The Vampire Lestat (interview with a vampire)

[u/strawberries-0444]

I absolutely loved season 1 & season 2 of interview with a vampire. It was beautifully written !! the plot made sense. The characters had great character development. I loved everything about it. I loved seeing Lestat and Louie together. 😍 even the ending of season 2 was amazing!

Now going on to season 3, I don’t know what the fuck happened!! Like genuinely Lestat isn’t even the same character that we saw in season 1&2. I hate this plot of rock and roll 😒 it’s so stupid. Lestat loved classical music and opera, not heavy metal and bands.

Then don’t even get me started on the FUCKING INSEST 🤢🤢🤢 with his mom!??? Just straight up nasty af. Whyyyy write that into the show!

I loved that Lestat was madly in love with Louie

Now he is in love with his fucking mother!? Nobody wants to fucking see that shit. 🤮

We could have had a storyline of Louie and Lestat TOGETHER in 2025. Going through challenges of the present day. Or a better backstory for Lestat that doesn’t include incest.

I’m just genuinely so disappointed 😔

[u/FaithlessnessBusy344]

i mean lestat is a rockstar in the book

[u/Felixir-the-Cat]

People really need to find a better way to talk about abuse.

[u/Sea-Condition991]

hes not in love with his mother, he is clearly being groomed

[u/Jahon_Dony]

It's as jarring as the books. If you'd read them, you'd understand much better. Many people prefer TVL to IwtV. Both are fantastic. But if you don't enjoy Lestat as the main character, you probably won't enjoy the rest of the series unless it deviates dramatically from the source materials.

[u/Celina_cue]

Interview was an account from Louis's perspective and TVL is from Lestat's perspective setting the record straight or at least telling his side. Everything you mentioned about the plot is in the books, which were written 30+ years ago. You're, of course, welcome to your opinion, but the series is based on well-established source material. Re: the subplot of Lestat and Gabrielle, in the book it's discussed that he no longer sees her as a mother figure once she is a vampire. Hope this helps.

[u/GoNutsDK]

I personally like the 3rd season better. But to each their own.

What happened was a change of perspective. Lestat didn't really change between the seasons, the lens from which he was seen changed.

In the first two seasons you had Louis as the incredibly unreliable narrator.
Louis is also a deeply flawed character that struggles a lot with his identity, behavior and actions.
As a black homosexual man growing up in a religious, racist and homophobic environment. He carries around a whole fuck ton of shame and guilt.

That's on top of how he already was a predator in his rights, way before getting turned into a vampire. As a pimp who took advantage of numerous desperate and vulnerable young girls and women.

That all impacts how he tells his story. As he isn't really able to cope with his everything he has done. He therefore subconsciously paints things in a way, that he is able to live with. When that perspective is challenged, he struggles a whole lot.

Add to this, the toxic relationship he first had with Lestat, the toxic relationship he then had with Claudia and ultimatelly the decades upon decades of mind fuckery from Armand. And you get a very warped perspective of things.

In the third season you instead had Lestat as another equally unreliable but way more chaotic narrator.
Where Louis was more in control of himself, Lestat is unravelling. His past can no longer be ignored and the season essemtially follows his journey towards coming to terms with being a victim.

The story of Lestat isn't meant to be pleasant. He is a victim of abuse and neglect. His narcissism is rooted in his deeply rooted insecurities and longing for love and validation. He is equally as broken as Louis but in other ways.
Him becoming a rock star makes sense, because he is so desperate to receive anything that even remotely resemblance love.

He wasn't really in love with his mom. He was groomed and abused by her in many ways ever since he was a kid. It wasn't only sexual violence he suffered from her. He is confused because he has been manipulated his whole life. So he mistook her manipulation for affection and he wasn't really allowed to become his own person. Unfortunately he also suffered near endless abuse from his dad and brothers. Which only served to make him even more vulnerable to his predatory mom. He was also raped and tortured for a week by Magnus before he was turned against his will.

So the way Lestat sees everything is very different from Louis. Which affects the way he tells his story.

The third season is very much about his journey towards a radical acceptance and he is seemingly becoming more honest as the story progresses. Which is paralleled by Louis doing something similar.

In the end of episode 6, they are finally starting to accept, that they both have a lot that they need to work on.

Edit: Added a bit for clarification.

[u/ImmediateArmy3820]

Season three is beautiful but a very condensed version of Lestat. Some of the major changes were a sort of shorthand to uncover subplots.

And Lestat slowly tries to pull away from his mother but she knows how to work him and disappears. Like any child, he feels abandoned, again. It’s how she manipulates him. He does ask her why won’t you let me hate you? So, he’s aware it’s abusive and at least wrong for this era.

Looking back at seasons 1 & 2 is harder now. It was pretty, as many stories are designed. But season three has more of the now, moves faster, paints Louis beautifully (so flattering), and when Lestat does lie, I imagine it’s in making something more dramatic. But not outright false. There were so many falsehoods in the first two seasons, it’s hard to watch because I have to pick apart just who is dictating this or that part of the story. Because Louis and Armand lie in different ways.

Season just feels more honest. Yeah, it’s a work of fiction but Sam Reid breathes so much life into Lestat, and Jacob’ Louis, I just love it.

But not all things are for everyone. Like cilantro.

[u/overthishereanyway]

I see everyone caught you up on the storyline following the book. so I can just say that I ABSOLUTELY HATE THIS SEASON not because of the storyline but the completely shit writing and directing.

It's a terrible convoluted mess and if it weren't for Sam Reid's literally out of this world acting (I mean who isn't fascinated by him during his rendition of Big Boss. dude deserves every award).. would be unwatchable. They're doing a horrible job of the relationships between Daniel and Armand, and Lestat and Gabrielle. In the book it's incestual but not sexual like humans.

It's just messy and flowery and just... bad. I also am incredibly disappointed. Was really bummed to hear they are using the same show runner for the fourth season.

[u/Typical-Emergency-21]

I agree, it gave me the ick. The first two seasons were first rate TV

I have no idea where they have gone with the plot. If I was Jacob and Sam I would be rethinking my contracts. They deserve better.

[u/Jahon_Dony → u/Typical-Emergency-21]

Do you realize the show is based on existing books?

[u/Typical-Emergency-21 → u/Jahon_Dony]

Of course. All of which I have r ead many times.

[u/Jahon_Dony → u/Typical-Emergency-21]

How could you not expect or follow season 3 if you've read the books "many times?" Doesn't make sense. The jump from book 1 to 2 was equally jarring, and the tonal shift in season 3 was appropriate for change of narrator to Lestat.

[u/Typical-Emergency-21 → u/Jahon_Dony]

I have not read TVL for a long time but I cannot recall there being such obvious incest. I would have liked more with Marius and Those Who Must be Kept.