IWTV is more like Hannibal than Heated Rivalry

Now that the season finale of The Vampire Lestat (season 3 of AMC’s Interview with the Vampire series) has aired, I have noticed an interesting trend. To be fair, I haven’t weighed in on fandom topics since I reviewed the final season of The Magicians. I can already hear my managing editor cringing, but luckily today’s topic isn’t quite as bad as me flipping out over terrible writing. Yup, I’m looking at you, Sera Gamble, John McNamara, and Henry Alonso Myers. I haven’t forgotten you.

Anyway, I digress. A lot of fans of IWTV who did not read Anne Rice’s novels (The Vampire Chronicles), on which the show is based, have gotten a strange impression. I’ll be blunt here, dear reader, and say that as a queer man, we’ve gotten spoiled in the past few years, but also people are lacking media literacy.

I have seen people complain that The Vampire Lestat / Interview with the Vampire isn’t more focused on the romance of its leads and isn’t more like Heated Rivalry. For one, romance is integrated deeply into TVL if you are paying attention. For another, this isn’t that kind of show, and here’s why.

If you want a more direct queer comparison in the Gothic Horror Romance genre, I would suggest you watch Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal. Now, I’m sure there are people sitting in the back of the room going, “But Hannibal isn’t a queer show.” To those people I would say, “Tell that to the interviews with Bryan Fuller, as well as Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy that discuss Will and Hannibal’s love for one another.” Also, please sit down; I’m not done talking.

The vampires in Interview with the Vampire (all of them, mind you) are quite similar to Hannibal Lecter. Hannibal Lecter shows his desire and his love in twisted (sometimes abstract) ways, but it is a romantic throughline throughout the entire series. On the same token, you can look at a myriad of things in Interview with the Vampire and see the same idea.

Lestat turned Claudia so that Louis would have a daughter and they would have a family. Armand followed Daniel Molloy for decades, shifting in and out of his life, sometimes even making him forget he was there, all to be close to him. I could list dozens of elements, if not more, including events that haven’t happened yet at this point in canon, that support this.

These vampires are older than we are. Their humanity is…skewed at best. The power they hold gives them an outlook on humans and love in general that makes them make…terrible decisions, frankly. There’s also the fact that each of them is terribly broken in their own way. Lestat alone could fill a therapist’s nightmares for months based on things he has endured in his life.

My point is that the romance is secondary to the horror of the series. Unlike Heated Rivalry, where the romance is the point, in Interview with the Vampire you will see these people who (in some ways) both love and hate each other, and circle in and out of each other’s lives and orbits.

To be blunt yet again, you are not going to get the fluffy, sweet, gentle romance of Heated Rivalry or Heartstopper here. If you want that, I would suggest you find a new comfort show, or retreat to the ones I just listed. Complaining that Lestat is a broken, damaged, abusive individual is missing the fact that his damage is practically the entire point.

Now, there are people (such as myself) who find joy in the idea that one day these damaged little weirdos might get their crap together. Those of us who have read Anne Rice’s novels are somewhat aware of where things might go. The writers have changed certain elements, which makes me curious as to how the series will evolve moving forward.

Anne Rice’s novels deal with existential things and real topics such as religion, faith, love, sexual assault, grief, heartbreak, and so many more. This is not an easy thing to watch, and heaven forbid, please do not share it with your children. It isn’t going to get easier either, as AMC has announced that Season 4 will be titled Queen of the Damned, based on the next novel of Anne Rice’s series.

However, I am not sitting here fuming because something has been changed and/or the vampire dolls aren’t kissing. If I want a more faithful adaptation, the books are on my bookshelf. If I want something more romance-focused, I will find something else to watch. I think you all should do the same if this is an issue. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.