Fans were left with plenty to chew on in the final episode of AMC’s Interview With The Vampire. The supernatural queer romance descended into madness with a last-minute reveal for the ages and the revelation that Lestat (Sam Reid) was alive after all.
However, the series didn’t quite end without leaving lingering questions and keeping us on the edge of our seats about the upcoming announced second season. The book of the same name was only partially adapted in the debut season of the show, leaving the show open for Season 2 to adapt the remainder of the book and look at other entries in Anne Rice's series to bring to life.
RELATED: 'Interview with the Vampire' Makes It Clear That Louis and Lestat’s Relationship Is Toxic
What Happens in the 'Interview with the Vampire' Season 1 Finale?
In the finale, after learning that drinking the blood of someone who is dying induces death in the vampire who drinks it, Claudia (Bailey Bass) successfully convinces Lestat to throw a party before they leave New Orleans for good. Despite an Antoinette (Maura Grace Athari)-sized hiccup, Claudia’s plan is essentially successful save for one crucial detail — Claudia and Louis (Jacob Anderson) do not manage to completely dispose of Lestat’s body. With several pages cut from Claudia’s diary, it becomes clear to Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) that Louis is glossing over a crucial detail of what happened next. Louis states that the two killed Lestat with Louis having slit Lestat’s neck and put him away in his coffin in the graveyard.
From the way Louis tells this story, this would be the end of his tryst with Lestat. But as Daniel rightly points out, the glaring flaw in Louis’ disposal of Lestat is that he let him die in a place crawling with rats that he could feed on to get stronger. There is every likelihood thus, that the missing pages detailed Louis’ argument with Claudia on this very issue. The show itself proves that that is indeed the case with Louis in the final moments of the series, reaching out from the coffin to feed on the rats.
Where Will Season 2 of 'Interview With the Vampire' Take Place?
Another thing that’s clear, for those who have read the first Interview With The Vampire novel, is that Season 2 is all set to move things to Europe. In an interview with AMC, showrunner Rolin Jones confirmed this, stating:
“We’re going to Europe and Part 2 of the novel is Episode 1 of Season 2. So, we're going there and we're going to experience that. Then we're going to Paris. We're going to see what coven life is all about, and we have some more time than the movie or even the book. We're continuing to make the interview part of this and just as important as the flashback, in that there are some very active things that are going to be happening in Dubai.”
How Will the Changes to Armand's Character Impact Season 2?
Some of the “active things” in question could involve the big Rashid reveal from the Season 1 finale which, in a shocking twist, made clear that Rashid was actually the vampire Armand. In the book, Louis and Claudia embark on a European trip where they eventually encounter Armand. There, Armand resembles an adolescent boy, 5'6" tall, pale with auburn curly hair. He is also the oldest vampire introduced by the novel, having been bitten sometime in the 15th century. He is therefore far stronger than Louis, Lestat, and Claudia. In the show he looks far different, racebent as well as a devout Muslim who didn’t seem all that odd in Dubai, but it will be interesting to see how he found himself in Paris all those years ago and how he bit Lestat.
Louis and Claudia's journey puts them in the crosshairs of vampires of all kinds and ultimately leads them to Theater of the Vampires, aka Theatres Des Vampires, where Lestat worked as a mortal. This would also allow Reid to return to the role if the showrunners delve into his past here and adapt the contents of the second book The Vampire Lestat. The latter half of the first book doesn’t have Lestat in it (although his presence does loom large over the characters in the book), but showing how he knows Armand, and having Armand and Louis bond over their respective relationships with Lestat, allows for their romance to bloom.
In the book, Armand ultimately contributes to Claudia's demise. Louis finally makes up his mind to live with Armand, and the two remain companions for a number of decades before splitting up when it becomes clear that Louis hasn't moved on from Claudia’s death. However, with Armand very much a part of Louis’ life in the present, who knows if Claudia’s death happened in the way it did, if it happened at all, and what role Armand plays in it?
Jones has also added that the sophomore season would delve into the reliability, or lack thereof, of what is being told and shown to us on screen:
“Then, more than anything, and we teased it out a little in Season 1, the idea of memory and what is true and what isn't true is a big player in Season 2. It's all going towards, groping towards, who am I? How did I get here? What is to become of me now? There's a lot!”
We’ve already flirted with this a little in the first season, having been introduced to Rashid and not Armand, and there is a scene towards the end of the series, where Daniel realizes that Rashid was present the night he met Louis. Between Armand’s introduction and the changes the showrunners have made, the series is more of a blueprint to follow than anything. Jones has also teased the locations of Romania and Bulgaria as upcoming attractions for the series. Both those places have traditions of vampires, so it is a natural progression for the show to take these characters to those corners of the world. Those places aren’t destinations that are settings in the book, but could be the showrunners attempting to expand the journey Claudia and Louis take after leaving Lestat.
