Sam Reid, who plays Lestat in AMC’s The Vampire Lestat, discussed the character’s arc in the season finale, where the immortal vampire confronts his failures—including an inability to dominate the in-universe Billboard Hot 100 chart, where his album is bested by Drake.
Reid drew inspiration from multiple musical references while preparing for the role. “I looked at a lot of glam rock,” Reid told Billboard in a video interview from his home country of Australia, where he is starring in a production of the play Doubt. “But I was a little bit concerned about him feeling too nostalgic, so I didn’t try and lean too much into that.” He also studied David Bowie bootleg recordings, Kurt Cobain (via the documentary Montage of Heck), Jim Morrison, Fiona Apple, and Saint Vincent to inform his portrayal.
In the finale, Lestat receives brutal critical reviews from Pitchfork and Stereogum alongside the fictional Billboard pan. Reid explained that the music criticism served as a framing device to prevent Lestat from becoming the global megastar he is in Anne Rice’s novels. “He might say that he doesn’t need validation, that he’s above the validation. But, actually, deep down, he really does,” Reid said of the character’s vulnerability beneath his rock-star persona.
The season concludes with Lestat imagining himself onstage as he faces death, where he learns that Louis (Jacob Anderson) loves him. “Whether this is the specter of Paul, or just an illusion that he’s conjured up in his dying mind, he hears that Louis loves him,” Reid explained, describing the emotional resolution as a new state for their relationship going forward.
Reid reflected on his experience singing for the role, noting that he had always sung but never explored it in a theatrical context tied to character and narrative. “Doing the concert was so much fun. I have never done a live concert before,” he said. “For me, it felt more like doing a play than doing a concert as Sam Reid.”
Source: Billboard
