Interview With the Vampire: Could Rashid Really Be a Major Novel Character in Disguise?

AMC’s Interview With the Vampire is nearing the end of its first season and as the season moves towards its conclusion, fans of both the adaptation and Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles series of novels have been trying to figure out how some of the various pieces of the puzzle come together — particularly when it comes to one specific character, Rashid. Played by Assad Zaman, Rashid is a character that doesn’t appear in Rice’s Interview With the Vampire novel, but is very present in the AMC series, serving as Louis de Pointe du Lac’s (Jacob Anderson) companion in the present day. Now, with just two episodes left in the first season (one if you consider that Episode 6 is already available for AMC+ subscribers ahead of its broadcast premiere on Sunday, November 6th), fans have even more questions than ever about this mysterious figure that is so fiercely protective of Louis — so much so that some even think that he could be a major novel character in disguise.

Heading into Episode 6, many fans of Interview With the Vampire have started to question exactly who Rashid is. As fans on the r/InterviewVampire subreddit have noted, Rashid is something of a mysterious figure in that he is always seen wearing gloves, does not have vampiric eyes, and Louis has been seen feeding on him, but at the same time we’ve also never seen Rashid in direct sunlight, he has vast knowledge of vampire matters, and is incredibly devoted to Louis. For some fans of Rice’s novels, while the details don’t exactly fit, they think the character could actually be Armand, a major figure from the Interview with the Vampire novel.

In the novel, Armand is a vampire originally turned at the age of 17 in the late 1400s by the vampire Marius. He goes on to become the leader of the Parisian coven of vampires and later joins the Theatres des Vampires. He crosses paths with Louis when Claudia and Louis happen upon the theater and, (without getting into too much detail here so as to avoid potential major spoilers) ultimately is partly responsible for Claudia’s death. Armand ends up leaving with Louis and they remain companions for several decades before parting ways when it’s clear Louis hasn’t gotten over the loss of Claudia. It’s also worth noting that in the novel, after the incidents with Louis, Daniel attempts to find Lestat himself and is instead found by Armand and, eventually, Armand turns Daniel into a vampire.

While the details of Armand from the book do not seem to line up entirely with Rashid in the series, the series has already established some big changes to major characters, particularly Daniel Molloy and Claudia. It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to consider that the series could make some changes to Armand as well and it would, to an extent, explain why Rashid appears to be so devoted to Louis as, in the book, Armand sees Louis as his ticket and connection to the modern world that he has been unable to be a part of on his own.

However, the idea that Rashid could be Armand isn’t the only fan theory floating around about the character. Others have suggested that Rashid’s expansive knowledge — as well as Louis having one of Marius’ paintings — could be an indicator that Rashid is the series’ take on David Talbot, a character who, in Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, is actually a member of the Talamasca, a secret organization that researches and investigates the supernatural — an organization that AMC viewers are likely to find out more about in the next series in its Immortal Universe, Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches.

Interview With the Vampire airs Sundays on AMC.

Do you think Rashid is a different character than we’ve been led to believe? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!