Many of your recent shows may have just wrapped up (for me, Friends and Neighbors and Euphoria), but there’s always something new to find. And how about a series with a 100% Rotten Tomatoes critic score and a 94% audience score?
Things are a little confusing here with the show being new, but not new. I’m talking about The Vampire Lestat, the spinoff, of sorts, of AMC’s Interview with the Vampire series. In some places, the show is listed as the third season of Interview with the Vampire. In others, like AMC+ and Rotten Tomatoes, it’s said to be season 1 of its own series. And that’s where that perfect score comes from (Interview with the Vampire itself has a stellar 99% critic score).
The first two seasons of Interview with the Vampire cover the events of the first Anne Rice book, but now The Vampire Lestat moves on to the second novel in the Vampire Chronicles series of the same name. The focus shifts to Lestat de Lioncourt, played by Sam Reid, who is now an immortal rock star. The story takes place in the 80s after Lestat emerges from a long sleep, compared to the 1791 starting point of the original Interview with the Vampire.
Interestingly, Anne Rice has said that her inspiration for Lestat’s rock-and-roll era was Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors, whom she called her “hero.” This is the first real onscreen adaptation of The Vampire Lestat, as previously, part of the story was jammed into 2002’s Queen of the Damned, rather than being its own full sequel to 1994’s Interview with the Vampire. Queen of the Damned is the third book in the series, and one that AMC no doubt hopes to adapt in the future. Getting through all 13 books, however, may be a bit of a challenge.
And, as mentioned, The Vampire Lestat is on AMC+, a streaming service that many may not have or even know exists. It would seem like something that may have been absorbed into a larger service, but AMC remains an independent entity and has lived on past its Walking Dead and Breaking Bad days. Clearly, it still has some juice, given how successful its Anne Rice universe has been.
The Vampire Lestat’s premiere has already aired and is available to watch now, and it will be live on Sunday nights until its seven-episode run is complete. While it may not be 100% required to watch the first two seasons, given the huge time jump, obviously, it’s going to be a good idea to get familiar with the character and his original tale. Watching the Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise movie isn’t going to do it.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.