Interview With the Vampire is going on tour. A world tour. Following the June reveal that Season 3 would bring to life rockstar Lestat from Anne Rice’s The Vampire Lestat novel, the series debuted Sam Reid as said rockstar in the thrilling first teaser for the season. In it, Lestat is interviewed by Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian), reads from his published interview with Louis (Jacob Anderson), and we hear the first song to come from the musical season.
The footage was debuted during the show’s San Diego Comic-Con 2024 panel, moderated by TV Insider’s own Damian Holbrook. In the video, Molloy waits on a decorated set with a Lestat lookalike sitting in Lestat’s chair. There’s commotion behind the scenes, seemingly Lestat draining a human, and then Reid saunters onscreen himself. Molloy is terrified as he walks in.
“That’s him, Jesus Christ. Look at him,” Molloy says. The show’s IRL executive producer Mark Johnson introduces himself to the bloodsucker, who does not look thrilled to be there. He goes into full diva mode as he says things like “Do I look like I need you?” to the makeup artist and “there’s a goblet on the table” to another crew member. He flips through Daniel’s copy of Interview With the Vampire, published at the end of Season 2. The bitchiness continues when Molloy tries to begin filming what will seemingly become a documentary within the world of the show. (Daniel also thanks him for the tickets to his concert, so it seems these vampires have met before.)
“Can you state your name for the camera?” Daniel asks. “Justin Bieber,” Lestat replies. When Daniel asks what Lestat thinks about his book, Daniel starts coughing uncontrollably. The first page of The Vampire Lestat book is then recited by Reid in voiceover.
“I am the Vampire Lestat. I am immortal, more or less. The light of the sun, the sustained heat of an intense fire — these things might destroy me. But then again, they might not,” Lestat says, and then the teaser dives into Reid singing Lestat’s first official song from the season. Shots of Lestat in rockstar mode flash as the song plays, each shot showing him more like a rockstar on the edge than the last. And at one point, the clapper loader is seen holding the slate to camera with an arm tattoo that says “Armand told the truth,” adding a dramatic twist to the teaser’s narrative. Watch the thrilling video above.
Interview With the Vampire came ready for Comic-Con, that’s for damn sure. A release date will be announced at a later time.
Reid was joined by costars Delainey Hayles and Assad Zaman on the panel, as well as showrunner/executive producer Rolin Jones, Johnson, composer Daniel Hart, and production designer Mara LePere-Schloop. They dug into the making of Season 2 and various plot lines and shared a Season 2 blooper reel before revealing the teaser. See the reel below.
Jones promised one major book change in Season 3. “In the books, there’s one concert,” Jones said of the Rice novel. “It’s going to be a full tour” in their version.
Then Jones rolled off a long list of Lestat’s musical inspirations. David Bowie, Bjork, Beastie Boys, St. Vincent, Prince, Florence Welch, Fiona Apple, Chappell Roan, Iggy Pop, Freddie Mercury, and others were listed, thrilling the Comic-Con crowd. The best part of the list was the inclusion of Raleigh Ritchie, Anderson’s musical persona. (Anderson and Bogosian weren’t able to attend SDCC this year, but they each sent video messages played for fans during the panel.)
Interview With the Vampire was renewed for Season 3 on July 26, four days before its Season 2 finale aired. The logline for Season 3 was included in the announcement.
“In Season 3, resentful of the perfunctory portrayal in the trashy bestseller Interview With the Vampire, the Vampire Lestat sets his story straight in a way only the Vampire Lestat can — by starting a band and going on tour,” it reads. “Gabrielle. Nicholas. Magnus. Marius. Those Who Must Be Kept. They join Louis, Armand, Molloy, Sam, Raglan, Fareed, and others we can’t tell you about yet on a sexy pilgrimage across space, time and trauma. No Auto-Tuning. No Trigger Warnings. All Feels Amplified.”
Daniel really summed it up perfectly when saying, “That’s him, Jesus Christ. Look at him.” For real. I don’t know about you, but I’m buying front-row seats.
Interview With the Vampire, Season 3 Premiere, TBA, AMC and AMC+