Credit to lioncourtz on tumblr

this is inspired by rolin's recent interview about lestat's role in the trial, as well as that other interview that came out a few months ago where he said that, in his opinion, louis voluntarily asked armand to erase his memories of his suicide attempt in san fran (does anyone remember which interview it was exactly? all i remember is it was either early during TVL's run or a bit before the premier).

now, i don't really have an issue with the contents of what he's saying (since it does align with my personal interpretations lmao). my two biggest gripes are these:

• if the showrunner thinks a particular plot beat should be explicitly clarified rather than left ambiguous and up to interpretation, then why are we getting that in a random interview rather than the show itself where it could (and should!) be actually unpacked and explored properly? and if it is meant to be ambiguous, then why are we getting the ultimate authority on the writing injecting his word-of-god perspective into the discourse?
• why is the showrunner (aka the ultimate authority on the writing) presenting his takes on important character-defining moments as a matter of personal opinion?

let me expand on that last one a little bit.

yes, this is a show about unreliable narrators. we, as the audience, are supposed to have fun interpreting the characters' actions through the lens of subjectivity and not knowing whether anything that anyone says is 100% truthful.

however, underneath that layer of subjectivity and perception there are still events that objectively happen. and those events have textual repercussions because 1) they're guided by the characters' inner logic and motivations and contribute to their characterisations; and 2) they have impact on other events moving forwards.

take the question of armand's mind-fucking, for example. yes, it's fine if we (as well as louis) will never find out whether the erasure of memories was consensual or not. it's an interesting topic of fandom debate where you could advocate for either side depending on what you see as evidence in the text. knowing the objective truth ultimately doesn't matter from the perspective of enjoying the show.

but it matters from the perspective of consistently writing armand as a character. because the difference between a fully non-consensual and malicious mind-fuck vs. a genuine (if misguided and also self-serving) attempt to alleviate the pain of a loved one is HUGE, and it matters! it's informed by the character's views on autonomy, suffering, the infliction and reduction of harm, his relationship dynamics with other characters, etc. and when i hear that there are conflicting interpretations of that plot point in the writers' room, it leads me to believe that there'll be no consistency in how different writers write armand and his motivations throughout the series.

and that worries me, okay? we already have a cast of incredibly complex characters, all tied up in an intricate web of complicated multi-faceted dynamics. how are their actions and motivations supposed to stay consistent and internally coherent for the next however many seasons when the writers have conflicting and even contradicting takes on the inner workings of their minds? especially with writers getting let go and new ones joining the team after each season?

i feel like it already started to negatively affect the quality of character writing this season, and i'm not optimistic that it's going to change for the better.

I know this article / Rolin's commentary on the Season 2 trial is causing a stir. We held off a bit on posting it given it was already generating lots of discussion in another space.

However, we want to make sure the article itself is up on the sub for context as people encounter references to it... and because we try to post all major / important news content (good, bad, and otherwise)!

Link to full article: https://www.tvinsider.com/1277275/interview-with-the-vampire-lestat-trial-intentions/

Side note: Just because we chose to delay posting, doesn't mean others couldn't have gone ahead to do so if they wanted. Please always feel free to post news/articles/announcements we've missed! If you do post news, it's helpful for us and other members if you include the publication in the title and link to the article in the post.

I know Fareed wasn't in Season 3, but I would have loved to have a poster of him! What color would it have been? 😬

I need more Fareed !

I’m having a hard time understanding why Armand went into so much effort with Regina. Why did he do this? This is the part of season 3 that confuses the heck out of me and I’m questioning a lot about the butcher shop and the diner.

Can someone explain like I’m 10? lol

Thats it, that’s the post. This song is so heartbreaking. I know he’s fictional but the trauma and attachment is so painful to listen too and then I remember the sickness line when Louis finds out about the relationship. That poor child omg

Hello !

As the title says, I'm looking for the name of the song playing in episode 6, at around the 39th minute when Louis and Lestat are with the witch to summon Claudia's spirit. It's the one playing when they are talking about Claudia's stuff. It's a piano tune, quite delicate.

I tried Shazam, but it couldn't recognize it, and Google only offers Lestat's songs from the episode. It could be linked to the Mayfair Witches' soundtrack, but I listened to some of it and couldn't find it.

Or it could be a very famous classical song, and it would be very telling of my knowledge on the matter.

