The first season of AMC’s Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire achieved what many fans of the late author’s most iconic work thought impossible; the series brought to life something that was simultaneously faithful to the characters and themes that generations of readers have come to love while also carving out something entirely new, taking viewers into unexpected corners of the lush and mysterious world of Lestat de Lioncourt and Louis du Pointe du Lac. But it wasn’t just a visual and narrative feast that Season 1 delivered, as it also left fans with the greatest of mysteries as it concluded with a “and then what?” when Louis and Claudia fled New Orleans in search of others like themselves after having killed their maker Lestat —with the viewer aware that it wouldn’t be quite that simple. With the stakes (and the drama) so high and so much of the story to unfold, Season 2 had a lot to live up to as the vampires headed into the European night — and it’s done exactly that. Season 2 of Interview with the Vampire pulls off a bit of theatrical magic, managing to be an even more authentic adaptation of an iconic story while still offering a fresh reinvention of Rice’s work and delivering even further on the heartbreak and humanity that is the drama of the undead.
Season 2 of Interview With the Vampire picks up where one would expect it to, with Louis (Jacob Anderson) and Claudia (Delainey Hayles) in Europe on an existential quest: where did we come from? As series creators have said from the outset, the season follows roughly the second half of Rice’s novel and for the six of eight episodes that were provided to critics for review, this remains true, albeit with some tweaks and changes that enhance and clarify the voyage. Viewers follow Claudia and Louis as they seek their own kind and simultaneously try to deal with (or not deal with) their own fractured relationship in the wake of their lives in New Orleans before, eventually, making their way to Paris where they encounter the Theatre de Vampires, the first true coven of vampires like them they have ever encountered. It is the arrival in Paris and the incorporation with the Theatre that begin to pull both Claudia and Louis on their own journeys of self, ones that pull them further from one another but also that create new dangers as new clashes with old.
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The season also maintains its dual timeline storytelling established in Season 1, moving between Louis’ memories as recounted to Daniel and the actual contemporary interview in which he is doing the recounting. This time around, however, the contemporary interview takes a bit more center stage. The end of Season 1 revealed that “Rashid” was actually the vampire Armand, and that memory — specifically what Daniel remembers from the original interview in 1973 — may not be what it seems. Season 2 leans into that a good bit more, creating a more pronounced secondary storyline that, in turn, drives how the recollection of Louis’ past is itself brought to life. Between the two timelines and the two stories, a richer, albeit darker tale begins to emerge, one that gives the season a feel not unlike that of a thriller that holds the viewer on the edge of their seat wondering when the facade of civility holding everything together – in both timelines – is going to crack. To put it more simply, this season feels more directly like intellectual horror than last season and it’s an excellent development.
In fact, there is a lot about Season 2 that simply works on a more elevated level than Season 1. The shifts to the canonical story are ambitious, but they are well-considered and well-crafted, particularly in the approach to Claudia and her time in Paris as well as Armand’s incorporation into the mystery of 1973. There are also plenty of Easter eggs for fans of the overall The Vampire Chronicles and they are done in ways that feel organic and like genuine narrative layering and not like Easter eggs at all.
The biggest strength the season has going for it, however, is casting. Sam Reid and Jacob Anderson are again brilliant as Lestat and Louis, respectively, and Eric Bogosian’s Daniel continues to in equal turns bring humor and a bit of a “bullsh-t check” to the often very purple prose-y vampires. But the real standouts are the newcomers. Delainey Hayles picks up the role of Claudia from Bailey Bass seamlessly and then carries the role even higher, delivering a performance that perfectly conveys the horror of being imprisoned in a forever childlike body as well as the devastation of all the cruelty and wrongs done to her. There is a humanity to her monstrousness that burns through the screen every time she is on it. In the books, Santiago is one of the characters readers absolutely love to hate but in the brilliant hands of Ben Daniels, you not only love to hate him but you come right back around to loving him and perhaps even agreeing with him. There’s something malicious and charming about him that almost rivals Reid’s Lestat. Additionally, Roxane Duran’s Madeleine is possibly the best casting yet for a character that is relatively minor, but also very significant, and when paired in scenes with Hayles’ Claudia, there is a heartbreak that defies the medium and cuts through to the very soul.
Even with strong storytelling that both relies on and respectfully reinvents canon and bolsters it with top-tier performances, there are a few small flaws in the overall season. As fans know, AMC is looking to build out an Immortal Universe based on Rice’s works — Mayfair Witches already exists, and more are in development — and there are some moments in the season that, at least through Episode 6, that feel a bit forced, especially when one considers the power of the vampires involved. There is one particular character reveal that is, while very interesting and has potential, does feel slightly out of place, at least in the episodes we’ve seen thus far. There is also a hard shift as certain buried truths come to light that feels very abrupt and almost out of character — and, again, a little forced and jagged considering the power and nature of the vampires involved. Either of those aspects almost feel as though they’d be better suited to being their own, unconnected story.
Even for those little falters, Season 2 of Interview With the Vampire, to borrow from theater in a sense, brings down the house. With top-notch performances, careful pacing, and just the right amount of narrative shifts and tweaks, the series manages to take a story that so many think they know and not only leans into the familiar but make it even more thrilling, more fascinating, and invites the viewer to question their own memory – while compelling you to ask for more.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Interview with the Vampire Season 2 premieres on AMC on May 12th.
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