The Vampire Lestat Review: Sam Reid is Electric in Raucous Rock Opera Reinvention of Cult Horror Series
Also starring Jacob Anderson, Assad Zaman, and Eric Bogosian, this rebranded third season of Interview with the Vampire finds Reid’s eponymous character fronting a rock band
by Alex Kaan 5 June 2026
AMC
AMC’s Interview with the Vampire has always been a daring work of television. In faithfully adapting the key romantic element of Anne Rice’s original novels for the first time, showrunner Rolin Jones and co. have delivered an epic queer love story — part period drama, part Gothic horror show. That genre-bending mix has earned critical acclaim and a devoted cult following, but in reimagining the series as a drug-addled documentary character study of a modern-day vampire rock star, this retitled third season upends its foundation and takes a huge swing. As swaggering and chaotic as its titular character, The Vampire Lestat is a hedonistic, heartbreaking cocktail of sex, blood, and existential dread that takes an already masterful series to dizzying new heights.
Where Seasons 1 and 2 followed Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) as he recalled his life story to journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian), the 2025-set third season sees Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid) — outraged at how Daniel’s best-selling book portrayed him — pettily hire Daniel to make a documentary about his multi-city tour as the frontman for rock band The Vampire Lestat. The inherent flaw in the endeavour is not lost on Lestat: he’s trying to be a long-haired rock god about four decades too late, “singing music no one wants to hear in pants no one should ever squeeze into”, as Daniel points out.
AMC
But as the band gradually gains popularity, Lestat finds himself haunted by the “muses” of his past and begins to spiral, while also reigniting his incestuous relationship with his mother, the Vampire Gabriella (Jennifer Ehle). Meanwhile, Louis returns to his roots as a businessman, and Daniel struggles to adjust to life as a vampire after Louis’ ex, Armand (Assad Zaman), turned him in a jealous rage.
After his charismatic, livewire performance made Lestat a fan-favourite in Interview with the Vampire, Sam Reid is sensational in a more raw, intimate portrait of the character that deconstructs the myth and grounds the operatic excess of this mockumentary-meets-fever-dream. It’s a remarkable turn that demands both the charisma to make Lestat a believably worshipped rock star and the sensitivity to drive the devastating character work. And with the story told through his eyes, Jacob Anderson and Assad Zaman excel at playing considerably different versions of Louis and Armand, the former being a tougher, suaver object of desire, and the latter being Armand at his most pathetic.
AMC
Soundtracked by composer Daniel Hart’s reliably moving orchestral score and his blustering rock songs for Reid to sing, the season moves at a breathless, frantic pace that finds editor Yuka Shirasuna working overtime. Yet despite all the drug-fuelled fun, The Vampire Lestat is somehow — in a series not short on tragedy — the saddest season yet. The revamped third instalment takes a poignant look at the trauma of vampirism as it finds its unravelling protagonist grappling with nearly three centuries’ worth of pain.
A bold, riotous reinvention, The Vampire Lestat sees an envelope-pushing series continue to evolve in thrilling style, delivering an unmissable TV event in the process.