Summary
Interview With The Vampireheld off from showing the true side of Lestat until the final moments of its second season. Until the pair reconciled in present-day New Orleans,Lestat’s character had been presented only through the memories of his resentful fledgling and former lover.The unexpected reveal of gothic literature’s most notorious vampire as a tragic, mournful recluse in the climatic finale added another twist to this conflicting tale.Lestat’s apology to Louiswas heart-felt and left fans speculating that after two seasons of being cast as the show’s villain, they’d finally seen a glimpse ofthe “real” Lestat.
Anne Rice’s debut novel imagined how a vampire would tell his story if given the chance to sit down with a reporter. AMC’sInterview With The Vampiretook this premise and ran with it, exploring the deeper issues of memory and subjectivity. The show stresses the point thatautobiography is always a reconstruction of the truth, no matter how honest the speaker. Season 3 looks to adapt Lestat’s version of events fromThe Vampire Lestatwhile introducingnew Anne Rice charactersto the cast. Butviewers should be just as wary when it comes to trusting Lestat’s perspective.
Interview With The Vampire Season 3 Will Be The Lestat Story I’ve Been Waiting For Since Tom Cruise’s Movie
I trust Lestat de Lioncourt actor Sam Reid to shed new light on Anne Rice’s supernatural anti-hero in Interview with the Vampire season 3.
Lestat’s Character Has Been Filtered Through Those Who Love And Despise Him
There Is No Such Thing As Objectivity In Interview With The Vampire
As Louis tells his tale inInterview With The Vampire,the audience’s view of Lestat fluctuates wildly with each new turn in their toxic romance.Louis draws us in with his account of their first meeting, and Lestat is initially so beguiling, fascinating, and loveable because Louis is beguiled, fascinated, and in love. Once their relationship derails, Lestat becomes the antagonist.Louis' portrait of Lestat will always be flawed because of their complex emotional connection.Add Armand’s untrustworthy commentary and Claudia’s bitter diary entries into the mix, and the web entangles further.
Only in the final episode of season 3 do we get a scene where Lestat is not filtered through someone else’s subjective account.Actor Sam Reid discussed the emotional finale withEntertainment Weekly, which allowed him to play a version of Lestat viewers hadn’t seen before. He pushes back slightly against the claim that this is the"real Lestat",musing,“what’s the ‘Real Lestat’?“He continues:“He [Lestat] spent 77 years feeling pretty terrible about himself.That is (a) real Lestat, but it’s also a very damaged Lestat.”
In Interview With The Vampire, Nobody’s Word Can Be Trusted
The Show Explores The Flaws Of Memory And Confession
Lestat cuts a pitiful figure in the reunion scene, diminished by decades of isolation and clearly riddled with guilt for what Louis and Claudia endured after they parted.Theseason 2 twist may suggest that he is not quite the villain he has been made out to be,but Lestat still failed to prevent Claudia’s horrific death when he could have intervened.Interview With The Vampireuses its unreliable narrator trope to toy with the audience’s trust.Even after seeing Lestat at his most vulnerable, it’s impossible to trust him completely.
Understanding that, from Lestat’s perspective, he too has been a victim of cruelty and betrayal, is not supposed to redeem him.
Interview With The Vampireexplores the problem of memory. Louis cannot trust his own recollection and self-edits with each retelling. Daniel’s sarcastic commentary is a reminder thatLouis can be short-sighted when it comes to his own flaws.Still, Louis asks that listeners set truth aside and“let the tale seduce you.” As Lestat tells his own tragic tale in season 3 – undoubtedly covering his traumatic making by the vampire Magnus –it’s worth remembering who controls the narrative.Lestat is a trained actor and a masterful predator. Viewers should be wary of being"seduced"by his tale, too.
Lestat’s Account In Season 3 Will Not Redeem Him
Complexity Is Key In This Gothic Tale
Interview With The Vampirewill ask us to sympathize with its anti-hero in season 3.Understanding that, from Lestat’s perspective, he too has been a victim of cruelty and betrayal, is not supposed to redeem him. His love for Louis is undeniable, but it is rooted in toxic co-dependency, which is Lestat’s great flaw. At the same time, as responses to the season 2 finale reveal,Lestat’s love is what ultimately humanizes him:without it, he’d be nothing but an apex predator who delights in his ability to kill.
Every character in the show commits terrible acts that their version of events tries to justify.
As a viewer, it’s difficult not to love Lestat in return, even when we know we shouldn’t. This is Louis' dilemma, too. Like Louis,Interview With The Vampireasks audiences to grapple with the fact that someone who is manipulative, selfish, and cruel is also so magnetic.Part of the attraction is that the “real"Lestat remains hidden from sight.Aseason 3 teaser trailer revealed Lestat’s return as a rock staras he sits down for his own interview. It’s likely that season 3 will continue to use this format to create biased narration.
The result is a story without good or evil. Every character in the show commits terrible acts that their version of events tries to justify. Louis made himself the hero of his story – in season 3, the vampire Lestat will take center stage, and his perspective will be just as flawed.The lack of objectivity is absolutely key in this gothic tale where every line is blurred.Between truth and memory, between humanity and monstrosity: nothing is clear-cut inInterview With The Vampire.But that’s part of the seduction.
Interview with the Vampire
Cast
Based on Anne Rice’s novel series that began in 1976, Interview with the Vampire is a gothic horror fantasy series that explores the life of Louis de Pointe du Lac through an interview with a journalist. Told through flashbacks of Louis' life during the interview, the series examines Louis' relationship with the vampire that turned him, Lestat de Lioncourt, and a teenage girl named Claudia, whom he turns. The series is the first of Anne Rice’s Immortal Universe media franchise.
