In The Vampire Lestat episode three, we met a familiar face again in a whole new way. In Interview with the Vampire, we briefly saw Nicholas de Lenfent through Armand’s perspective. But in The Vampire Lestat, with Lestat telling his version of events, we got to see a lot more of Lestat’s first… or is that great… love. Fans of the Anne Rice books will know that some aspects of Nicki’s story changed for The Vampire Lestat series, one of which is the idea that Lestat left Nicki alone with Armand for a period of time, although not without arranging for his care, and in this time, Armand’s emotional and mental manipulation of Nicki drove his inner struggles to an even worse place, eventually leading to his death by walking into fire. But, as we know, there are no reliable narrators in the world of The Vampire Lestat/Interview with the Vampire. And if you ask Nicki actor, Joseph Potter, it’s too soon to give up on the idea of the time that Armand and Nicki (Nickimand, if you will) spent together. Potter, for one, would love to explore it.
Speaking about Armand and Nicki, here’s what The Vampire Lestat actor, Joseph Potter, had to say. “I’d love to revisit the role. I’m always up for revisiting anything. It has been such a privilege to play this part with this amazing team of actors and creatives. But yeah, there’s a lot of the history between Armand and Nicki that I’m really intrigued by, that we haven’t necessarily seen too much of there.”
He continues musing about the character of Armand, noting, “Without sounding too strange, I was always fascinated by when Lestat goes away in the book, and Nicki’s just left with Armand in the theater. That dynamic is… I’m really fascinated by that. And that kind of power dynamic at play between them, with Armand in control. I think it’s a fascinating place. I mean, you don’t know what’s going on there. I mean, I’d be intrigued.”
Well, wouldn’t we all? If there’s one thing about Armand, it’s that he has fascinating dynamics with pretty much everyone. The time Potter speaks about is one that’s left murky in both the books and in the series (for now), so it would be a great place to explore and adapt the two characters. What did Nicki and Armand get up to while Lestat was away in The Vampire Lestat? There’s always been a great deal of confusion around the particulars of Nicki’s devolution and death, even among book readers. And though we have some vision of it from the series now, it’s hard to trust that events were recounted with exact truth. More points of view for us all to dissect, debate, and debrief about are always welcome.
Additionally, Potter referred to Armand affectionately as a “Cheeky Gremlin” and “That Naughty Armand,” elsewhere in our talk, which is probably of interest to the people reading this right now.
The Vampire Lestat airs on AMC and AMC+, Sundays at 9 pm ET/PT and midnight, respectively. You can snag The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice to read, if you’d like to know a little bit more about what’s going on.
Rotem Rusak is the Editor-in-Chief of Nerdist. Devil’s Minon is her endgame in The Vampire Lestat, but she’s never opposed to other ships on the side—Nicki and Armand, why not?
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