The Vampire Lestat Post-Mortem

The interesting trick of Anne Rice’s “The Vampire Lestat” novel is that, after an incredibly successful novel telling the story of Louis, Lestat, Claudia, Armand, and Daniel Malloy from the perspective of Louis (and, in the TV series, Armand as well), we get to see the thoughts of the brash, angry, and so selfish Lestat. Leaning into the idea of what makes unreliable narrator – with Lestat claiming Louis’ tale was full of lies and that he will provide us, his readers and fans, with the truth – the story tells of Lestat’s life from his childhood in France to the moment he decided to hop on a boat to New Orleans, where he would meet Louis. And, because why not, the story Lestat tells is interspersed with commentary about his new rock band, where he “pretends” to be a vampire – the Vampire Lestat from Daniel’s book – only he’s having a hard time remembering that he’s supposed to be pretending.

So, when I heard that the series was changing up its name* and delving into the story of Lestat’s origins, as told by Lestat himself, I was bracing for a lot of time spent in 18^th century France. Imagine my surprise when we only spent the barest of times there – just enough to get a feeling for who Lestat was prior to his change, just who Gabriella (Jennifer Ehle, just fiendishly good in such a hard role) was to him as a human and as a fledgling, and what led to Lestat’s transformation – and instead spent a heck of a lot more time with Louis than I anticipated. Even more so than in the first two seasons, the idea of who was narrating became a clear question to ponder, as Lestat seemed all the more unreliable when compared to Louis.

*Next season, which has been greenlit, will be called Queen of the Damned, the name of the third novel in Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, and will highlight Akasha, played this season and next by the stellar Sheila Atim.

In the first two seasons, it’s clear Louis is trying to tell a story that makes him out to be less of a villain than Lestat ends up being – particularly when he’s moving toward telling of Claudia’s death, something he’s blamed Lestat for for almost a century. But his calm demeanor and voice make it all too easy to accept the story he’s telling us at face value, only questioning it when Daniel does as well. After all, Louis is clearly in pain rehashing the darkest and more emotional aspects of his afterlife, why would he lie? But after watching The Vampire Lestat, it’s pretty clear that we should all have been taking Louis’ account with a grain of salt. That’s not to say that Lestat is telling a true tale in his multi-disc series “The Failures”, but it’s clear now that the truth of their shared lives lies somewhere in the space between their thoughts – and those we were offered by Claudia during her séance appearance (which, for my money, was the best sequence of the season – Delaney Halyes was something else, channeling Claudia’s pain and loss).

But what I will say, this season was both much more fun and much more horrifically dark than either of the past two. Sam Reid truly has a lock on just what makes Lestat tick and he was able to show us so much of this monstrous character. The emotional swings of Lestat could easily morph into parody – this is a character who wears his emotions and appetites on his sleeve – especially when it comes to the incestuous (and abusive) relationship between Lestat and Gabriella. But Reid and Ehle made sure to keep the frightening edges to their characters sharp and clear – Lestat is not a romantic ideal and Gabriella is a true monster (the one who shaped Lestat into the terror he eventually became). Neither had easy assignments this time around, and both passed the test with flying colors.

If I have a criticism of the season, it was that the story and motivations of the characters weren’t always as clear as they should be at this stage of the game. I’m reading the novels at the pace of the show – meaning I’ll be tackling “Queen of the Damned” in the hiatus between seasons – so I’m not fully versed in the wider world of Rice’s writings. I don’t know much about the witches. I don’t really know much about the Talamasca. And yet, both were present this season and I’m not sure I appreciated fully who these characters are to the wider story. Yes, the witch Merrick – who I understand plays a role in the vampire side of things down the line, since the writers had access to her character to use – was pretty easy to grasp. But Justin Kirk’s Raglan James’ role with the series confused me. I shouldn’t have to watch the sister shows to understand the action here – a complaint often made of complex universes a la the MCU – but it seems like that might be necessary to fully understand the wider world at play here.

However, despite some confusion on my part when it came to timelines and additional characters, the central beating heart of the series was fully intact. Season two saw Louis and Lestat separated for stretches time, which allowed the supporting characters a chance to shine – Armand and Claudia, in particular. But getting our chaotic and toxic duo back together – albeit in stages – over the course of the season was truly special. These two are not relationship goals and bring out the worst in each other. But they are the yin to each other’s yang. Louis without Lestat and vice versa just doesn’t make sense. Although, I suspect Louis is the one out of the pair who could function the best without his partner in crime at his side. Lestat, as we saw over the course of his story this season, desperately craves companionship. He needs someone to tell him he’s safe. That he’s loved. That he’s good. And when he doesn’t have that or when the person he trusts removes that sense of safety, well, that’s when things get really bad. He’s jealous and possessive – he learned it from his mother, after all – and when his focus leaves him? That’s when heads start to roll.

Leaving us with the destruction in the wake of the Great Convergence was a heck of a mic drop for a season that spent a great deal of time teasing the end of the world as we know it. How can vampires survive without humanity to serve them? How does Akasha want to remake the world? How will our characters fare in this world – we know Armand and Louis (and Raglan) make it long enough to arrive at an auction for Lestat’s possessions, albeit a bit worse for wear. Is Lestat still alive? Is Gabriella? I guess those are questions for season four. But, until then, The Vampire Lestat was another excellent installment in this world. One where we got a chance to see Lestat’s take on his life, his loves, and who he became and why. And to see how he sees Louis, Armand, and Daniel after they spent two seasons showing us how they see him. Narrators are curious things. They only tell us what they want us to know. They often hide their own foibles and mistakes. Lestat? Well, he seemed to revel in many of his errors, despite feeling some sense of horror and guilt over the evil he believes he unleashed on the world. Just what that evil was, we shall see.