The relationships among vampires are complicated, to say the least. They can involve poisoning and throat slitting, decade-old lies about attempted murder, and absolutely no communication. Some might say that vampires would rather end up beheading their ex-lovers than go to therapy. For humans, all of these kinds of behaviors would be non-starters. But when you’re dealing with ageless vampires, eternity may sand the edges off everything with time. In The Vampire Lestat‘s finale, the relationships between Armand and Louis, and, in a way, Lestat, become more intense and horrifying than ever before. More intense, we might say, than things ever truly got in Anne Rice’s books. After the last episode of The Vampire Lestat, Nerdist caught up with Jacob Anderson to see where he felt the three vampires stood after the season, and whether there was any hope for reconciliation between the “it’s complicated” immortals.
Anderson offered the following in response to the question of whether he thought the baseline of affection we see between the immortal trio in Anne Rice’s books carried into the series. “Yeah, they’re vampires,” He noted of Lestat, Louis, and Armand in The Vampire Lestat. “I think they’re all just going to drift in and out of each other’s lives sometimes awkwardly, sometimes angrily, sometimes with great enthusiasm. They’re immortal monsters. And I think that’s part of what makes vampires so interesting, or any kind of undead monster, is the eternity of it. You’d have to keep facing the same people and the same issues again and again and again. So yeah, I think it will always be fun to see the three of them and then combinations of the three of them colliding together again for whatever reason.”
Of course, for Anderson’s Louis, the actor notes, “I think it’s maybe a bit soon for Louis to go full forgiveness [when it comes to Armand.]” But also that, despite the beheading and the amends under duress, Louis hasn’t necessarily ceased thinking something good exists in Armand. Anderson shared, “I think Louis does see good in Armand, but I don’t know if Louis thinks that Armand is good, if that makes sense.”
It makes total sense. And we’re glad to see the door still open on these immortal tangles between Louis, Armand, and Lestat, plus, hopefully, Daniel, somewhere in the mix. When we spoke to Sam Reid earlier in the year, Reid offered similar sentiments about Lestat and Armand, “Hate is such a strong word. I think that their dynamic is actually pretty accurate to the books. I think there’s like a flirty, sexy vibe that they’ve got that goes on between the two of them. Lestat thinks he’s a joke, like he thinks he is in the book. But Armand can come back and fucking own Lestat and destroy his life at a moment’s notice when he wants to. And Lestat’s aware of that. And I think the dynamic is their dynamic. I love the Armand and Lestat scenes in this season. So I think we’re doing it. Yeah.”
Showrunner Rolin Jones also shared, “And I think Lestat is actually incredibly respectful. There’s a bit of VO [in one of the episodes] when Lestat introduces Armand that might be one of the most accurate descriptions of Armand yet. So there is some inherent respect too about his power.”
We’re glad to know that despite the incredible wounds Armand, Lestat, and Louis can all inflict on one another, the overall potential for their relationships to go in any and many directions never ceases to exist. It’d be no fun if vampires held eternal grudges after all.
For now, things end messily for the trio. But we’ll have to wait and see what the future brings.
The Vampire Lestat is now streaming on AMC and AMC+. If you’d like more insights into the season, you can also pick up The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice for your reading pleasure.
Rotem Rusak is the Editor-in-Chief of Nerdist. She’s a Devil’s Minion gal at heart, but always has some room for the Diabolicule—yes, that’s Daniel/Armand/Louis/Lestat. It’s immortality, baby. Think big.
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