After a brutal fifth episode, this week’s Interview With the Vampire, “Like Angels Put in Hell by God”, saw Louis (Jacob Anderson) and Claudia (Bailey Bass) attempt to recover from Lestat’s (Sam Reid) brutality — and for Louis that recovery is no minor feat. Lestat’s beating left him gravely injured and dealing with some very complex trauma that, even with Claudia’s presence, is difficult to process, not to mention Lestat attempting to come back into the picture claiming deep remorse. It’s a deeply complicated situation, one that Anderson describes as a “house of horrors” even before Lestat returns.
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Speaking with ComicBook.com, Anderson explained that for Louis, his anguish and depression over everything that happened with Lestat has manifested in sort of a numbness, something that he feels is important to show because depression and trauma can manifest in different ways for different people.
“I think when everything is still fresh, I think he’s probably in such a state of overwhelm that he’s probably in a bit of a kind of state of flux. I’m not sure if he can really put all of the pieces together,” Anderson said. “When we first see him and he’s lying in his coffin, I think he’s almost, he’s like bordering on catatonic. He can’t take care of himself. Claudia is rehabilitating him, supporting him, feeding him, and he’s not looking to the things that normally comfort him. He’s not reading. He’s not taking walks. Louis is clinically depressed in that episode and going forward. I know that everybody’s experience of depression is different, but for me, I find sometimes it’s almost a state of not apathy … but I think it’s just this numbness. I think he just hates this numbness.”
He continued, “But saying that I think early on before Lestat comes back into the house, I think it’s about him realizing that the only way for him and Claudia to be safe is for it to be just them. Their house is not a safe place to be anymore, and obviously I think the way to make that happen comes up later on in the episode, but I think at that point it’s like there’s something really comfortable and safe and secure in this state of rehabilitation that they’re in. They’ve made this house of horrors into a kind of nest for at least this short amount of time.”
Anderson also explained that even with the home being a “house of horrors”, when Louis does finally take Lestat back, it’s very much because of this invisible, difficult to explain vampire bond — and despite the abuse, he simply cannot leave.
“In a vampire context, there is this thing, this vampire bond that is something that bonds these two vampires for eternity,” Anderson said. “It’s this very, very hard to define dynamic and it’s kind of built around love and around need and desire and also probably fear. I, as a human, find it difficult to understand why somebody stays, but then I think there’s just this thing that Louis talks about in the episode that is like, there is no human equivalent. There is no way to adequately and satisfyingly articulate what this bond is and what it means and what it feels like and what it does to your body and your mind. And obviously, that can be an allegory for something.”
Will There be a Second Season of Interview With the Vampire?
While the first season of Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire is well underway on AMC and AMC+, the critically acclaimed series has already been renewed for a second season, a renewal that was handed out ahead of the series’ premiere.
“The scope and breadth of this show, and what Mark and Rolin have delivered, is just stupendous,” Dan McDermott, president of original programming for AMC Networks and AMC Studios, said in a statement. “They have rendered the rich and vibrant world of Anne Rice‘s Interview in a wonderful way, and we’re incredibly proud. From the set build to production design, costumes, and more — no detail was overlooked. This stellar cast delivers powerful performances that emotionally connect us to these characters and their humanity. We look forward to sharing the final product of this extraordinary effort with audiences in just a few short days and are thrilled that this story will continue. This is only the beginning of an entire Universe featuring enthralling stories and characters that capture the spirit of Anne Rice’s amazing work.”
Interview With the Vampire airs Sundays at 10/9c on AMC. You can also stream new episodes on AMC+.
