AMC's "Interview With The Vampire" might be the best show on TV

It was 3 a.m. Monday morning when I finally checked my phone and realized I had accidentally devoured the rest of Season 2 of AMC’s Interview With the Vampire. What started as a passing curiosity about the upcoming third season, The Vampire Lestat — premiering this June on AMC and AMC+ — quickly spiraled into a full-on Anne Rice Immortal Universe rabbit hole.

And somewhere in that rabbit hole, I realized something surprising: this adaptation isn’t just “good.” It might genuinely be one of the best-written, best-acted, and best-produced television dramas I’ve seen in decades.

For those unfamiliar, AMC’s Interview With the Vampire is based on Anne Rice’s beloved gothic vampire novels, first adapted into the now-iconic 1994 Neil Jordan film starring Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Christian Slater, Kirsten Dunst, and Antonio Banderas.

After the breakout success of the film, multiple attempts were made over the next two decades to expand Rice’s vampire universe, though most stalled in development. The only major follow-up to materialize was 2002’s Queen of the Damned — a film largely dismissed by critics at the time, yet one that became essential viewing for the goth and nu-metal crowd of the early 2000s.

In the early 2020s, shortly before Rice’s passing, AMC launched the “Immortal Universe,” adapting both Interview With the Vampire and Mayfair Witches, alongside a one-season spinoff centered on the mysterious Talamasca organization.

Like most fans of vampire media, I had seen the 1994 Interview many times. It remains a cornerstone of gothic romance cinema, remembered especially for Tom Cruise’s gloriously unhinged performance as Lestat, Brad Pitt’s melancholic Louis, and Kirsten Dunst’s breakout role as Claudia.

AMC’s series, however, takes the material somewhere even richer.

Jacob Anderson (Game of Thrones) stars as Louis, reimagined here as a Black man navigating early 1900s New Orleans. There, he encounters the magnetic and dangerous Lestat, played with scene-chewing charisma and theatrical delight by Sam Reid. Their relationship becomes the beating heart of the series — a volatile, passionate romance that stretches from 1910s New Orleans to postwar Paris in the 1940s.

In the present-day timeline, Louis recounts his story to weary journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian), decades after Molloy first attempted to interview him in the 1970s.

Season 1 wisely centers itself on Louis and Lestat’s deeply toxic but emotionally nuanced relationship. Bloody, provocative, and surprisingly thoughtful, the show explores themes of racism, religion, emotional dependency, and abuse without ever losing sight of the intimacy at its core.

The arrival of Claudia changes everything.

Following violent race riots sparked after Louis murders a rival businessman in a fit of rage, Louis and Lestat transform an orphaned young Black girl into a vampire. Claudia — played by Bailey Bass in Season 1 and Delainey Hayles in Season 2 — quickly becomes the emotional backbone of the series.

The show smartly ages Claudia up from the 10-year-old child of the novels and film into an 18-year-old, allowing for a darker and more tragic storyline. Much of the first season focuses on the sibling-like bond between Claudia and Louis as she slowly realizes Louis himself is trapped under Lestat’s manipulative and destructive control.

By Season 2, Claudia and Louis flee America in search of other vampires, eventually arriving in postwar Paris, where they encounter a theatrical coven performing grotesque midnight productions for human audiences. It is here that Louis meets Armand (Assad Zaman), expanding upon the second half of the 1994 film — only amplified to operatic extremes.

What makes Interview With the Vampire so remarkable is its balance. In lesser hands, a series juggling time jumps, philosophical musings, racial commentary, queer relationships, psychological abuse, religion, and sexual violence could easily collapse under its own ambition. Instead, Interview manages to weave all of those elements together into something hypnotic, emotional, funny, and consistently compelling.

And visually, the series is stunning.

The lavish production design recreating New Orleans and Paris is breathtaking, but what truly elevates the show is its cinematic presentation. Shot with extraordinary atmosphere and texture, the series actually looks like a film — thanks in large part to cinematographer David Tattersall, whose résumé includes work with George Lucas, the Wachowskis, Frank Darabont, Martin Campbell, and more.

The result is a series bursting with color, shadow, and mood — a stark contrast to the flat, gray-washed aesthetic that dominates so many modern streaming dramas.

Interview With the Vampire is gripping television at its absolute best. By the time the clock hit 3 a.m., I was exhausted, emotionally wrecked, and wiping tears from my eyes — grateful, honestly, that I waited this long to experience it with Season 3 right around the corner.

The Vampire Lestat, the third season of Interview With the Vampire, premieres this June on AMC and AMC+.