Interview with the Vampire Post-Mortem: Sam Reid On 'Messy' Lestat and Lestat's Reunion With Louis
It's a good thing we're getting an Interview with the Vampire Season 3 after that crushing and gripping finale.
We knew the fallout from the trial would be dramatic and haunting, and it was. Louis got out of the crypt thanks to Armand and enacted his brand of revenge against those who took Claudia from him.
The hour is brilliant in all the ways this series continues to be. And it delivered one of the biggest shocks to date, as we learned what was happening in Paris leading up to the trial and Lestat's role in it.
Interview with the Vampire Season 2 Episode 7 showed the gruesome and heartbreaking vampire trial of the century, with Louis, Claudia, and Madeleine paraded on stage in front of an unknowing audience.
Lestat, played as usual to absolute perfection by Sam Reid, played his part as the almost-murdered victim. However, you could tell there was something off about his performance at times.
Several times, head orator Santiago, wholly in his gleeful element bringing pain and hopeful death upon his fellow vampires, seemed frustrated with some of Lestat's words and outbursts.
After the events in the finale, we have a much better understanding of Lestat's actions and a clearer picture of the trial as a whole.
We chatted with Sam Reid about the season, particularly the last two hours, which were heavy but eye-opening as they related to Lestat and his relationships.
Lestat made his grand entrance into the trial, and while he looked as put together as we're used to seeing him, he wasn't necessarily feeling the same way on the inside.
"It's hell," Reid said when asked about what it was like for Lestat to walk into the theater and see Louis and Claudia for the first time. "It's pure hell. It's not somewhere he wants to be.
"It's not something that he wants to do. It's a scenario that I feel like he tried to avoid. He hates the theater. He hates this new coven. He hates the way they've set things up. I just don't think he's happy about it. But he's playing the game of the show and going along with the plan.
"But Lestat, he's not a planner. He's a mess. So, it's a very chaotic situation for him.
"But there's no world in which Lestat would let Louis die. There's no world in which he would sit there and watch him die. It's just not possible.
"So I'm not sure if he fully knows what he's going to do at that trial, but it does start to become clear to him as it goes forward.
"I think mostly he's trying to get into that audience and make sure they're totally compliant and totally on his side and with him and eating out of his hand.
"He is making sure that he is seducing that entire room, so when the time comes when he has to get into their heads to make a decision, they're going to be willing because it takes a huge effort.
"It's not an easy power to do that mind control. It takes a huge amount out of him."
Lestat not having a plan at first makes sense for him, and as Reid further explained, "I think when he sees Louis and when he sees Claudia, and he sees the situation, it's too overwhelming for him.
"He has his feelings on his sleeve, speaking the first thing that comes to your mind. He doesn't really think things through. He's not a good manipulator. He's just wild.
"He's calculating, which is obviously chaotic in itself, but I think he can't not say some of the things he has to say."
The finale delved into the trial's aftermath, including Armand's rescuing of Louis and Louis's subsequent quest for revenge, culminating in his taking down the entire coven, save for Armand and Sam.
Once Louis had the opportunity to talk to Armand and get answers to some of his questions, he sought out Lestat and found him in his maker's lair.
Louis is stone-cold in that subsequent meeting, with a parting shot to Lestat that was surprising to Reid.
Though he's surprised by much.
"There's so much that surprises me all the time," Reid explained. "Little things that were complicated with how much power Lestat had. I was surprised by that.
"To be honest, the tower scene or the scene with Louis, Lestat, and Armand and that kiss that Louis and Lestat have, oh, sorry, Louis and Armand have in front of Lestat is... When we read that the first time, I'm like, 'Oh my God, this is just wild levels of brutality.'
"Cruel but also like, 'Oh my God, Louis, wow, what a move.' It was great. That was a wonderful surprise that I loved."
One of the rather intriguing pieces of the show is how the audience views Lestat, which this season has been through various eyes, including Louis and Armand's.
There is a different version of Lestat depending upon whose eyes we see Lestat through, which Reid had an interesting perspective on.
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"It's complex because I think people change all the time," Reid said. "But, look, I think I would be doing Louis a huge disservice by saying he got him entirely wrong. They can't love each other that much, and he completely misinterprets a person or a vampire.
"So I think there are elements that Louis did get right about him. Sometimes, maybe his intentions are incorrect. But there are also the elements of dream stuff, that he also is what Lestat is actually like or at least how their relationship actually was.
"Armand's point of view of Lestat is that there are elements that are probably going to be right, but there are also elements that are probably aggrandized.
"The reality is Lestat is a bit more messy than both think he is. He's flying by the seat of his pants all the time in life.
"What that means is it looks like somebody's really confident and capable and calculating, but, actually, when you are that person who seems like you really have things in control, you're very out of control, and it is a farce.
"So that's the one thing I think the real Lestat is, he's a bit more messy. When you see him for the first time at the end, obviously, he's totally shattered and a shell of himself. I think it's probably like, 'Oh, that guy really has no clue about how to get from A to B. He's just in a cannon.'
"He's going to land somewhere."
Speaking of the time we see Lestat in the present, reuniting with Louis in a storm-ravaged New Orleans, it's an incredibly moving and emotionally charged scene between two vampires with a long history.
It's a chilling moment for the pair, acted so beautifully between Reid and Jacob Anderson, whose electric chemistry always plays wonderfully on-screen.
When asked about filming the scene, Reid told us, "It was a pretty fun thing to shoot because we had leaf blowers on set, and there were people actually shaking the sets to give it that hurricane feeling."
However, regarding what that moment felt like for Lestat, Reid had a wonderfully nuanced response.
"I think it was sad because Lestat's really just been there waiting for him," Reid explained. "Certain things have happened while he's been back in New Orleans, but since the trial and the metaphorical push off the tower, Lestat's been forced to reflect on himself.
"It's pretty sad to think that you were so horrendous that somebody who you loved wished to punish you by being with somebody else. It's pretty wild.
"But I think the saddest thing, and this is something Rolin always talks about. The saddest thing is that when Claudia dies, the two people, the two vampires who should have spent time with each other and processed that and gone through that are Louis and Lestat.
"But instead, they blew even further apart, and they were never able to process her death, and so both of them went through this horrendous, prolonged grieving that resulted in just 77 years of suffering for both of them.
"Whereas if they had just both been able to swallow their pride and stop being so stubborn for a second and rather than push, push, push each other and actually process her death, I don't know.
"They would've had a happier 77 years. But then, it's not good storytelling. It's not fun. We'd much rather watch them suffer."
***This interview has been edited for length and clarity.***
You can watch Interview with the Vampire Season 2 on AMC+.