The Emmy Award nominations might have snubbed it for two seasons running, butInterview with the Vampireremains one ofmodern television’s best accomplishments. AMC’s adaptation of the seminal 1976 novel of the same title that launchedAnne Rice’s career isa masterpiece ofhypnotic sensuality, gothic glamour, and boldly detailed character work, the likes of which few other shows will dare to attempt.
Indeed,Interview with the Vampire’s characters are psychologically complex creatures equally capable of sadistic violence and vulnerable intimacy. The late Rice’sThe Vampire Chroniclesseries helped pioneer the concept of the tormented vampire, an indelible image that’s become the expectation when it comes to vampire fiction, rather than the nightmarishNosferatuor even the suavely evilDracula. No one in either Rice’s universe nor showrunnerRolin Jones' interpretation is a hero — even the characters who don’t routinely commit murder — buteveryone is a fascinating, frightening, irresistibly charismatic, and psychologically rich individual.
Played by Bally Gill
Audiences don’t see much of the man Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) designates as the “real” Rashid (Bally Gill), which makes sense.Armand (Assad Zaman) steals Rashid’s limelightby pretending to be Louis de Pointe du Lac’s (Jacob Anderson) reserved, obedient human assistant throughout Season 1.By the time Real Rashid resumes his duties in the second season, there isn’t much left for him to do, besides greet Daniel’s sarcasm with a consistently stony face.
That said, Season 2’s numerous include one hidden in plain sight: obedient is the last thing Real Rashid is.He’s an undercover operative for the Talamasca, a covert agency dedicated to studying and monitoring supernatural creatures(and the subject ofAMC’s upcoming spin-off,Talamasca: The Secret Order). It takes courage to infiltrate a vampire’s abode — even Louis', a less sadistic blood-sucker than his peers — and unflappably maintain one’s disguise. But Rashid also gets the heck out of dodge whenthe brewing tension between Louis, Armand, and Danielturns volcanic. Respect.
9Bricktop Williams
Played by Dana Gourrier
Tragically, we see even less of Bricktop Williams (Dana Gourrier) than the real Rashid. What we do see, however, is golden. A sex worker in Louis' employ and eventually the Madam of Azalea Hall, the Storyville saloon Louis refurbishes into a brothel,Bricktop’s zero-nonsense introduction inthe Season 1 premiereestablishes her as an instant favorite. When paying customer (and reprehensible man) Alderman Fenwick (John DiMaggio) tries to force their sexual liaison from a transactional agreement into assault, Bricktop’s swift, decisive response leaves Alderman alive, but barely.
Gourrier makes the most and then some of her limited screentime. Her inherent power, assurance, and marvelous “eff around and find out” energy turns a guest character into one of the season’s highlights — and it’s no accident that Bricktop is a Black woman, a sex worker, and a profitable business co-owner. Her brutal bluntness earns belly laughs andenrichesInterview with the Vampire’s early 1900s setting from historical supernatural fiction intoa credible universe populated by authentic characters.
Played by Diana Gheorghian
Daciana (Diana Gheorghian) leaves a lasting impression beyond what one might expect froma one-and-done appearance. Louis and Claudia (Delainey Hayles) meet the ancient vampire during their trek across Europe. By this point, Claudia is on a mission to connect with others of her kind who aren’t as toxic or cruel as the handful she’s encountered to date. Her fruitless search finally brings her into Daciana’s domain, butthe “old world” immortal can’t offer any hope to a younger generation.
Daciana and her unnamed vampire son are just as lonely as Claudia and Louis; every other vampire in Romania has perished, and Daciana’s attempts to sire new fledglings have failed (likely due to World War II poisoning humanity’s blood with sorrow). To make matters worse, Daciana mercy kills her son after Claudia removed his eyes in self-defense. Grieving, entirely alone, exhausted by her long life, Daciana rejects Claudia’s offer to travel with the pair, instead throwing herself into the fire. Despite her brief appearance,Daciana underscoresthe unbearably heavy cost of immortality.
