“The Vampire Lestat”: All the gory details about “Interview With the Vampire”'s third season

Randall ColburnWed, May 27, 2026 at 4:57 PM UTC

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Sam Reid as Lestat on 'The Vampire Lestat'
Credit: Sophie Giraud/AMCKey Points -

Interview With the Vampire season 3 will officially be titled The Vampire Lestat.

Sam Reid's Lestat will share his side of the story while finding stardom as a rock god.

Season 3 premieres on June 7.

Interview With a Vampire's interview is over. Now, it's time for The Vampire Lestat to take center stage.

After two seasons spent with Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson), AMC's series adaptation of Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles is shifting its focus to Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid). This new perspective is so momentous that the series is changing its name from Interview With the Vampire to The Vampire Lestat, the same name as Rice's 1985 novel about Lestat's rise to rock stardom.

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Anderson described season 3, which debuts on June 7, as "tonal whiplash in the most intentional way," with Reid adding that he was "anxious" heading into the season because "it's such a huge departure."

Excited as fans are to see Reid's lethal Lestat writhe beneath the spotlight, they also have questions. Does The Vampire Lestat still have room for Louis and the series' supporting cast? How faithful is it to the book? And, perhaps most importantly, when does it come out?

Read on for everything we know so far about Interview With the Vampire season 3.

What is Interview With the Vampire season 3 about?

Sam Reid rocks out as Lestat in 'Interview With the Vampire' season 3
Credit: Sophie Giraud/AMC

Season 3 of Interview With the Vampire will shift perspectives, with Lestat stepping into the spotlight following the publication of Interview With the Vampire, the "fictional memoir" Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) penned with the help of Louis. Lestat, as you might imagine, is not pleased with how he's depicted.

"In season three, resentful of the perfunctory portrayal in the trashy bestseller Interview With The Vampire, the Vampire Lestat sets his story straight in a way only the Vampire Lestat can — by starting a band and going on tour," reads the season's official logline. What follows is a "sexy pilgrimage across space, time, and trauma," with the events of the first two seasons being revisited from Lestat's perspective.

Lestat is filming a documentary about his tour in order to "rewrite" his story.

"I don't think we should ever try and say that Louis is a liar or unreliable — he's remembered things that are perfectly valid," Reid told Entertainment Weekly in July 2025. "But I don't think that Lestat has the same intention to tell his story as Louis has. He's not trying to necessarily unpack something that might be wound in his head incorrectly. Lestat is much more aware of the structures in which the storytelling might or might not take place."

That storytelling will include "music, music videos, and recordings," Reid told us, adding that the creative team is "finding a wonderful, cool way to weave that through a lot of the denser parts."

Showrunner Rolin Jones said, "If season 3 is sort of attacking the id of Lestat, we disassemble a lot of stuff that's inside him. That's what's exciting about the structure of it: It starts out with all the armor upfront, and then we just start smashing away. It definitely is the biggest swing of the three years, there's no doubt."

But it's not all about Lestat. Louis, too, will play a key role. And he'll do so alongside Claudia (Delainey Hayles), who died last season. How she returns remains a mystery for now, but Hayles told EW that the vampire's daughter is "playing on [his] mind a lot, and that's something he'll never heal from.

Is Interview With the Vampire season 3 a musical?

Sam Reid as Lestat in 'Interview With the Vampire'
Credit: Sophie Giraud/AMC

Interview With the Vampire season 3 is not a musical in the traditional sense, though Reid told EW that he sings quite a lot in the upcoming episodes, which will feature original songs penned by composer Daniel Hart.

"I've been with him working with him on the songs first," Reid said. "It's been a really interesting way to approach a character, by coming in through the music to start with before we had any scripts. Trying to work out the character's arcs through the songs has been an adventure in itself."

Jones also spoke with EW about incorporating the songs into the drama. "What you didn’t want is songs just dropped in," he said. "Quite often, we would build scenes and story arcs around songs that Daniel wrote and said, 'I think Lestat would have sang this' ... He’s on a rock tour, so songs will be sung. A lot of them are on-camera performed, and then a lot of them are tied to memories that we have, and sometimes we get super weird with them. And sometimes they’re wallpaper, too, for storytelling."

