The Vampire Lestat is handing the mic to its titular monster, who’s ready to let his story rip with a string of rock ‘n’ roll songs.
With Season 3 of Interview with the Vampire, showrunner Rolin Jones brings back such beloved characters as Louis (Jacob Anderson), Armand (Assad Zaman), and newbie vampire Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian). But Lestat’s (Sam Reid) story also introduces a new slew of characters.
If you haven’t read the Anne Rice novels on which this series is based, or just can’t recall the finer points, here’s a rundown of who’s who in The Vampire Lestat.
Who is Satan’s Night Out?
Sam Reid is Lestat.
Credit: AMC
The four-piece Montreal-based rock band features guitarist Larry (Noah Reid), his younger, more talented straight-edged brother Alex (Seamus Patterson), their “dumb” bassist Salamander (Ryan Kattner), and their drummer TC (Sarah Swire), who was called Tough Cookie in Rice’s novel.
Once they meet Lestat on Halloween, they become his band, and they’re renamed The Vampire Lestat. As far as they know, the band is building on a character created by Daniel Molloy’s book, Interview with the Vampire, which the world assumed was fiction. They don’t know until the fang fight at Dracula’s Daughter hotel that Lestat really is a vampire.
Who is Baby Jenks?
In Anne Rice’s novels, Baby Jenks was 14 when she was turned into a vampire, courtesy of Killer, leader of the Fang Gang.
In The Vampire Lestat, Baby Jenks (played by 24-year-old Ella Ballentine) seems to have been considerably aged up, much as Claudia was for Season 1 of Interview with a Vampire. For one thing, the rock show she’s at doesn’t seem to be all-ages. And after having group sex in the elevator with Lestat, she chipperly announces she’s getting married next week.
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With her cheery attitude, party drugs, and weird soul-bond with Lestat, this is a very different Baby Jenks than the one in Rice’s novels. But considering Lestat’s already had a brush with the Fang Gang in Detroit, we can assume that we’ll see her again.
Who are the Fang Gang?
In the show, Lestat writes them off as “regional vampires,” who are flexing because they don’t like his songs spilling the secrets of their kind.
However, when they attack him in the halls of Dracula’s Daughter, they reveal they see themselves as “The Children of the Darkness reborn.” Essentially, this grubby gang embraces Armand’s ancient rules about how to be a vampire. One of them even has a tattoo that reads “Armand Told the Truth,” which spurs Lestat to scream in frustration, “What does that mean?!”
When he refuses to come meet their coven’s leader (who could be the aforementioned Killer from the books), the Fang Gang ambushes Lestat with the goal of killing him. But vampires Daniel and Sam, formerly of the theater and now a DJ, intervene, killing the lot.
However, with Baby Jenks in play, we suspect we’ll see more of the Fang Gang soon.
Who is Gabriella?
Jennifer Ehle is Gabriella in “The Vampire Lestat.”
Credit: AMC
In the books, she’s Gabrielle de Lioncourt, the doting mother of Lestat. In the show, she’s played by Jennifer Ehle, and is the “toi” that Lestat has been texting Heated Rivalry-style. He beckons her to come to him as his tour tromps him across the U.S., and in the final scene of “Detroit,” she does in more ways than one.
As you can see from this episode, the pair are close. Like troublingly close. As Lestat puts it, she is his “fledgling. Lover. Mother.”
And now, just as the muses are set loose by his music, and he’s forced to confront 265 years of his past, she’s back. What will that mean for Lestat, Louis, and their fanged circle of friends and foes? We can’t wait to see.
How to watch: The Vampire Lestat premieres on AMC and AMC+ on June 7, with new episodes each Sunday.
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