On Friday, October 10th, the panel welcomed the cast and executive producer of the award-winning series Anne Rice’s The Vampire Lestat to the Main Stage. This season centers on Lestat de Lioncourt as he enters his rockstar era. The panel treated fans to an exclusive preview of the show’s return in 2026. Executive producer Mark Johnson, writer Hannah Moscovitch, along with cast members Sam Reid (Lestat de Lioncourt), Jacob Anderson (Louis de Pointe du Lac), Eric Bogosian (Daniel Molloy), Assad Zaman (Armand), and Jennifer Ehle (Gabrielle de Lioncourt), shared exciting updates with moderator Holbrook.
Among the questions and discussions, Reid and Anderson delighted us with their answers on the evolution of their characters. Here are the key highlights from their moments during the panel and press conference.
Shifting Perspectives
Season one and two were seen through the lens of Louis de Pointe du Lac, while season three takes on a slightly more Lestat-centric perspective. Jacob tells us how Louis is feeling with the information he has been told and Lestat’s book, which is a telling of his own perspective on the events of Interview with the Vampire.
“Lies. More Lies. It’s interesting this dynamic (with Daniel Molloy) this season, because the book (Lestat’s) was released without Louis’ consent. I wish Louis had learned about the Cloud before setting fire to a physical laptop. Might have helped. It sets off a really interesting dynamic between them, because ultimately, Louis trusted Daniel, and Daniel trusted Louis. And Louis didn’t stop him from being killed and resurrected, so there’s …” – Jacob Anderson
Some explaining to be done, apparently! Lack of sleep almost gives Jacob a loose tongue to spill all the details before the attention shifts. Switching topics at the table, Anderson mentions a fondness for Anime.
“I really enjoy Chainsaw Man. That was very fun. One Punch Man, I love. I just started Mob Psycho. It’s fun. And I mostly just started Neon Genesis Evangelion, like from the beginning. That’s what I’ve been watching to help me go to sleep. It’s very dark, but there’s something about it that’s very meditative, and the horror~.” – Jacob Anderson
During the press conference, I asked my own burning question, which was for Anderson, asking how it feels to explore this new perspective as Louis in the present tense, facing the truth versus memory in Season 3.
“We were just talking about how difficult it is to talk about Louis’ journey in season three, because it’s the invention of Rolin and Hannah, and the writers. And it’s a really, really fun stuff that I wouldn’t want to ruin, but can I pass this to Hannah? Because you just said something to me that I thought was amazing. And I don’t want to quote you when you’re sitting here.” – Jacob Anderson
“We were trying to think what we could say about Louis’ journey and his season. And we were saying, like, let’s say your daughter dies and you put a yellow dress up on the wall to honor her. That’s not actually going to fix it, right? Like, how long will that really work? And you can say you want to own the night all your life. But that’s going to come in waves. Like, that’s going to come in and out. So I think that, in some ways, is what we did with Louis this season. We were like, That’s great that he has that yellow dress up there. But his daughter’s dead. And his relationship of 77 years ended. And he has to figure out a whole pile of shit now.” – Hannah Moscovitch
Noting that the events in Dubai took place within 11 days, Hannah goes on to say.
“His whole world fell apart. He put his lover in the wall, you know? He wrote his biography with Molloy. That all happened in 11 days. And now his whole life has been broken open. And then a hurricane and a hug.” – Hannah Moscovitch
“Like, quite often, most people are like, My life is fixed. I found this. And I found that. And I’m doing this. And I’m doing this thing now. I’m not being specific. But like, those people quite often– I can be one of those people as well. You crash out. There comes a point where, you know, you suddenly lose energy. And the truth comes to light again. And it comes to get you.” – Jacob Anderson
During the panel, Jacob Anderson touched on Louis’s closing one-liner, “I own the night,” that left us all insatiable. He also loops back to what Hannah said during the press conference.
“You can only own the night for so long. I feel like Louis is at a really moving and beautiful place at the end of season 2. It’s all real, and I think he’s found a sense of being present. However, I’m stealing this from Hannah, you can put the dress on the wall, you can put the portrait on the wall, but ultimately, his child died, and that is not something you just get over. There’s a lot of really exciting Louis de Pointe du Lac inventions in this season. And I don’t want to ruin it, because it’s really f**ked up.” – Jacob Anderson
Be sure to check out our other The Vampire Lestat articles from New York Comic Con! We got you covered on the panel and the Devil’s Minion.
The Rockstar Lestat
The story unfolds in season three with a spotlight on Lestat’s journey revolving around self-discovery and “grappling” with his ego. Sam Reid mentioned that Lestat’s self-discovery and understanding of who or what he is is “the journey,” and it essentially represents “the whole season.” With Reid’s performance inspiration being David Bowie’s “Cracked Actor” bootleg concert videos, fans can expect to see dazzling showmanship and magical chaos.
Of course, the moving reunion at the heart of the hurricane between Lestat and Louis has us all eager to know what this season will deliver. Reid stated that Lestat’s love for Louis is as plain and pure as vampires needing blood. In this season, The Brat Prince will navigate his feelings, but more crucially, he will confront his own ego.
“As a character in general, his love for Louis should be taken as a given. The way that Rolin and Hannah have kind of crafted him is that ‘what do you get when you put a vampire who takes himself very, very seriously in a position that is not really taken very seriously in the year 2025, when we’re dealing with kind of everything shocking at any given moment’. So we kind of, you know, aliens are real, cool, what else is going on? I mean, you know, we’re watching the most devastating things on the news on a daily basis. What value is a supernatural being who kind of dances around in leather pants? So, I think his ego is like super present. Reclaiming that “Now for his ego”, I don’t know, I don’t know, maybe.” – Sam Reid
During the panel, Sam Reid was asked some great questions, one pinned to the characters that have made this show so emotional and real. After being Lestat throughout the years, why are these characters becoming so important?
“It’s nice to think they are becoming important to people. Somebody came up to me at the start of the year and said, “I just want to say thank you, this show has reminded me that I can feel again,” and big credit to Hannah Moscovitch and Rolin Jones is the extremities in which we get to go to and the situations we are put in as actors and watching the show and characters unfold it’s kind of a wild abandon. We can go up there and 95% of the time, make absolute fools of ourselves, but we’ve got the audience behind us most of the time. And we can make a fool on your behalf. And we can laugh and cry about it together.” – Sam Reid
Going from a mid-18th-century vampire living in New Orleans to a singing and performing rockstar of the modern era, Sam Reid touches on the fun process of this transformation.
“It’s exhausting. I would be lying if I said we shot this show quite fast. There’s a lot to film in the amount of time, but it is so much fun to get drenched in blood and sing a rock anthem, or fly through the sky and sing a ballad, have smoke, horses, and fangs, and stunt rigs, and explosions. Every day is something. And it’s so exciting. Jennifer said this the other day: ‘You feel like a little kid on the set.’ You’re just having the best time of your life.” – Sam Reid
Both Reid and Anderson brought great insight to the table on what’s to come with their characters. The Vampire Lestat is set to debut in 2026 on AMC and AMC+. Filming for the season has just concluded, indicating a good sign for a 2026 release.
New York Comic Con will return in 2026, but while fans wait, they can check out WonderCon and Anime NYC, a more accessible and equally exciting alternative. New York Comic Con returns October 8-11, 2026. For updates and ticket information for both events, be sure to sign up on their official websites!
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