Let’s Talk About That Vampire Lestat Season 3 Ending

I was excited for this season because Lestat just happens to be one of my favorite characters ever. I remember reading the Vampire Chronicles and being excited whenever there was even a glimpse of Lestat (like in Merrick) but he is a main protagonist across a lot of the Anne Rice universe. And for good reason. Such a complex vamp! Add to that the fact that growing up in the 90s, the Queen of the Damned book adaptation was MY cult classic. I thought Stuart Townsend would my forever Lestat, and then Sam Reid came and shook my feelings a bit. To say that I was both excited but also a bit scared to see how they would do this story and also what it would include in this season, is an understatement. So after holding out so all episodes were out and binging it all in one go, I’m going to tell you first impressions on this season and we are especially going to talk about The Vampire Lestat Season 3 ending. I have thoughts, mixed thoughts?

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Is This The Vampire Lestat Season 1 or Interview with the Vampire Season 3?

First, let me get one thing out there because I was genuinely confused. The show is having a bit of an identity crisis. While it’s been Interview with the Vampire all along, it is now called The Vampire Lestat. So naturally, in the way of TV shows, this would be called Interview with the Vampire Season 3, but instead it’s called The Vampire Lestat Season 3. From a book POV, that makes sense. We are finished with the narrative from that book and we are picking up on the book The Vampire Lestat. 

What The Vampire Lestat Season 3 Is About

The Vampire Lestat starts at the end and works backwards. We get to see the immediate aftermath of Daniel Molloy publishing Interview with the Vampire, Louis life story basically. And we also pick up on Lestat and Louis’s relationship after they found each other again in New Orleans during a hurricane at the end of Interview with the Vampire season 2. And because of course Lestat’s life can never be simple. He starts a rock band, kind of on accident, stirs up trouble with the vampires that don’t want their identity known to the world and becomes the voice for the Great Conversion. Along the way, we get to hear his side of the story about some pivotal events in Interview with the Vampire and about his mortal life and subsequent vampiric rebirth.

Does This Adaptation Honor Anne Rice?

If there is one thing that I feel this adaptation does is it makes you feel like there is care about the story and characters that Anne Rice wrote. Do I think this would be the most accurate as per Anne Rice’s taste? Maybe not. There’s a lightness to how this series comes across that I don’t think the books ever intended. Anne Rice herself was involved only at the very beginning of this show planning stages before her passing, so we will never know the exact feelings. But I think, as a fan, that it manages to capture the essence of the characters and the vibe in all the ways that matter, while also making it extremely accessible for a modern audience. Over the top as it is.

My First Impressions Binging The Vampire Lestat Season 3

Now, let’s get to the good stuff. My first impressions on the show, as someone who binged watched the whole season back to back. I was locked in for the whole ride. While it starts off a bit unsettling because you don’t understand what is going on with the tapes and the auction, we are quickly taken back to the story we want to see. From there, the story unfolds in a beautiful and easy to follow way. We get to fill in details about Lestat we didn’t see so far, but also we get to see some of what he would correct from Louis perception and accounts in Interview with the Vampire.

Rockstar Lestat Is the Best Part

My favorite thing of all though, is seeing rockstar Lestat. Not all the songs were bangers, but every performance was immaculate and I was fully transported to this world for the time I was watching. And, if I’m honest, even after as I’m still thinking about it.

Sam Reid and the Cast Carry the Season

Part of that is the fact that the acting in this series has been amazing from the very beginning and this season is no different. We have some major characters making appearances and their performance also hit it out of the park. Like Lestats’ mother Gabrielle, Akasha queen of vampires herself, Merrick and even Magnus! Gabrielle and Akasha particularly I have to sing the most praises about the acting, fantastic! All memorable performances.  If there is one thing for sure about this series is that you should watch it for the cast and the acting alone because each and every single one of them embodies their roles so well.

Of course we have our recurring usual characters, Armand and Daniel playing different roles from what we’ve seen so far, and Louis and Claudia as well, even when she’s not really Claudia. But above it all, this show lives and dies on Sam Reid’s embodiment of the Vampire Lestat. I don’t know how he manages it, but he brings out an essence of his character that I think even the books didn’t fully show. And by the nature of getting to hear the story more from his POV this season we really get to see that shine in ways we didn’t quite get there in previous seasons. Although, he was still my favorite thing about those two. Lestat as a mortal, Lestat as a victim, Lestat as a survivor, Lestat as a rock star, Lestat vulnerable. Every version of Lestat we saw in this season gave us a different side of him and I have to wonder how they were able to do that in just 7 episodes. Kudos for that!