Does Sam Reid sing in The Vampire Lestat?

Sam Reid as Lestat on 'The Vampire Lestat'
Credit: Sophie Giraud/AMC

Yes, you will hear Reid singing in season 3. He pre-recorded his songs, but the series will also feature the actor singing live.

"I don't want it to look like a music video," he told EW. "I want to see some f----ups. I want to see the veins when I'm singing. I don't want it all to be perfect. I want it to feel like it's an organic happening."

He added, "[Singing live] meant that I could act the scene rather than me trying to mime along to a pre-recording."

You can listen to Reid rock out with the single "Long Face" right now.

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Who's returning for Interview With the Vampire season 3?

Jacob Anderson as Louis on 'The Vampire Lestat'
Credit: Sophie Giraud/AMC

Reid will lead season 3 of Interview With the Vampire (ahem, The Vampire Lestat), but that doesn't mean Anderson's Louis will be left in the dust. That said, he may manifest in ways you don't expect. Since we're getting Lestat's side of the story, Louis will be rendered as he exists through the eyes of Lestat.

"Sam worked really hard for two years as a supporting actor, and I think Jacob is very excited to do the same thing for him, and put Sam front and center," Jones previously told EW. "We've just scratched the surface with Sam, who's an incredible actor."

The ancient vampire Armand (Assad Zaman) will also return in season 3, this time through the lens of Lestat's perspective. "It's fun to play the more irritated gremlin Armand that Lestat knows rather than the very put together, charming Armand that you see in season 2," Zaman told us. "I think Lestat's Armand is a little more desperate and empathetic and slightly irritating."

Bogosian's Daniel will also return, this time as a vampire (and documentarian). And the actor told us that he and Lestat are like when "an irresistible force hits the immovable object."

“The very first time I sat and listened to Louis, it was mesmerizing," Bogosian said. "There was always this confluence that was happening as we went along and we learned things together. That never happens with Lestat. He considers Daniel an annoyance."

Who's joining the cast of Interview With the Vampire season 3?

Jennifer Ehle as Gabriella on 'The Vampire Lestat'
Credit: Sophie Giraud/AMC

Several key characters from The Vampire Chronicles will debut in season 3, the most notable of which is Lestat's mother, Gabrielle, who is here named Gabriella and played by Jennifer Ehle (Lioness).

Speaking with EW, Ehle described Gabriella as "a monster, but a completely liberated monster."

She added, "Gabriella's unique in this world because she had absolutely no agency and no power whatsoever in her real life. She was married so young, to a horrible man, and very isolated in a country where it wasn't even her first language. She's then liberated and given complete and utter freedom. It was interesting to play both sides, the abused woman who was deeply unhappy and then to become somebody completely liberated and ruthless."

"She has a real cruelty to her," Reid said. "She just does it so beautifully. I think you really understand Lestat better. I think you feel like you get to know him so much more through his relationship with his mother."

Season 3 will also see the arrival of Magnus, a key figure from Lestat's past, played by Damien Atkins (Slings & Arrows). Christopher Heyerdahl (Peacemaker), meanwhile, will play the Roman vampire Marius, a fixture of Rice's book series.

Also joining the cast are Ella Ballentine (The Dark and the Wicked) and Jeanine Serralles (Apples Never Fall) as Baby Jenks and Christine Claire, respectively.

Is there an Interview With the Vampire season 3 trailer?

Lestat's hard body (and hard-partying lifestyle) is on full display in The Vampire Lestat trailer, which serves to tease the documentary Daniel is helping Lestat make.

"Why have you chosen to sing music no one wants to hear in pants no one should ever squeeze into?" Daniel asks in the clip.

"You are confused about the pursuit. It is about pure expression!" Lestat roars in response.

Elsewhere, we catch glimpses of Lestat's childhood, his twisted relationship with Gabriella, and what life on tour looks like for this hedonistic vampire.

Is there an Interview With the Vampire season 3 release date?

Yes, Interview With the Vampire season 3 (a.k.a. The Vampire Lestat) will premiere on June 7.

Where can I watch Interview With a Vampire?

Interview With the Vampire is currently available to stream on AMC+ and Netflix.

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