Spoilers ahead for the Season 1 finale of Interview with a Vampire.
Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire has been entertaining audiences for decades. The story of Louis and Lestat was first told on the page, before being adapted into a 1994 movie starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. Now it’s been adapted into a show on AMC, which recently wrapped up its first reasons. And we know exactly why the Season 1 ending didn’t go out with the most obvious cliffhanger ever.
In the Season 1 finale of Interview with the Vampire titled "The Thing Lay Still”, Louis and Claudia enact their plan to finally kill Lestat and be rid of him forever. It all goes without a hitch, although they don’t finish the job and instead leave his body for the dump. But it’s soon revealed that he’s still alive, feasting on rats to regain his strength. Lestat actor Sam Reid spoke to Variety about why this confirmation of his survival was included, saying:
It would be sort of a boring cliffhanger to leave the show on, because you know Lestat is coming back.
Some serious points were made. As previously mentioned, plenty of people already know the bloody story of Interview with the Vampire, especially since the movie adaptation didn’t come that long ago. And as such, it probably would have been a lame cliffhanger if the show didn’t confirm that Lestat survived. Because it would only have been affected by the viewers who were experiencing the iconic story for the first time via the AMC series.
Indeed, plenty of folks have read/watched Interview with the Vampire over the years, which might be partly why so many people are tuned into the new TV adaptation. But the Season 1 finale did feature a few choice differences, including having Louis be the one to slit Lestat’s throat, rather than Claudia (played in the movie by Kirsten Dunst). And smart money says there’s going to be more surprises in the upcoming second season.
AMC’s Interview with the Vampire series was created for television by Rolin Jones, who previously worked on shows like Weeds and Boardwalk Empire. He also spoke to Variety about the new show’s bloody season finale, teasing what’s coming next in Part 2. As Jones put it,
Going forward, we are going to do things that are wildly loyal, and really try to squeeze out every beautiful piece of prose in that second half of the book — and we are going to do some other things the book didn’t do, mostly based on where the books go from here.
Well, that’s certainly exciting. It looks like even the most hardcore Interview with the Vampire fans might be surprised by the the show when it returns to AMC for Season 2. The last episode definitely contained some twists, including the reveal that Assad Zaman’s character is actually the ancient vampire Armond. We’ll just have to wait and see what else Rolin Jones and company have up their sleeves for the sophomore effort of the vampirical drama.
The entire first Interview with the Vampire is currently available on AMC, with the network also expanding more Anne Rice-inspired projects with Mayfair Witches starring Alexandra Daddario. In the meantime, check out the TV premiere list to plan your next binge watch. We’ll need something without new episodes of Interview with the Vampire next Sunday.
