The Biggest Differences Between The Interview With The Vampire Books And The Series

Based on the 1976 gothic horror novel by Anne Rice, AMC's "Interview with the Vampire" is the saga of immortal lovers Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) and Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid). In the present day, journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) interviews the vampiric Louis, gaining insight into his life in New Orleans at the turn of the 20th century, his seduction and turning at Lestat's hands, and their years raising the vampire child Claudia (Bailey Bass). Under Daniel's scrutiny, Louis is forced to confront his own devilish nature and make a shocking realization about his past.

"Interview with the Vampire" makes several changes to the source material and includes elements from later novels in Rice's long-running "Vampire Chronicles" series. In an interview with Den of Geek, show creator Rolin Jones acknowledged these differences, but also expressed his belief that fans will ultimately embrace the show's fealty to Rice's work. Indeed, while "Interview with the Vampire" is a largely faithful adaptation — every episode title, from "In Throes of Increasing Wonder" to "The Thing Lay Still," is taken from the book — it still takes plenty of creative liberties. We're here to examine some of the most major differences between Anne Rice's "Interview with the Vampire" novel and the AMC television series.

Of all the characters on "Interview with the Vampire," Daniel Molloy is one of the most drastically changed in the leap from page to screen. In the novel, he's a reporter known only as "the boy." The third book, "The Queen of the Damned," finds him 12 years later and reveals his name is Daniel Molloy. Daniel publishes "Interview with the Vampire" in-universe as a bestselling book, and becomes entangled with the vampire Armand. The two have an intense love affair, but Armand refuses to turn Daniel into a vampire, relenting only when Daniel is dying from the effects of alcoholism. Despite getting what he always wanted, Daniel's relationship with Armand remains turbulent for the rest of the series.

AMC's "Interview with the Vampire" goes in a different direction. Daniel survives his fateful 1973 interview but does not pursue vampires again until Louis contacts him in 2022. In the mean time, he becomes a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, grows estranged from his family, and begins living with Parkinson's disease. No longer the naïve boy of the book, Daniel is cynical and abrasive, but also a more active participant in the story. The season finale, "The Thing Lay Still," ends with Daniel face-to-face with Armand. Given their history in the novels, this sets up intriguing possibilities for Season 2.

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Anne Rice's immortal book has been on the shelves for decades. While it continues to enthrall readers, the first installment of the "Vampire Chronicles" saga centers primarily around white male characters. Departing from both the novel and the Neil Jordan film, AMC's "Interview with the Vampire" embraces the diverse reality of New Orleans in the early 20th century.

Depicted in the novels as white, Louis and Claudia (Bailey Bass) of the show are both Black Creole. Their experiences in the Jim Crow South are essential to the narrative and inform how they embrace their vampiric powers. As Jacob Anderson told The Washington Post, "Louis' race changes the trajectory slightly of that character." For example, as a vampire, Louis is empowered to kill the racist businessmen and politicians who aim to disenfranchise him.

"Interview with the Vampire" features a wide array of performers, from the series' leads to supporting characters like Bricktop Williams (Dana Gourrier) and Peg Leg Doris (Rachel Handler). Assad Zaman plays the vampire Armand, a major presence going forward, and Antoine, Lestat's musician lover and fledgling, is reimagined as Antoinette (Maura Grace Athari), a torch singer. The show's diverse casting adds another dimension to Rice's work by shining a spotlight on people not often represented in vampire fiction.

When adapting a centuries-spanning novel that finishes at over 300 pages, it's inevitable that some characters and events will end up on the cutting room floor. When Lestat first turns Louis and moves onto his indigo plantation in the "Interview with the Vampire" novel, he resentfully brings his elderly human father with him. During a slave uprising, Louis mercy-kills Lestat's father, but not before demanding that Lestat make begrudging peace with the old man. The AMC series' timeline shift to 1910 means that Lestat's father is dead. After revealing how his father mistreated him in his youth, Lestat confesses that he inherited his temper, foreshadowing the tragic relationship between Lestat and Claudia.

Also absent is Babette Freniere. In the book, Louis becomes enamored of Babette, and, after Lestat's murder of her brother, encourages her to manage her family's plantation, despite the era's deeply ingrained sexism. Babette is initially successful, but is horrified to learn that her mysterious benefactor is a vampire. Mentally tormented, she becomes a shadow of herself. Babette is a cautionary tale for Louis, driving him further away from human connections. But the shifting timeline, as well as a greater focus on Louis' relationship with his sister Grace, likely made Babette redundant in the TV series.

