Interview with the Vampire TV series: Sam Reid is Lestat!

AMC intends to build a television franchise on the foundation of the books in author Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles series (as well as the books in her Mayfair Witches series), and to do that you need to find an awesome actor play the role of the vampire Lestat de Lioncourt. AMC feels they have found that actor: Sam Reid has been cast to play Lestat in their eight-part adaptation of Interview with the Vampire.

Rice’s novel centers on

the vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac as he relates the story of his life to a reporter, in particular how he was turned into a vampire and then mentored by Lestat de Lioncourt.

Reid’s previous credits include The Limehouse Golem, ’71, Belle, Anonymous, The Railway Man, and episodes of the shows The Newsreader, The Hunting, Lambs of God, Prime Suspect 1973, and The Astronaut Wives Club. To me, he’s an unknown. Despite the fact that I have seen The Limehouse Golem and ’71, I don’t remember that much about them, and Reid’s performances have vanished from my mind along with the rest of the movies.

Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul producer Mark Johnson is overseeing the Vampires Chronicles franchise for AMC. Rolin Jones, co-creator and showrunner on the first season of the HBO series Perry Mason, is the creator, showrunner, and writer of the Interview with the Vampire series. Jones and Johnson will executive produce the show alongside The Many Saints of Newark director Alan Taylor, who is directing the first two episodes of the mini-series. Anne Rice and her son Christopher Rice are also on board as executive producers.

Lestat was previously played by Tom Cruise in the 1994 film version of Interview with the Vampire, and by Stuart Townsend in the 2002 film Queen of the Damned. I thought Cruise did a great job, but wasn’t so keen on Townsend.