by Avery Coffey, Staff Writer

Interview with the Vampire, Season 2
Developed by Rolin Jones
Starring: Jacob Anderson, Sam Reid, Eric Bogosian, Delainey Hayles
Available now on AMC+

November of 2022 left us in an ominous place with Louis and Armand: showrunner Rolin Jones compared the final scene to that of The Graduate (dir. Mike Nichols, 1967) with the way it sucks the air out of the room. Despite Louis’ content look and disarmed tone when reintroducing Daniel to the vampire (previously known as Rashid), we see his most beloved possessions locked away in a spot only Armand can reach. This frame haunted its viewers for a year and half until the second season exposed the mental abuse and abuse of power that’s been perpetuated over their 70+ years of companionship.

Going into this second season, that was the last thing on my mind, though. I loved Bailey Bass’ portrayal of Claudia in Season 1. She has a youthful spirit that bled into how she carried herself in character. I was emotionally invested in her feelings of wrath and seclusion. Delainey Hayles was announced to be the re-cast of Claudia, and I was apprehensive for how this would mend with Season 1. This was extinguished before episode 1 was even over.

After the dramatic events of 1940, where Lestat (Sam Reid) was thought to be killed, Louis (Jacob Anderson) and Claudia (Delainey Hayles) embark on a European adventure, encountering a vamp clan of thespians in Paris. Meanwhile, in the present day, Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) continues his intriguing interview, having recently uncovered that Louis' assistant Rashid is, in fact, the powerful vampire Armand (Assad Zaman) in disguise.

I’ve been a consumer of vampire media since Count von Count’s math lessons on Sesame Street. Like a gateway drug, I moved onto Twilight, True Blood, and The Vampire Diaries. Yet, I don’t think I’ve ever been presented with the nuances of being immortal before Interview with the Vampire. The mental crisis that Louis experienced in the 70’s truly couldn’t compare to Edward Cullen’s moody little episode in New Moon. In most cases, we’re presented with narratives of blood-thirsty creatures living out their immortality with nothing but power and privilege. Lestat fits into this archetype through the lens of Louis, and Armand just is this kind of vampire. If Louis ever gives up his humanity, though, it’ll have claw marks in it.

Despite him no longer being a fledgling, Louis still carries his human life with him. His love and passion being his heaviest humane trait: for art, for Claudia, for literature, for Lestat, and for Armand. Armand tries to draw a greater distance between Louis and the things he loves over the course of the newest season. The final act of isolation comes during the trial—episode 7.

Claudia, on the other hand, craves the human experience she was robbed of after being turned when she was only a child. She regularly voices her feelings of isolation and loneliness. This is, in part, because Louis continuously chooses his partners over her. It’s begun to settle in for her that she’ll always be perceived as a child, though. Madeleine, played by Roxane Duran, instills a pride in Claudia after discovering that she’s a vampire. Their shared experience of alienation brings them together. Claudia’s grand act of love, in making Madeleine her companion, costs her their future by episode 7.

Lestat makes his much-awaited appearance for the trial: an episode dedicated to recounting the family’s trauma as an act of humiliation and punishment for Louis and Claudia. In the present day, Armand recounts the memory of being locked away and forced to watch this public execution. Daniel Malloy has been gathering information from the Talamasca throughout their sessions to gain clarity on plot holes to the overall timeline. Unfamiliar flashbacks of the night spent with Louis in the 70s resurfaces and throws him off-course. It’s the night that Daniel almost died at the hands of Louis, and Louis almost killed himself. They were both struggling with their own mental health issues. Armand kept both of them alive: only to establish power over the two of them.

By the end of the season, and with the help of Molloy’s investigating, we learn that Armand was really the villain the entire time. He acted out of selfishness to keep Louis—including letting Louis believe that Lestat almost had him killed. In reality, the entire production of the trial was Armand’s work. Lestat was weak but saved Louis from death. Claudia had to be the sacrifice. And after all of this is said and done, Louis and Lestat’s reunion in New Orleans is a gut-wrenching scene of grief and regret.

This series doesn’t make love out to be a right or wrong feeling. It doesn’t really villainize its characters for acting out of such passion. There are still consequences. Lestat has always prioritized Louis and nothing about that changed this season. His main goal was to save Louis from death by trial. I’m sure he acknowledged the reality that Claudia wouldn’t be making it out if Louis were to live. I don’t think he knew the depth of their relationship until Claudia looked to him right before her death. He explains this moment felt like one where Claudia finally recognized him as a parent. It’s a look that he continues to be haunted by. As the season finale comes to a close, we watch two parents grieve over the loss of their child together for the first time.

Overall, this season was heartbreaking. From the anti-blackness that Claudia and Louis experiences to the never-ending sense of grief, viewers invest a high emotional stake when pressing play. Claudia and Louis want nothing more than to find a place of belonging—only one way that their vampiric experience aligns with their identity as queer beings. There’s never a feeling of comfort within the coven, though. Would I still choose to be a vampire despite this suffering? Probably.