Lestat's character has been filtered via people both loving and despising him.
The audience's perspective of Lestat changes dramatically with every new turn in their poisonous love as Louis relates his story in Interview With The Vampire. Louis brings us in with his story of their first meeting, and Lestat is first so beautiful, intriguing, and loveable because Louis is beguiled, captivated, and in love. Lestat becomes the enemy as their relationship falls apart. Their complicated emotional relationship will always force Louis' picture of Lestat to be imperfect. Add Armand's unreliable observations and Claudia's sour notebook entries to the mix, and the web entangles even more.
We only get a scene in the last episode of season 3 that Lestat is not filtered through someone else's biased narrative. Actor Sam Reid spoke with Entertainment Weekly about the dramatic climax, which let him perform Lestat fans hadn't seen before. Pushing back slightly against the assertion that this is the "real Lestat," he muses, "what's the 'Real Lestat?'" He goes on: "He [Lestat] felt somewhat bad about himself for 77 years. That is (a) actual Lestat, but it is also rather damaged Lestat.
Nobody's Word Can Be Trusted in Interview with The Vampire
Lestat makes a terrible figure in the reunion moment, reduced by decades of isolation and obviously tormented by guilt for what Louis and Claudia went through after they split. The second turn could imply that Lestat is not nearly the villain he has been portrayed as, but he still failed to stop Claudia's terrible death when he could have. Interview With The Vampire plays with the audience's trust using its unreliable narrator device. It's hard to trust Lestat entirely even after seeing his most vulnerable.
From Lestat's point of view, he too has been a victim of brutality and treachery; so, it is not expected of him to atone. Interview With The Vampire looks at memory's dilemma. Louis cannot rely on his own memory and self-edits across several retelling. Daniel's scathing remarks serve as a reminder that Louis may have shortsighted views of his own shortcomings. Still, Louis advises listeners to let the story enchant them and lay truth aside. Remembering who writes the story is important as Lestat recounts his own sad tale in season 3, surely covering his terrible creation by the vampire Magnus. Lestat is a gifted predator and trained actor. Viewers should also be careful not to get "seduced" by his story.
Lestat's Story In Season 3 Will Not Redeem Him
Interview With The Vampire will ask us to identify with its season 3 anti-hero. It is not expected of Lestat to be redeemed since, from his point of view, he has also been a victim of abuse and treachery. Unquestionably, he loves Louis, but his love stems from Lestat's great weakness—toxic co-dependent. Lestat's love is what finally humanizes him at the same time as reactions to the season 2 finale show: without it, he would be just an apex predator enjoying his capacity to kill.
Every character in the program does horrible deeds meant to be justified in their perspective of events. Though we know we shouldn't, as a viewer it's hard not to love Lestat in return. Louis also faces this conundrum. Interview With The Vampire challenges viewers to consider the reality that someone who is deceitful, selfish, and vicious can also quite appealing, much as Louis does. One of the draw is the "real" Lestat stays out of view. A teaser for season three showed Lestat's comeback as a rock star seated for his own interview. Season 3 most likely will keep using this technique to produce biassed narration.
We Haven't Met The Real Lestat In Interview With The Vampire - We Won't In Season 3 Either
Although Lestat will be able to share his own narrative in Season 3 of Interview With The Vampire, viewers should be cautious of accepting his point of view. Interview with The Vampire postponed displaying the true side of Lestat until the last moments of its second season. Lestat's character had been only seen via the recollections of his angry fledgling and former lover until the couple reconciled in modern-day New Orleans. The surprising disclosure of the most famous vampire in gothic literature as a sad, melancholic recluse in the climatic end gave still another twist to this contradictory story. Lestat's heartfelt apology to Louis left viewers wondering whether they would finally see the "real" Lestat following two seasons of casting as the show's villain.
The first book Anne Rice wrote envisaged how a vampire might relate his tale if he could sit down with a journalist. Examining the deeper questions of memory and subjectivity, AMC's Interview with The Vampire ran with this idea. The show emphasizes the fact, regardless of speaker honesty, autobiography is always a reconstruction of the truth. While adding fresh Anne Rice characters to the group, Season 3 looks to mirror Lestat's interpretation of events from The Vampire Lestat. Regarding trusting Lestat's viewpoint, viewers should be equally cautious nevertheless.
Absolutely crucial in this Gothic story is the lack of objectivity.
The narrative that results is one devoid of virtue or evil. Every character in the show does horrible deeds meant to be justified from their perspective. Louis made himself the hero of his tale; in season three, the vampire Lestat will take front stage and his viewpoint will be just as imperfect. In this gothic story, where every phrase is vague, lack of objectivity is very crucial. Between truth and memory, between humanity and monstrosity, Interview With The Vampire leaves nothing absolutely clear-cut. Still, that's part of the seductiveness.
Interview with the Vampire is a gothic horror fantasy series examining Louis de Pointe du Lac's life via an interview with a journalist, based on Anne Rice's novel series starting in 1976. Told in flashbacks of Louis's life throughout the interview, the show explores his relationship with the vampire that changed him, Lestat de Lioncourt, and a teenage girl named Claudia whom he transforms. Anne Rice's Immortal Universe media brand began with this series.
