Interview With the Vampire Star on How the Series Expands on the Movie Adaptation

When AMC’s Interview With the Vampire debuts on October 2nd, it will have been nearly three decades since the film version of Anne Rice’s iconic gothic horror novel of the same name opened in theaters. For many fans of Rice’s work, the 1994 film — which starred Tom Cruise as Lestat and Brad Pitt as Louis as well as Kirsten Dunst, Christian Slater, and Antonio Banderas — is the standard, but according to series star Sam Reid, the upcoming series will expand on the story in a way the movie never could.

“I love the film. I love Tom Cruise’s performance in the movie, too,” Reid, who plays Lestat in AMC’s series told ComicBook.com. “But what we get to do is, when Anne wrote the second book, she sort of broke the character open a little bit and you understand a little bit more, brings in more backstory. And so, that’s what we’ve done. We’ve actually brought, this is the second interview that they have, in order for Louis to sort of have a bit more nuanced version of Lestat. So, I get to bring in all these fantastic elements that she sort of talks about in the books that you don’t really get to see in the movie because there’s only two hours and because it’s more based on that original book and we’re sort of looking at the whole universe. So, it’s super exciting.”

Reid also shared that he is a huge fan of Rice’s books and that, for him, it’s a huge privilege to be a part of this new adaptation.

“Super familiar. Huge fan of the books, huge fan,” Reid said. “When I read that it was going to be made into a TV show I was just really hopeful that I had the opportunity to audition for it. So yeah, huge amounts of pressure because you feel that pressure to make sure that you live up to the character in the world that you love so much. I mean, there’s a huge amount of pressure because they’re so loved these books and this world that she created but also the pressure that you put on yourself to live up to them as well is full on. But what an extraordinary opportunity and gift and privilege to be able to be a part of it.”

Interview With the Vampire debuts October 2nd on AMC and AMC+.