"Claudia, for me, personally, is [Anne Rice's] greatest creation," "Interview with the Vampire" creator Rolin Jones told Den of Geek. But the character has proved thorny for live-action adaptations. Turned at the age of five, Claudia's consciousness matures even though her body doesn't, which is a source of unending torment to her. In the 1994 film, Claudia is played by a young Kirsten Dunst. But the series goes farther by aging Claudia into an eternal teenager, portrayed by Bailey Bass. While child labor laws were an admitted factor in this casting, as Jones revealed to Syfy, this change opened the door for the show to reimagine Claudia's origin.

The novel introduces Claudia as an orphan who's found crying over her mother's plague-stricken corpse. In a moment of weakness, Louis bites and drains the girl; Lestat turns her into a vampire to manipulate the guilt-ridden Louis into staying with him. Episodes 3 and 4 dramatically change her story, and her dynamic with Lestat and Louis. When white mobs raze Storyville, Louis rescues Claudia from a burning boarding house. Bringing her back to their shared home, Louis begs Lestat to turn the badly-burned girl into a vampire and promises that she will be a daughter to them both. The change makes Louis and Lestat more sympathetic, while keeping them responsible for her fate. Claudia being a teenager also allows the TV series to explore storylines that would not be possible in the novel.

"Interview with the Vampire" fans will likely never forget the shocking conclusion to "A Vile Hunger for Your Hammering Heart." Now living in seclusion without Claudia, Louis' depression, as well as Lestat's ongoing affair with Antoinette, drives a wedge between the pair. When Claudia returns and asks Louis to leave with her, the scene erupts into violence.

Lestat attacks Louis with the full force of his vampiric strength, demolishing their house around them. He then reveals to Louis that he has the "Cloud Gift" — the power to fly — by carrying Louis hundreds of feet into the air. When Louis begs Lestat to let him go, Lestat takes him at his word: He drops and nearly kills him.

This disturbing scene was created for the TV series; despite Louis and Lestat's tempestuous relationship in the first novel, it never reaches this level of violence. However, the show possibly takes inspiration from a late scene in "The Queen of the Damned," where Lestat reveals his Cloud Gift in a much more romantic context by taking Louis flying with him. By putting a dark spin on this scene, the AMC series shows just how twisted and toxic their romance has become.

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Lestat being Lestat, his death can be nothing less than spectacular. Taking place approximately halfway through the book, Louis and Claudia's attempted murder of their maker is dramatically heightened in the "Interview with the Vampire" season finale. In Rice's version, Claudia plots to poison Lestat by tricking him into drinking the dead blood of twin boys drugged with absinthe and laudanum. Despite Louis' pleas, Claudia slits Lestat's throat. They dispose of his body, but permanently killing a vampire is more difficult than they anticipated.

The series' murder plot is a much more elaborate affair that unfolds during a Mardi Gras masquerade. In "The Thing Lay Still," Claudia and Louis are co-conspirators, though Louis still feels the pull of his bond with Lestat. Louis distracts Lestat with a scandalous romantic waltz before their final feast. The two are dressed as 18th century nobility, a nod to the book's original setting. Luring unsuspecting guests to their home with the promise of sharing their secret to eternal life, the three vampires kill them. Lestat, aided by his fledgling Antoinette, anticipates the trap with the twins, but Claudia tricks him into drinking the poisoned blood of a man who slighted him earlier. 

In the show, Louis is the one who finishes Lestat by cutting his throat with the sword cane that initially drew Lestat to him. The sequence is a grisly, baroque masterpiece — and the ultimate break-up.

Can a vampire be trusted to tell the truth? Or is memory itself the monster? "Interview with the Vampire" positions Louis as an unreliable narrator; despite his supernatural gifts, his memory is fallible. After decades of death and trauma, what Louis tells Daniel during their interview may not necessarily be what happened, or even what Louis thinks happened. The "odyssey of recollection," a phrase taken from a line in Daniel's memoir, is a powerful theme introduced in the show.

In Anne Rice's "Interview with the Vampire," Louis' story is presented as a long confession of guilt with near-religious overtones. Though Lestat raises objections about Louis' story in his self-titled sequel novel — possibly making him an unreliable narrator — the show brings unique focus to the idea. Daniel challenges Louis over his inconsistencies in their recordings, asking questions when they seem performative or rehearsed. When Daniel is gifted Claudia's diaries, pages have been removed in what could be seen as Louis' editorializing — or his censorship — of her life story. 

The psychological dam breaks in the Season 1 finale. Daniel accuses Louis of saving Lestat's life, effectively choosing him over Claudia. Louis appears to face painful memories of Lestat he'd locked away. The fact that Daniel himself seems to be recovering forgotten memories of his first encounter with the vampires adds another curious wrinkle. If one thing's clear, it's that the odyssey of recollection in "Interview with the Vampire" is far from over.