The Rockstar Lestat has entered the building. The cast and crew of “Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire” took the stage at San Diego Comic-Con’s Ballroom 20 to tease the AMC+ series’ hotly anticipated third season.
Fans were given an exclusive sneak peek backstage in a new teaser featuring star Sam Reid delivering an electrifying stage performance as the vampire Lestat.
At the scream-filled panel, five new cast members were also revealed: Jennifer Ehle (“Lioness”) as Gabriella, Ella Ballentine (“Black Conflux”) as Baby Jenks, Jeanine Serralles (“Apples Never Fall”) as Christine Claire, Christopher Heyerdahl (“Under the Banner of Heaven”) as Marius and Damien Atkins (“Slings & Arrows”) as Magnus. It was also confirmed that fan-favorites Delainey Hayles and Assad Zaman will return to the series.
The crew unveiled three minutes of footage from the new season, including a tense conversation between Louis and Daniel concerning the now-published book, a boardroom confrontation between Louis and Lestat, and of course, lots of blood.
The panel also shed light on the new series “Anne Rice’s Talamasca,” including its release date of Oct. 26. Eric Bogosian, who portrays investigative journalist and author of “Interview With a Vampire” Daniel Molloy, made a surprise reveal that he will reprise his role, guest starring as a crossover character in the new show. Screams and cheers echoed throughout the ballroom as his character appeared in screen in the brand new teaser trailer.
“Daniel has dealt with the Talamasca before,” Bogosian told the crowd. “The Talamasca has been living on the edges of Daniel Malloy’s consciousness, and now he’s found out that the Talamasca is pulling him in deeper into their world.”
The crew behind “Interview Wth the Vampire,” including cast members Reid, Bogosian and Jacob Anderson, plus executive producer Mark Johnson and showrunner/executive producer Rolin Jones, stopped by the Comic-Con Variety Studio presented by Google TV to tease more details of the season.
Assuaging fan fears that this season’s POV shift towards Lestat could mean less Louis, Anderson shared, “I can say that Louis is not hugely pleased with the book’s existence, if that is a good tease. I’m here! I’m here.”
“No one should worry at all. There’s way more Louis in our show than there is in the book,” Jones added.
Reid, who learned the music for the rockstar Lestat before seeing the scripts for Season 3, also spoke to his experience in combining the two puzzle pieces to form a complete picture of his character’s journey. “It was deeply satisfying actually, because the songs are incredible pieces alone, but there’s also a show that we shoot, and it’s got story. There are scenes that exist within the performances, within the actual songs themselves. Layering Rolin’s work on top of [composer Daniel Hart’s] work is quite challenging. They’re very different, but they both have a singular vision. Sometimes I feel like I get caught up in the middle of the whirlwind of the two of them, but I think that works perfectly for a start. He’s all chaos, all the time.”
Google TV is the presenting sponsor of the Comic-Con Variety Studio.