Do You Need to Watch Interview with the Vampire Episodes Before The Vampire Lestat?

The Vampire Lestat debuted on AMC with a perfect RT Tomatometer score, making it the next best TV show to watch this summer. Technically, it is the third season of Interview With the Vampire, but it was rebranded as The Vampire Lestat. With some of the strongest reviews of the year for this show, some new fans are tempted to jump straight in. They want to know whether you can start with the new season or if the first two seasons come first. The short answer is: Yes, you really do need to watch the two seasons of Interview With the Vampire first.

Despite the fresh title and marketing that treats it like a standalone show, The Vampire Lestat is a direct continuation of everything that came before, not a clean reboot. The show’s unusual identity has already left plenty of viewers scratching their heads. Here is everything you should know before pressing play.

Why Watching the Previous Seasons Is Essential for The Vampire Lestat?

The decision to rebrand the third season of Interview With the Vampire as The Vampire Lestat was made since this season pivoted from the earlier seasons and told the story from the perspective of Sam Reid’s Lestat de Lioncourt. After two seasons told through Louis de Pointe du Lac’s memories, the spotlight now belongs to Lestat, who is ready to tell his side of the story. And he is also ready to settle a few scores along the way.

However, the entire premise of the new season draws from the events of the previous seasons. Lestat is reacting to the book Daniel Molloy published from Louis’s interview, and his anger only makes sense if you have seen the portrait Louis painted of him. Without that context, his mission to set the record straight loses all its credibility.

Then, there is also the matter of narrative payoff. Even in the premiere episode of the new season, there are character references and callbacks from the first two seasons. You will only understand some of the jokes and emotional beats if you have been with the show since the beginning.

As a newcomer, you wouldn’t want to get the punchlines without knowing the full context. The very premise of Anne Rice’s novels is the dueling unreliable narrators. Louis and Lestat bent the truth to support their telling of the story. Only viewers who know both accounts can start a fan debate on where the truth actually lies. And that’s when you turn from a casual viewer to an involved fan.

Where The Vampire Lestat Fits in Interview With the Vampire Timeline?

Sam Reid as Lestat in The Vampire Lestat | Credits: AMC

The Vampire Lestat picks up after the events of Interview With the Vampire’s second season. It is a proper sequel that unfolds in the aftermath of Daniel Molloy’s book getting published and shaking the vampire world. So, don’t let the ‘standalone series’ narrative fool you.

That said, the framing of the events is more playful than a simple continuation. The first episode opens in the near future at an auction of Lestat’s recordings. From there, the story rewinds to the spring of 2025, tracing the road that led to that moment.

The series will not just show events in the present. Since Lestat is telling his life story, the episodes are expected to dive centuries back into his mortal years, much like Louis’s story. So, the show promises to move across multiple eras in the vampire world, just like Anne Rice’s novels. Brandon Lewis of FandomWire called the new season “television’s most glorious nervous breakdown” in our review of The Vampire Lestat.

Will you be watching the first two seasons of Interview With the Vampire before the perfect new season? Let us know in the comments below!

The Vampire Lestat episodes will be dropping on AMC and AMC+ on Sundays until July 19. The premiere episode and the first two seasons are now available on AMC+.