My Favorite Scenes from The Vampire Lestat Season 3

Some of my favorite scenes from the Vampire Lestat season 3 have to be:

• Akasha waking up (I am an Akasha stan)
• the seance and Delaney’s performance bringing back Claudia (I got chills)
• Lestat experiencing that last concert with every person he has killed while doing his reckoning long table part
• Seeing the vulnerability of the characters like when Lestat and Louis make it to the bench talking about a future that would be nice or when Louis opens up to Armand about what they never spoke about and how he really saw him and understood him even if Lestat was the love of his life.

The Parts That Left Me Uncomfortable

Now there are of course things that were a bit strange, off putting or have left me questioning my feelings. One of the major things is the Vampire Lestat season 3 ending. While everything pretty much had me glued to the screen, I did have a few moments that felt like I questioned the choices made by the writers. 

For example, the ending of episode 6. Major spoiler so stop reading right now if you don’t want to know! The double be-heading and the following keeping of Louis’ head alive during a torture scene by Armand was not my favorite move. Shocking? Absolutely. Was I extremely happy I had chosen to watch this whole season the day episode 7 was dropping so I didn’t have to wait? Yes. That was one hell of a cliffhanger. Did the scene in the butcher shop feel weird? Also yes. 

There is also explicit incest in this show and I tried to block the implications out of my mind while watching most of those scenes. Thankfully, there wasn’t many that were physical and never as physical as the sex scenes with Louis and Lestat. But they were still there and still uncomfortable. 

How The Vampire Lestat Season 3 Differs from the Book

Were there changes from the book? Absolutely. And maybe skip this section if you don’t want spoilers. And this isn’t an exhaustive list of changes because I haven’t read these books in 20 years (although I plan to remedy that).

One major change we see is that the books are not necessarily sexual even if they are sensual and Lestat’s relationship with his mother, like I said before, becomes sexual in the show. Was there incestous implications in the book? Yes. The show just highlights it a lot more, but we start to also see Lestat reckoning with that towards the end of the series. It’s like we’re watching the therapy and healing version of Lestat that the books never wrote and hopefully we get to see that explored more in the next season.

We also have a change with the fact that Louis is struggling with his guilt over Claudia’s death so much that when he sees a waitress that looks just like her, he has her act out the role of Claudia in a very unhealthy and toxic relationship. It was a way to keep both actors and characters relevant in a season that would’ve otherwise not had much of them in it, which I appreciated. But while I enjoyed to see that, I also think it was one of the less gripping parts of the season as a whole.

Another big change is Armand and him seeking amends (Armends) from Louis. This is never a thing in the books and in fact Armand and Louis separate as a mutual decision. It was great for adding tension and again, keeping characters that we know relevant in the show for this season which makes sense.

The Vampire Lestat Season 3 Ending, and Why I’m Conflicted

Which brings me to the Vampire Lestat season 3 ending itself, I’m conflicted on because I thought it a perfect ending but at the same time I watched this season in anticipation of the Queen of the Damned, the concert and the chaos and mayhem. And we now have to wait for another season before we get to see that. It does make sense from a show POV because the concert would be better served as a whole experience in the next season rather than rushing to put it in one episode. It becomes more grandiose. 

But am I scared because the show hasn’t even been renewed for another season that I can tell and there’s a chance that we may not see it? So nervous. That would be devastating! So I understand that they would just show us the destruction, the end result. The show told us who survived, by setting that auction scene at the beginning. The important questions are answered in a way. But we still don’t have a certainty that we will see it happen. Here’s to hoping the show gets another season so we get to see all of that.

So far, at time of writing this, I’ve only seen promising things that it will be. It is said that the show performed better in the first 7 days than what they had projected for the first 30 days. You can read about that here. So with that kind of performance numbers, and the amount of people that, like me, waited until all episodes were out before enduring the agony of watching week by week, I think there’s a strong chance we are getting more Lestat.

Where to Read More About Lestat

Where can you read more Vampire Lestat? The main books about Lestat in the Vampire Chronicles are The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned. However, Lestat is also a main character on a lot of other books in the series like Blackwood Farm and Blood Canticle and a side character/cameo in others like Merrick. As characters go, he is one of the most influential and important characters in Anne Rich’s universe. If you want to read more about Lestat, and want to do it the right way, then get ready for a deep dive into an alluring universe. I have a full Vampire Chronicles reading order to help you get started. And you can even watch other TV shows (and movies) along the way.

Is The Vampire Lestat Season 3 Worth Watching?

Absolutely. I think this whole show has become what I would call a must watch if you’re a fan of the books, and also if you’ve never read them. Will book purists be mad at changes? Of course, that is always a thing. But I actually think there may be less to be mad about in this show than in the previous movies, in that sense. And if you’ve never watched, this is a great intro to the Vampire Chronicles world in a way that makes the world way more palatable for a beginner. The darkness is slightly turned down, the humor is turned up, and the self awareness of our vamps is there in ways that it just couldn’t be when the books were written. Watch in order, read the Vampire Chronicles in order, and meet one of the most iconic characters of literature as a whole in my opinion. And come chat about it over on Discord.

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