The first trailer for Anne Rice's Interview With The Vampire series on AMC+ has debuted at Comic-Con 2022. The new series adaptation stars Game of Thrones' Jacob Anderson as Louis and The Newsreader's Sam Reid as Lestat, with Avatar: The Way of Water's Bailey Bass as Claudia, and Eric Bogosian as the interviewer, Daniel Molloy. The show is created by Rolin Jones (Perry Mason, Boardwalk Empire), based on late author Anne Rice's original novel, with the debut episode directed by Alan Taylor (Game of Thrones).
Interview with the Vampire was previously adapted by director Neil Jordan in 1993, starring Tom Cruise as Lestat, Brad Pitt as Louie, Kirsten Dunst (in her debut role) as Claudia, and Christian Slater as Daniel Molloy. Queen of the Damned would follow in 2002, which is the third book in Rice's Vampire Chronicles, starring the late Aaliyah as the powerful vampire Akasha, and Stuart Townsend as Lestat, taking over Cruise's role. The movie was a critical and commercial flop, putting the franchise back in the coffin until AMC picked up the rights with an eye toward adapting Rice's novels for a long time to come.
The new setting of the early 1900's and gothic tone for the new adaptation of Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire are revealed in the trailer (via AMC) for the first 8-episode season. Louis' modern-day look is also revealed, as he recounts the events of the show to Bogosian's interviewer. Fans of the novel will surely spot some of the book's signature moments in what appears to be a faithful, yet updated version of the classic novel, which debuts October 2, 2022 on AMC+. Check out the trailer below:
Click here to watch the trailer on YouTube
While at Comic-Con, executive producer Mark Johnson revealed that Interview with the Vampire season 1 would only cover a portion of the book, with Bass's Claudia being introduced much later in the season, leaving the rest of the story to be told in follow-up seasons. While the show appears to be exceptionally accurate to Rice's book, Johnson says that they "tried to stay as true to the spirit of the book as possible, but it's very much a modern interpretation," which means there will likely be some updated aspects, starting with the jump from the late 1700s in the book to the early 1900s of the show. Johnson also says that the show's Louis and Lestat are "going to be so much more complete than the [1994] movie" as they will have much more time to adapt the full book, rather than a 2-hour runtime.
Interview with the Vampire is one of the most beloved novels of the 20th century, creating a wealth of material to mine for the show, including the massive library of sequel novels in The Vampire Chronicles series. With AMC now having the rights to the series (as well as Rice's Mayfair Witches books) it appears that their Anne Rice universe is about the takeoff, which will hopefully pull fans and non-fans in for the ride. Everything will come down to execution, but if the show is a hit it could scratch the vampire itch and potentially replace The Walking Dead's zombie's as the new monster on the block for the network.
Source: AMC