed away in late 2021, and her son, Christopher, were actively involved in the series’ development. The pair serve as executive producers on Interview with a Vampire and subsequent series set in the same universe. So while we still don’t have all the plot details, the show does have the Anne Rice stamp of approval.
Interview with the Vampire‘s Cast
Australian actor Sam Reid and Game of Thrones alum Jacob Anderson lead the cast as Lestat and Louis. (Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, respectively, played those roles in the 1994 film adaptation.) Bailey Bass, who appears in a major role in James Cameron’s Avatar sequels, is Claudia. Christian Robinson and Kalyne Coleman also appear, per Variety. The latter plays Louis’s sister Grace, while Robinson is her love interest, Levi. Eric Bogosian will play investigative journalist Daniel Molloy (Christian Slater played this character in the movie). Additionally Maura Grace Athari plays Antoinette a blues singer that, per Deadline has a relationship with Lestat that “disrupts our two vampires’ domestic tranquility.”
Interview with the Vampire’s Release Date
Interview with the Vampire is set for October 2, 2022.
Originally published on July 18, 2018.
