For the first two seasons of Interview with the Vampire – which you can now stream with a Netflix subscription – we are hearing Louis du Pointe du Lac’s side of the story. That means our views of characters like Claudia, Armand,and, maybe most importantly, Lestat, are skewed because they’re clouded by his judgment and memories. However, that all changed at the end of Season 2 with Louis and Lestat’s final scene, and I need to talk about why I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.
In this scene I’m referring to, Jacob Anderson’s Louis has returned to New Orleans for the first time in a very long time. After going on a tour of the city and hearing an incorrect, yet entertaining story about his life with Lestat, he went and found the French vampire. This marked the first time we saw Sam Reid’s vampire in the present, and that is the key to why this moment has stuck with me.
It’s The Only Scene Louis And Lestat Share In The Present
I always wondered why we never saw Claudia or Lestat in the present, and Season 2 of this book-to-screen adaptation of Anne Rice’s work gave us answers to those questions. In the final episode of the installment, which can also be streamed on AMC+, it was revealed that the young vampire died while the French vampire and Louis became estranged after their final interaction in Paris.
That happened, in part, because Louis never knew the truth of what Lestat did during his trial. Meaning, he didn’t know that it was Lestat who saved him, not Armand. So during their interaction in New Orleans, their first real interaction in decades, they address what really happened, as Anderson’s character fully comes to terms with what Reid’s character did for him.
Louis also thanked Lestat for this “gift,” Lestat finally asked him about that night in San Francisco, tearfully wondering if Louis had hurt himself, and they cried about the loss of Claudia. It’s the most emotionally vulnerable scene in the show based on what’s said alone. However, it’s the truth and objectivity of it that make it breathtaking and unforgettable.
It’s Also The Only Scene Involving Lestat That Isn’t From Louis' Perspective
Arguably, one of the many reasons why Interview with the Vampire is one of the best vampire shows has to do with how it’s narrated. The first two seasons of this series about immortality are told through Louis’ eyes, and as the episodes go on, it becomes clear that there are gaps in his memory, and the way he tells the story isn’t always the most truthful. He's an unreliable narrator. So you have to take every flashback, which means basically every scene of Lestat, with a grain of salt.
Season 3 of Interview with a Vampire is coming, and it will come with a new name: The Vampire Lestat. Yep, Season 3 will be from Lestat's point of view, and it will follow him as he lives his rockstar life. So buckle up, it's going to be one hell of a ride.
However, the final scene they shared is different; it’s not a flashback, and it’s not part of the story Louis is telling Daniel for his book. No, this scene in New Orleans is in the present, it has no narrator – at least from my point of view – and that means it is the most objective, honest and unfiltered interaction between Louis and Lestat.
Even if this scene was a flashback and told from Louis' point of view, it’d be emotional. However, the fact that they came back together for the first time in a very long time outside the parameters of the interview and in the present means that it was real.
It wasn’t clouded by judgment. It wasn’t plagued or flawed by memory. It was simply Louis and Lestat’s most recent interaction, captured exactly as it happened.
That’s not the case for the rest of their story, and that, my dear friends, is why I can’t stop thinking about Louis and Lestat’s final interaction in Season 2.
