‘The Vampire Lestat’ Review: Sam Reid Reigns Over a Berserko Camp Remix of ‘Interview with a Vampire’

“The Vampire Lestat” wastes no time on scene-setting. From the ominous opening set in a clinical, uninviting future to the events of the main narrative, where our titular vampire takes his rock band on a modest North American tour while in the midst of a full-on nervous breakdown, creator Rolin Jones’ extension of his AMC series, “Interview with the Vampire,” in no way pauses to explain to newcomers what’s going on. Anyone who clicked play thinking this was the first season of a new series and not the third season of an existing series is in for a head-spinning hour of television, albeit one so thrilling in its unchecked bravado it should send them scurrying back to “IWTV” to catch up.

If anything, “The Vampire Lestat” is too dependent on its predecessor’s rich history. While taking on a fresh point of view (Sam Reid‘s electric narcissist, Lestat) and a tonal identity to match (rock opera, complete with barn-burning musical performances and a black-and-white tour documentary), the season functions as a rewrite on what came before (aka Daniel Malloy’s novel) and a revision of the heated emotions therein.

It’s a small miracle to witness the manic pace and gonzo temperament of the premiere slowly give way to the aching romanticism established by Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson), as if our two storytellers once again fought, once again hashed it out, and once again settled on a copacetic middleground together. Their two stories, these two shows, these three seasons all connect cleanly, despite the vampire Lestat’s (and “The Vampire Lestat’s”) enormous disruption, and while the resulting remix isn’t as powerful as the original, it’s just as transfixing.

To set the stage: When “Interview with the Vampire” Season 2 ended its magnificent, theatrically-themed tragedy, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Daniel Malloy (as he prefers to be identified) had released his explosive book outing vampires as very real eternal beings. Except, despite those two Pulitzers, very few people believe him. How could they? It’s 2025. The news is filled with outrageous claims confirming aliens are real, Greenland is for sale, and the New York Knickerbockers might have a competent basketball team. So a book detailing the existence of nightwalkers doesn’t exactly stop the presses.

Per Lestat’s narration, the world “uttered a collective ‘huh’ and swiped left.”

But, also per Lestat’s grandiose voiceover, “I am the Vampire Lestat. I am a god. And gods are not swiped.” Thus, the god-vamp forms a rock band with his noisy next-door neighbors and starts writing songs as a rebuttal to (and reclamation of) Daniel’s book. Not to be misinterpreted (and to keep with the interview motif), Lestat also invites Daniel (Eric Bogosian) to shoot a documentary of the band’s first tour.

Daniel’s presence is but one of many not-so-subtle ways Lestat tempts Louis back into his life. The two patched things up in the Season 2 finale, but they aren’t back together. Instead, the Parisian-pitched Lestat travels to exotic locales like Detroit, Toronto, and Toledo to play for mid-size concert halls filled with “vampire truthers” and irate bloodsuckers. The former make for an easy snack (carnal or cuisine), while the latter are an even more fleeting annoyance. You see, vampires are kind of like a fight club: You do not talk about vampires, especially in writing, and especially to regular ol’ humans. So Daniel’s book violated those rules, and Louis’ actions within the book did, too.

Now Lestat has joined them, parading his vampirism to anyone who buys a ticket and drawing more and more ire from his law-abiding peers. The lingering question, both posed by Daniel directly and implicitly invited by the “new series'” glam-rock transformation, is why. Why a rock band? Why a tour? Why write music at all? Lestat isn’t exactly averse to confrontation, so he could tell his side of the story directly to Daniel, or Louis, or a crowd gathered to hear from an out-and-proud vampire. Yet he chooses to belt out poorly reviewed tunes like “Butterscotch Bitch,” night after night, to crowds of mere hundreds.

Jacob Anderson in ‘The Vampire Lestat’Courtesy of Sophie Giraud / AMC

Lestat, personally, finds his motivation in ways old and new. The old include the obvious (Louis) and less obvious (a one-of-a-kind musical origin story), but the new arrives in the form of the mysterious Gabriella (Jennifer Ehle), Lestat’s undead mother whose thirst for blood ranks a distant second to her nymphomania. The 250-year-old widow makes it her mission in death to drain the life from any eager bedfellow (or bathroom-fellow, elevator-fellow, etc.), and her hedonist son’s chosen line of work only allows dear mama that many more opportunities for pleasure.

Things get… weird, but hey, that’s “Lestat” — a show that answers the “why” question with an impossibly arch, “Why not?” It’s been well-established that immortals are even more allergic to boredom than sunlight, so why not set Lestat’s late-life-crisis amid a drug-, booze-, and blood-fueled rock tour? (“IWTV” loves a stage, so you could argue such an evolution was as inevitable as adhering to Rice’s text.) Why not let Lestat recount moments in time he wasn’t even around to witness simply because his versions are more compelling? Why not watch him scroll reviews on his phone from inside a coffin or belt out a reprisal via power ballad straight to his sworn enemy’s face? Lestat demands to be entertained, and “The Vampire Lestat” never forgets it’s there to entertain.

Even when it’s only entertaining itself. At times, Season 3 becomes too insular. Certain references require a deep knowledge of the Anne Rice universe, or at least “IWTV” lore, and when it throws the audience a bone with a scene of pure comic relief or overt exposition, it can feel like pandering. Beyond Gabriella, new characters never develop beyond props, as “Lestat” too closely mirrors its namesake’s narcissism. (The band is named The Vampire Lestat and, fittingly, the other band-members couldn’t matter less.)

But if you can give yourself over to his melody, Lestat repays your indulgence with complete immersion. “The Vampire Lestat” whisks you into its fantasy world, where every detail is rich with significance and every episode is a revelation. It’s rare to find television bold enough to commit as fully as “The Vampire Lestat” does, and rarer still to see a performer as magnetic and multifaceted as Reid to carry it through.

Once you’re in, there’s no turning back. Enjoy the show.

Grade: B+

“The Vampire Lestat” premieres Sunday, June 7 at 9 p.m. ET on AMC and AMC+.