Sam Reid on how ‘The Vampire Lestat’ episode 5 changes everything for the Brat Prince

There’s more to Sam Reid’s Say More interview than even we knew at the time.

When the star of The Vampire Lestat sat down with Entertainment Editor Kristy Puchko, she’d only seen the first three episodes of Interview With the Vampire‘s lusty third season. So, she and Reid dug into its details, talking his Taylor Swift-like song about his traumatizing maker Magnus and the dark truth of what he has in common with his fledgling Claudia.

Now, with episode 5 “New York” live, we’re looking back at what Reid teased at the time. Chiefly, he talked about how Lestat begins the season by putting up a façade through his rock star persona. Yep, Louis and Armand aren’t the only unreliable narrators in this fanged franchise.

In his interview with Mashable, Reid spoke to the Lestat’s season-long arc, saying, “It’s really a sort of, like, a portrait of an artist, which was Rolin [Jones]’ point of direction and a constant point of reference. Lestat is a creative being, and how he kind of discovers himself, works himself out, really nuts through his issues, is through his art. And that is of one of the main arcs of the season, is that he’s starting the music as a point of deflection from how he’s been portrayed in [Daniel’s] book.”

Reid went on to explain that Lestat begins by projecting a vampire “schtick” to the public, adding, “But I think deep down, he actually wants to be taken seriously as a musician, as an artist. And progressively throughout the show, the music changes. He’s still looking for his sound, and particularly by the time you get to episode five, everything changes, and the music becomes much more adult.”

How Lestat’s music changes in episode 5

Lestat’s songs, written by Daniel Hart, have ranged in influences from T. Rex and David Bowie to Taylor Swift and The Police. “Long Face” (and possibly “Black Licorice”) are about his tumultuous romance with Louis. “Your Biggest Fan” is about the stalker Magnus, while “Why Do I Have to Feel?” recounts the loss of his beloved Nicky. In episode 4, he offers a diss track called “Big Boss” for Armand. But in episode 5, Lestat peels back the theatrics, swagger, and sex appeal for a song about Claudia called “Stained Glass Eyes.”

At the end of the episode, he plays a song for her on piano. He’s stripped away the two guitars, the bass, the violin, the drums, and the Brat Prince façade. What remains is his grief and regret.

He sings:

The day you were born, I was shaking like a leaf on an old oak tree.

Then you stayed like a thorn. Red roses raining down ’til they flooded me.

Even when we parted ways, you never turned

Never turned your gaze

And I can still, I can still hear you say,

“Don’t break that stare. I’m burning in your mirror tonight.

No, don’t you dare call it yearning. It’s the fear that I’m right.

Don’t you try to forget all the things you regret.”

In those stained glass, stained glass eyes.”

As he sings, he sees Claudia staring back at him, as he has seen his slain brothers, Nicky, Magnus, and others. As he sings about how “you never turned… your gaze,” the episode crossfades to Claudia’s death. Her sun-scorched flesh flutters to ash as she stares down Lestat, her father, uncle, maker, and mirror. This moment crosses over into the present as the ash from her execution falls into his hair as he sings in the recording studio.

As the band comments when they play the finished track back, “Stained Glass Eyes” doesn’t fit with the sexy and scathing songs they’ve been playing on tour. Lestat knows. He says they’re killing the other tracks and starting over. This leads to Larry’s fateful and fatal departure (RIP, Larry), and the rest of the band begging to be made vampires so they can stay on this musical odyssey with their front man.

Lestat drops the act in episode 5.

This shift from sexy to sincere reflects something Reid said in our Say More interview, about how Lestat has been trained to behave by the two biggest influences in his life and death.

“He’s got two makers, you know,” Reid mused. “He’s got his mother, and he’s got Magnus. Both of those figures are very, very influential in what forms him as a character, and [both] are abusive. He’s a highly sexualized character, because he’s been sexualized from the beginning. Whether it’s his mother wanting to love him to the point of being with him, because she wants to live vicariously through him, or whether it’s his maker wanting what he sees on stage, that kind of performer, that spark, and eroticizing him and making him this kind of perfect, immortal being. It’s the only way he knows how to express himself, is by thrusting around on stage and writhing around. And so we do ask the audience to come with him on the journey. Maybe don’t understand it at first, but it’s a slow unraveling that he begins to unravel too.”

How to watch: The Vampire Lestat debuted on AMC and AMC+ June 7, with new episodes weekly.