Ready for a bloody good time?
AMC's critically acclaimed drama series Interview with the Vampire has returned to TV with its second season. With the highly-anticipated return of the show, Out spoke with the stars to discuss new developments, as well as all the memes, the delusion, the accents, the mechanics of floating, and a certain recasting.
The series follows the sordid lives of a handful of traumatized vampires as they navigate love, loss, and eternity. Jacob Anderson and Sam Reid play Louis and Lestat, respectively, as star-crossed lovers who ended season 1 on… let's just call it "bad terms."
The premiere of season 2 picks up in Europe as Louis and Claudia search for answers about their vampiric origins. However, Lestat is always haunting them in one way or another. As they travel across the European countryside, shifting dialects through each region, the accent work of the actors is quite remarkable.
"Last season, we didn't really have that much dialect coaching," Reid explains. "It was a bit more… more rough and ready, in a way. It was sort of kind of winging it a bit. This season, we had a dialect coach come on to the show." They also had a "fantastic French teacher because so much French is in the show."
Given that support, Reid says that they felt free to "try things that you couldn't necessarily try" before. Anderson adds, "You feel safe."
Assad Zaman, whose character was revealed to be the vampire Armand at the end of season 1, also shares with Out what it was like to keep that secret and to play such an iconic character in a franchise that's been around since the 1970s.
"Going into something that has such a massive cult following was terrifying as you might imagine," Zaman says. "But I've got to say I have been so overwhelmed by the kind support and encouragement from this incredible fan base."
As Rashid, he was under "strict rules to keep everything quiet" when it came to the reveal at the end of season 1. Thus, he wasn't allowed to "shout about it on social media or anything like that." The payoff was worth it, though.
"I watched season 1 like a fan, and it was actually really liberating," he explains. "I'm really glad that I was kept away from sort of pretty much all promo and [other] obligations to do stuff. I could just enjoy the show, and I love the show."
Zaman also reveals that he actually learned French ahead of his arc in season 2, and shares that the mechanics of floating are "horrible."
"No one wants to know," the actor notes. "I'm in a harness that goes around your thighs and waist, and then there's three points of contact to distribute the weight. It's very safe, but not super comfortable when you're having to dangle there."
Zaman adds, "Also, the way Armand dangles, he's got to look elegant. It's really difficult to look elegant or feel elegant when you've, like, sort of got this thing around your crotch that's trying to pull your legs apart… and you're trying to keep them together."
Ouch. But we can confirm that he's pulling it off!
As viewers will soon see, Armand has his own twisted history with Lestat. We'll also get Armand and Louis' first meet-cute (cruising in a park), and it quickly becomes clear that Lestat is still "an entity in both their lives."
And for anyone worried about the recasting of Claudia, "don't be," Anderson says.
"Don't be nervous. Delainey [Hayles] is incredible. You will fall in love with her immediately. She's done her own thing, but it's so the character."
New episodes of Interview with the Vampire air every Sunday on AMC.