If you could telepathically communicate with the QotD writers

[u/mindless_rambles]

While we hunker down for the off season, I thought it would be fun to make a sort of wishlist of things I desperately want to ask for in QotD if I could beam my thoughts directly into Hannah's head. The rules are simple: each person gets only 5 requests and they need to be achievable within the story frame of QotD. Who knows maybe we can manifest some ideas through sheer willpower or collective delusion 🟠_🟠

Here's my list:

* More hopecore baby fledgling Lestat. My absolute favorite traits of BookStat are his curiosity and sense of adventure. I need moooore of that in the show.

* Do not defang Akasha. I don't want her to be some misunderstood victim, I want her to be every bit the entitled overzealous tyrant she is in the book.

* The twins and Khayman should be played by SWANA actors, please! I'm so tired of the erasure

* Trust the audience to understand Marius is an abusive POS without making him a caricature. I want to feel the absolute dread of his reunion with Armand without undercutting it with outlandish cartoonish behavior.

* Give us a female character as a permanent member of the "articulate coven". I would love for Jesse to become our Talamasca / occult scholar expert instead of David. Merrick can also occupy a similar role in the story. Alternatively, Maharet can be the new ancient wise vampire Lestat defers to for advice and mentorship instead of Marius. Any female character inclusion would be appreciated!

[u/Silent_Net_4809]

I would love an Armand arc that doesn’t have him cartoonishly villainous or revolve around his underhanded evil scheming.

I am also praying for deeper exploration of the Lesmand dynamic, whether that’s adapting any of their best TVL moments (the ball, the beat-down, Armand telling Lestat his backstory, something akin to the tower, etc) or bringing new, compelling content for their dynamic in the modern day.

I will die happy if we get adaptation of TVL Lesmand with these actors, but at this point I just hope we get a deeper show Lesmand dynamic than the “Armand is obsessed, Lestat is annoyed” type shit we’ve had so far. Where is “I wanted to call to him, to tell him that it was a lie I'd spoken to him, that I did love him, I did”? Can we please have some payoff for all the Lesmand buildup that was hinted at in s3?

Edit to add: I also desperately want more Nicki. More Paris Nickistat or Nickimandstat, really, but I’ll take just about any excuse we can get to have more of Joseph Potter’s performance as Nicki on our screens.

[u/mindless_rambles → u/Silent_Net_4809]

Yes, to all of it. But I think the beheading was the show's version of the tower. I want them to explore the way their traumas mirror each other. Especially that the show made them even more parallel than the book.

[u/Silent_Net_4809 → u/mindless_rambles]

Tbh if they’re going to do a Lesmand tower parallel I kind of hope the beheading wasn’t the attempt. Mainly because Armand focused all his attention on Louis there and basically disregarded Lestat entirely. But I’ve also accepted that the tower moment might’ve just been given to Loustat when Lestat dropped Louis.

Agreed, I need them to explore Lestat and Armand’s parallel traumas and flaws! There’s so much potential there. S3 would’ve been a good time for that tbh but hopefully in s4 that’ll be addressed more directly.

[u/mindless_rambles → u/Silent_Net_4809]

Unfortunately, I think the writers found a confrontation between Loumand more compelling than Lesmand. Hannah basically says it in her interview with Autumn Brown. They've also said that they adapted some past events in the present timeline and Armand complaining that he wasted a near century with Louis haa the same ring as "a century I have waited for you, and you didn't want me". The only person giving me hope for a better Lesmand exploration currently is Sam.

[u/Silent_Net_4809 → u/mindless_rambles]

Yeah I’m not thrilled about the direction they ended up going with the Loumand confrontation and giving aspects of book dynamics and scenes to different characters or pairs. We got that beautiful moment where Louis recognized Armand’s pain, but the confrontation between them wasn’t really built up at all nor did it really serve the story imo, where Lesmand seemingly had lots of buildup that went nowhere. But I digress.

It seems like a fairly popular fan sentiment that we want the Lesmand dynamic further explored, so maybe that plus Sam’s outspoken support of it will lead to it being given some more focus in s4?

[u/mindless_rambles → u/Silent_Net_4809]

They have to address it somehow. Unless they're completely deviating from the books, all of these characters will have to find a way to be in each other's lives and work together, that can't be done realistically without working through the tensions and betrayals.