Everything We Know About The Interview With The Vampire TV Series So Far
Children of the night, get ready to celebrate the Vampire Movie Century in style. A new adaptation of Anne Rice's debut novel "Interview with the Vampire" is coming to television in 2022, the same year that the oldest surviving Dracula film, "Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror," is celebrating its 100th anniversary.
This eight-episode series promises to take a more novelistic approach to a classic of the genre, and you'll be able to see it on cable or stream it to your heart's content (provided you still have a beating heart, and are not one of the undead). Here's what we know about the "Interview with the Vampire" series so far.
When and Where to Watch Interview with the Vampire
"Interview with the Vampire" is flying on bat wings to AMC and the AMC+ streaming service. There's no word yet on when exactly it will drop in 2022, but when it does, you won't have to dress up in formal vampire wear like you would for the Unholy Masquerade (in "What We Do in the Shadows") or the Endless Night Vampire Ball (in real life). No, just picture yourself lounging around at home like Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton in "Only Lovers Left Alive."
In this case, however, you'll be watching AMC instead of sucking on blood popsicles. (At least, we hope you're not sucking on blood popsicles, because that would be gross). AMC has big plans for Rice's books beyond this "Interview with the Vampire" series; the network also owns the rights to the rest of the "Vampire Chronicles" and the "Mayfair Witches" novels, and it's looking to build out a new franchise with them, similar to what it has done with "The Walking Dead."
What We Think Interview with the Vampire Will Be About
Since "Interview with the Vampire" is a re-adaptation of Rice's novel for television, we don't have to speculate too wildly about what it will be about. Both the book and Neil Jordan's 1994 film adaptation involve the melancholy vampire Louis recounting his life story to a reporter. He tells how another vampire named Lestat first bit him and made him into a bloodsucker and how they formed a surrogate family of sorts, raising a girl named Claudia as their vampire daughter. Eventually, the family, "locked together in hatred," implodes in a fiery fashion and Louis and Claudia travel from New Orleans to Paris, where they encounter a dangerous coven of Old World vampires, led by Armand (Antonio Banderas in the movie).
In recent years, FX's "What We Do in the Shadows" has parodied some elements of "Interview with the Vampire," such as the Théâtre des Vampires and the sunlight chamber where two vampires meet their end. It's a safe bet we might see some version of those and other features of the book and movie in the AMC show.
What We Know About the Interview with the Vampire Cast and Crew
Rolin Jones, the co-creator of HBO's "Perry Mason" revival, will serve as the showrunner for "Interview with the Vampire." Anne Rice and her son and sometimes co-author, Christopher Rice, will serve as executive producers. Alan Taylor, fresh off "The Many Saints of Newark" in 2021, is on board to direct the first two episodes.
Taylor worked on "Game of Thrones," and he isn't the only alum of that show who is connected to "Interview with the Vampire." Jacob Anderson, who played Grey Worm, leader of the Unsullied on "Thrones," will portray Louis, the role originated by Brad Pitt in 1994. Sam Reid, meanwhile, has won the role of Lestat, first brought to life (or un-death) by Tom Cruise and later filled by Stuart Townsend in "Queen of the Damned."
Bailey Bass has been cast as Claudia, the immortal stuck in the body of a child. This is the role that gave the young Kirsten Dunst her first big breakthrough, and all these years later, Claudia still remains one of the scariest movie children.