‘Interview With the Vampire’ returns for a third season under a new title, ‘The Vampire Lestat.’ As the rechristening suggests, this time around, the narrative takes a heightened interest in the titular vampire. Lestat spirals out after the publication of Daniel Molloy’s book, airing out the dirty centuries-old laundry between him and his fledgling/ex-lover Louis. In turn, he finds himself going down a self-indulgent, hedonistic path of rock and roll.
He assembles a band named after himself and dons the persona of the Vampire Lestat from Molloy’s book. While the rest of the mortal world becomes beguiled by what they assume to be a musician playing an artistic character on the stage, the fanged community of the night takes issue with Lestat’s breach of The Five Great Laws. Consequently, in the midst of chasing destructive highs and attempting to rewrite the narrative, the eponymous vampire must also deal with the dangers of his own kind. SPOILERS AHEAD!
The Auction of Lestat’s Global Catastrophes, The Failures
Unlike previous seasons, the story no longer presents itself as a conversation between Louis de Pointe du Lac and author Daniel Molloy. Instead, it starts off in an underground auction house, attended by the who’s who of the immortal world. Everyone from Armand and Talamasca’s Raglan, James, and even Louis is in attendance. Their presence becomes understandable once it’s revealed exactly what items are up for grabs: the master’s of the complete musical works of Lestat de Lioncourt and his personally customized music box, which houses many treasures, including vinyl recordings of The Failures, in which the vampire regales the events that led up to the great catastrophe of the world himself.
While the masters are intentionally burned before sale, the music box ignites a lucrative bidding war. The contents of the recordings are where much of the story takes place. In the spring of 2025, Lestat decided to start a self-titled rock band. His music and his star persona aligned with his identity as a 145-year-old vampire. However, in the world of showbiz, this is misconstrued as an act, put on for the stage, much like Molloy and his book. In fact, Lestat’s on-stage “character” is interpreted to be in direct connection to the author’s book itself. The band has managed to cultivate a relatively prominent fan following, selling out intimate venues every other night on tour. Furthermore, Lestat has arranged for a documentary, where he’s interviewed by none other than Daniel Molloy.
Montreal Before Spring of 2025
In order to understand how Lestat arrived at this rock-and-roll part of his life, one has to look no further than the month following the release of Daniel Molloy’s book. Prior to learning of the vampiric literary endeavor, the musician-to-be was in consistent touch with Louis. Their relationship seems to have been rekindled through flirty banter and pining to be in the same room together again. However, then, Lestat stumbles across the apparent existence of “Interview With the Vampire,” a book by Daniel Molloy. The book pens down the entirety of the conversation Louis had with the writer, in which an unflattering version of Lestat has a starring role. The book ends up being a big hit, not least because of the “PR stunt” wherein Molloy claims that the book is biographical and based on conversations he had with a real vampire.
As a result, people who have never met Lestat and only think of him as a fictional character begin to have their opinions on the vampire. According to the man himself, these opinions are biased and largely inaccurate. Therefore, poring over the book and the fan reactions to it eventually leads Lestat down a chaotic spiral. He feels out of control of his own identity and perhaps even betrayed by Louis on some level. Things come to a head on Halloween night, when his personal demons are as loud as the garage band’s off-key practice next door. Consequently, he ends up crashing their practice, giving them a music crash course, and breaking a few private properties. In the end, the band’s frontman, Larry, is dazzled by him. Months later, the band Vampire Lestat is formed, creating an artistic and unhealthy outlet for its namesake vampire to try to grasp control of the narrative.
Groupie Baby Jenks and The Fang Gang
In living the life of a rockstar, the hedonistic Lestat has no particular interest in restraint or self-denial. From entertaining groupies and feeding on them to indulging in the more mortal methods of ecstasy, he leaves no stone unturned. However, this ends up leading him down some concerning roads. At one concert, he has a music-fuelled epiphany on stage and ends up feeding on an eager and willing fan on the stage. The fan, Baby Jenks, is almost drained, and Lestat himself nearly overdoses on the various drugs in her system. During this time, he has an out-of-body experience where Baby Jenks’ spirit speaks of his empty pleasures and upcoming danger.
Afterward, Lestat, his band, and even a freshly healed Baby Jenks find themselves at a party. However, this event is also attended by two familiar faces: Tim and Rus, two vampires who have been shadowing the rockstar for some time now. In a confrontation by the urinals, the duo tries to invite him back to meet their covenant in Detroit known as the Fang Gang. Lestat, who knows better than to do so, declines the offer. Afterward, two stories up on the building, he gets intimately acquainted with the Fang Gang, who attack him in a grossly unbalanced fight. Fortunately for him, Daniel Molloy brings reinforcements and saves him. Inversely, in an unfortunate turn of events, this fight ends up revealing Lestat’s vampiric identity to his band members.
Lestat is Reunited With Gabrielle
After the impromptu reveal, Lestat takes off into the night, jumping out of the window and flying away. He ends up in some random hotel in Detroit, bloodied, hungover, and truly down in the dumps. Over the course of the past few days, he has been texting a mysterious number saved in his phone only as TOI. While the others’ messages are sparse and short, his own texts are many in number and earnest in emotion. He is desperate to see TOI again and has repeatedly made his desire for a reunion known. While at first, it may seem like it’s Louis on the other side of the text chain, the narrative delivers a surprising reveal.
While Lestat is in the hotel, he finally gets a promising reply from TOI, who tells him they’re near him. Moments later, a figure appears on the hotel room door. It’s Gabrielle, a woman with whom the vampire shares a varied past. It doesn’t take long for the two to fall into bed together. However, it’s the revelation that arrives afterward that’s truly shocking. As it turns out, Gabrielle is Lestat’s lover, one he turned into his fledgling long ago. Moreover, she’s also his mother, with whom he apparently has a twisted, incestuous relationship.
Read More: When and Where Does AMC’s Interview With the Vampire Take Place?
