How to Prepare for Lestat’s Return in ‘Interview With the Vampire’s Most Pivotal Episode

[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Interview With the Vampire Season 2 Episode 6 “Like the Light by Which God Made the World Before He Made Light.”]

Ladies and gentlemen, Lestat de Lioncourt is ready for his close-up.

As fans of AMC‘s exceedingly fangtastic Interview with the Vampire know, reports of the undead pot-stirrer’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. At the end of last week’s episode, it was revealed that Sam Reid‘s ancient bloodsucker had not only survived the Season 1 finale murder attempt by lover Louis (Jacob Anderson) in New Orleans but was also now in Paris with the Théâtre des Vampires coven he created.

This week, Lestat is stepping back on stage for what Anne Rice readers will recognize as a pivotal event with seismic aftershocks: The trial of Louis, adopted “daughter” Claudia (Delainey Hayles), and her companion Madeleine (Roxane Duran) for high vampiric crimes.

The hour is the first half of the season’s staggeringly cinematic dénouement, which resolves in an equally unexpected finale on June 30. There are majestic performances, shockingly intimate moments, and top-tier writing that is both heartbreaking and beautiful. Even showrunner Rolin Jones is surprised by what his team has accomplished.

“I’ve been doing the TV stuff for 18 years, and this is the most satisfying piece of art I had anything to do with,” he told TV Insider’s Kelli Boyle. “[Episodes] 7 and 8 feel like cathartic culminations of a very, very large swing. I think it delivers.”

Oh, it does. And it also has the power to devastate. So, here are five things to keep in mind going into the second season’s penultimate hour…

1. Revenge isn’t always a dish best served cold.

“Lestat [is] coming back to avenge his death, but then I would ask you to look at the situation that Louis got himself in,” notes Reid, admitting that while his character is “not very lethal” this time around, “I’d say he has got a bite this season … a verbal bite.” Still, Louis did kill him, “and I don’t think that went unnoticed by Lestat,” he continues. “He didn’t just wake up in the dump and be like, ‘Oh, I’m the same guy again!’ That took a certain toll on him and his actions are informed by that.”

2. Love never dies.

Attempted sire-cide doesn’t seem to be a total deal breaker for Lestat, according to Reid.

“I never felt like Louis killing Lestat — a change that we made from the books, from Claudia to Louis actually being the one who did the final blow — I never really felt like that reduced or diminished his love for Louis in any way, ever. Because they’re vampires,” he said with a laugh. “They kill every day! Also, he’s not dead. Louis didn’t kill him. He can be pissed off about it, but it’s sort of putting it into the context of ‘It’s messy, but you still have feelings.'”

“Lestat loves Louis. He loves him, so I don’t ever think he’s acting maliciously,” he noted to Boyle. “He’s chaos. He’s pure chaos, and it is chaotic to love somebody like that. But Louis’s also pretty chaotic.”

3. Perspectives can also change.

Most of this season has been framed around either Louis’ faulty memories or the POV of his hovering, protective new beau — and former Lestat fling — the Vampire Armand (Assad Zaman, in one of the season’s most complicated turns). This week’s outing could put some fresh eyes on what is actually going on.

“The point of view from which it’s told, I think, sets us up for a really interesting expansion on the Anne Rice universe,” Reid said, pointing out how the author’s books frequently “reassess and reevaluate the same story from different points of view.” So as the show continues to similarly toy with the narrative, “you’re getting to learn some specific kind of canon moments that happen for these characters that we will revisit at different times.”

4. So can storylines.

“Every time we do a mega-deviation, for me, I’m always like, ‘Ah, I don’t know. Make it make sense now!’” Reid also told Boyle. “Sometimes something’s got to be left in the book.” However, he has the ultimate faith in Interview‘s showrunner Jones. “[He] is an extraordinary adapter of this material and I trust every decision that he makes … it always does work out. Sometimes particular things you’ve really held onto and you think ‘that is what it is,’ we change.”

5. Everyone lies.

Reid was quick to dismiss the idea that Armand will be rattled by his return. “I would use caution with the word ‘jealousy’ for Armand,” he offers. “He’s very old. He’s been around for a long time and it’s important to remember that Armand’s got a lot of connections to a lot of people … and feelings about specific vampires.” So what are his feelings about Lestat, then?

“I think Armand is afraid of Lestat. I think Lestat and Armand share a lot of secrets that they both hold and any one of them could blow each other up at any time.”

Interview With the Vampire, Sundays, 9/8c, AMC, Streaming Sundays on AMC+