IfInterview with the Vampirecontinues followingthe path laid by Rice’s novels, then there’s much more material on its way about the tragic events that shaped a human boy, born as Arun, into an elusive manipulator who operates under a deceptively fragile guise while being anything but fragile.Across his 500 years and counting, Armand has survived abandonment, enslavement, and repeated child sexual abuse. By the time Armand encounters Louis, he has ruled over his assigned Parisian coven for several miserable centuries.He seems genuinely drawn to Louis, an outsider free to disobey the rules Armand isn’t allowed to break, while also nursing jealous insecurity overLouis' and Lestat de Lioncourt’s (Sam Reid) enduring affection — or obsession — with each other.
When push comes to shove, however, Armand sacrifices Louis and Claudia to retain the Théâtre des Vampires' loyalty. Presumably, he considers his coven more reliable companions than the commitment-shirking Louis. Once Louis murders the entire coven, Armand attaches himself to Louis both as a survival mechanism and because Armand has no one left to turn to.Orchestrating Claudia’s murder is unforgivable, butArmand clings to vampiric creeds and commits abominable deeds for the same reason as every other character: he can’t endure spending eternity alone.
Played by Ben Daniels
The glory of Santiago builds down toBen Daniels' performance, and I do mean performance:Santiago is an over-the-top, slithering, vindictive thespian who happens to be a vampire. He believes himself to be far greater than he is, parading across the stage while putting on a sadistic show for the unwitting human audiences who eat up (pun intended) such ghoulishness. Above all else, Santiago craves attention, accolades, and power. He devours every scrap he can gather, whether it’s applause from the audience, overthrowing Armand’s leadership, or interrogating his nightly victims so he knows precisely how to ruin them.
Above all else, Santiago craves attention, accolades, and power.
In a series defined by its flawed characters, Santiago is especially despicable.Daniels delivers that preening menace with magnetic panacheand an appropriately theatrical physicality. Even when he turnsClaudia and Louis' show trialinto torture-for-entertainment,you can’t tear your eyes away from the predatory presence nor the relish with which he utters his most vile dialogue.
5Madeleine Eparvier
Played by Roxane Duran
“My coven is Claudia” is almost explanation enough.Madeleine (Roxane Duran) is a different kind of survivor— of the tuberculosis that killed her family, of Nazi-occupied France, a country forever altered by war, and public humiliation by a mob of her neighbors.Madeleine accepts herself as a human monster long before she seeks eternal life, which makes her transition from one world to another rather seamless. The socially ostracized dressmaker longs for a cure for her isolation and seeks connection, however fleeting, in unforgivable places — until Claudia.
Madeleine is the only person to put Claudia first.She recognizes and responds to a woman who’s equally trapped and lonely, witnesses Claudia’s every truth, andchooses her as her companion, both in their too-brief life together and in death. And in that death, Madeleine remains both as defiant as the hardened shell that’s defined her existence and as devoted as the haven of Claudia’s love allows her to be — vulnerable, frightened, and agonized, but never letting go ofher one-person coven.
4Daniel Molloy
Played by Eric Bogosian and Luke Brandon Field
The king of snark incorporates some much-needed levity intoInterview with the Vampire’s grotesque soap opera meditations. But for all his one-liners,Daniel Molloy sits alongside Louis at the heart of this saga. When the series begins, his Parkinson’s diagnosis forces him to stare his mortality in the face — the end of his life, yes, as well as his numerous regrets and failures. Accepting Louis' offer to resume their original interview offers Daniel the chance to finish his award-winning career with the mother of all exclusives and toresolve his unanswered questions about that fateful night.
Arguably the most moral character,it’s Daniel’s outsider perspective as a human journalist with an experienced nose for the truth that helps him slice through Louis' inconsistencies and Armand’s lies. He loves to poke the bear beyond common sense, and although that recklessness courts danger, the obstinate courage turns his dynamic with his old vampire acquaintance into something entirely unique. He’s not documenting a master predator who has decided not to turn him into prey; it’s a push-pull balance between equals who share more commonalities than they realize. Something tells me Daniel’s going toenjoy his new immortal life.
3Lestat de Lioncourt
Played by Sam Reid
OnceThe Vampire Lestatnoveloffers upLestat’s point-of-view, the man in question evolves from a supporting character into the reigning lead of Rice’s 13-book saga. As things stand in AMC’s adaptation, he’s not worthy of the top spot just yet — but he’s certainly intent on claiming it.Interview with the Vampire’s first two seasons unfold according to Louis' biases and distortions of the truth, both intentional and due to his fractured memories. For him, and for audiences,Lestat is a vision of seduction, violence, flamboyance, and toxic desire.
Lestat de Lioncourt is all those things and more. Devoutly religious as a young man before he was kidnapped, tortured, and turned into a vampire against his will, he dismisses innocent lives and sails across the ocean to exact his revenge upon Louis and Claudia.He’s irresistible and terrifying: a hurricane capable of twisted tenderness and continuing the abuse cycle in equal measure, whichever tactic will keep his “family” together. And like virtually every other major player, Lestat’s actions, even at their most spiteful, stem out of the terror of being alone. Ashis last scene in the Season 2 finaleshows, he encompasses even more dimensions as a pathetic, defensive, and affectionate soul mourning his culpability in his daughter’s death.
2Louis de Pointe du Lac
Played by Jacob Anderson
On paper, the combination of Louis de Pointe du Lac’s hypocrisy and his desperate need to preserve his humanity risks turning his navel-gazing into annoying rather than compelling. Anderson’s masterfully nuanced performance, assisted bythe series' thoughtful changes to the source material, enriches Louis into the perfect lead, unreliable narrator or not. This is a show about damaged, terrible people, andLouis lurks through the world with the kind of melancholic elegance befitting a man who’s a cocktail of emotions before and after his turning.
A former brothel owner, he knows how to maneuver other people into submission and doesn’t hesitate to use those tactics to his advantage.A closeted Black manborn in the late 1800s, he’s forced to work ten times harder for a sliver of his white peers' success, then smiles through gritted teeth to keep his seat at the table with those same racists.He’s negligent and selfish, andhe’s a victim of gaslightingwho personifies sensitivity, empathy, righteous fury, and repressed sexuality, and is haunted by a grieving guiltso all-consuming, he intends his interview to be a long-form suicide note.Interview’s first two seasons track Louis' journey toward reclaiming each part of his identity — and the series wouldn’t soar nearly as high without Anderson’s career-defining work. Lestat might have decadent panache, butLouis owns the night.
Played by Bailey Bass and Delainey Hayles
Claudia isInterview with the Vampire’s most tragiccharacterbar none. Her mind ages each year while she remains a prisoner in her own unchanging body, and it’s difficult to value eternal life under those conditions — especially since vampire society considers her an abomination.She exists as part of Louis and Lestat’s family, but always on the outside, and always as the collateral damage of their vitriol. The sad irony, of course, is that she and Lestat are mirror images, both glorying in their “empowered” bloodshed as much as their unchecked anger.
In life and her undead rebirth,Claudia spends her extended existence as either someone’s second choice or entirely unwanted. Louis condemns her to misery because it assuages his guilt, and Lestat sires her under duress. She seeks out Daciana and the Théâtre des Vampires because she longs for a community to accept her. Instead, she’s met with false celebration, calculated ridicule, and merciless murder, despite having no say in her vampiric existence. She’s simply determined to survive, to enjoy the world, and to find someone who puts her first. Even when she finds the latter in Madeleine,she can’t escape the fateto which Louis condemned her to— saved from human death in a fire, only to die by the sun.Bailey Bass and Hayles' transformative performancesmake a maturing woman in a teenager’s body into a force of nature and an unforgettable tragedy.
Interview with the Vampire
Based on Anne Rice’s iconic novel, follow Louis de Pointe’s epic story of love, blood and the perils of immortality, as told to the journalist Daniel Molloy.