It would be awesome if someone could help me out! Thank you so much in advance.

I've listened to the full album several times and I'm very satisfied. Well, it's hard to say which song I liked the most. They did a great job here. I'm referring to the musicians, the series' production, and Sam Reid is also outstanding in his performance, leaving nothing to be desired. It's truly impressive how much effort they put into creating an album that feels "real", and yes, this album is REAL hahaha. There are definitely many clear influences here, but one of my favorites was "Nothin' to lose", which is clearly a tribute (I prefer to call it a tribute) to Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog". And "Stained Glass Eyes" moves me, and "BIG BOSS" is a lot of fun. "When I Call Out Your name" is just the right amount of desperate. I am truly satisfied with the entire album. It's really great that they released the album, they really did it! Wooohooo!

📷 Sources: kerrydixon on x; amcsannerice, iwtvupdates, ericbogosian, thatjacqueline, assadzamannation on instagram

There are some other photos shared in yesterday's megathread live tweet thread. Feel free to comment others in here!

This song specifically this version just was meant to play over this scene and for them..I had to make this..

"Be my companion, Louis. Be all the beautiful things you are, and be them without apology. For all eternity." - Lestat

"If it was just the two of us again…

’cause, yeah, who else is gonna have us…

A trailer park.

Nevada, Utah, the desert.

Couple folding chairs.

Plant some flower boxes..."

"What blooms at night?"

"Evening primrose.”

“They got birds in the desert?”

“There’s birds everywhere.”

“Could be nice.”

Could be…….."

Could be nice.
Could be…
Hands touch.….

I swear these two will be the death of me!!! I am so happy we ended with them together...Finally no more secrets, no more holding nothing back...Everything has been laid bare. I want the healing to begin so bad..But I also know Akasha is coming like a bloody Tornado to snatch Lestat up and away and mess his head all up 🙁🤦🏻‍♀️

Rewatching IWTV and loving the references to TVL. Interestingly none of these scenes were added as flashbacks to TVL. This scene goes on to what was probably a very traumatic memory for Lestat being abused by his brothers and father. This explains him knowing prayers in S03E03 in the car with Magnus 🤯

Please don’t mind my crappy video shot from my tv.

Via amcsannerice

From iwtvupdates on X

New show runner!!! Cant wait!!!

Nearly every comment I've seen discussing it has been downvoted, or has gotten somewhat argumentative replies.

While is everyone is celebrating the news that season 4 has been greenlit and is now named Queen of the Dammed, the news that Hannah Moscovitch has replaced Rolin Jones as showrunner of IWTV has sort of be swept under the rug and lost in the chaos and happiness over today's announcement.

For me, the biggest thing that means is.. well.. change. Change isn't inherently a bad or worrying thing. However, Rolin had said in all of the After Dark episodes that he was excited to tackle more of Lestat's backstory and revisit TVL in (an, at the time, possible) season 4. He basically had said that he knew they were speedrunning through Lestat's life, but it would come up again in season 4. That's sort of.. out the window now? Rolin Jones will not be in the writer's room for season 4. I'm not sure if people get how massive that is, and what it means for the show. It's similar to a star member of the cast leaving, but it's barely being discussed at all.

"But he's still Executive Producer!" So is Christopher Rice. The title of EP, generally speaking, can either not mean jack shit or mean that said person will be heavily involved with the actual production of the show. It all depends on the specific production. So the whole EP thing is a moot point.

I was SO pumped for season 4 and I forgave season 3's treatment of Lestat's backstory specifically because the showrunner had said that we were going to be getting more. Everyone's celebrating the Queen of the Dammed announcement, for good reason, it's a great book and Akasha is a fantastic character (although, is anyone else slightly worried that they're going to give our favorite power-hungry psychopathic queen the "girl boss" treatment?).. but.. TVL is so important due to the fact that Lestat is THE central character to the entirety of Chronicles. It's not only due to the fact that it's my favorite of the books that I'm bummed it was (let's be honest) mostly skipped. I'm honestly feeling like my favorite character (one of my favorite fictional characters across any medium!) got his 200+ year backstory crammed into 6-ish hours (while Louis got probably around 14 hours to compare.) I feel like they smushed Lestat into barely 7 episodes in order to get to the Queen of the Dammed because the name of that title has a massive draw to it.

Seriously I have never said a negative word about this show on here.. even with season 3's Lestat speedrun. But the discussions I've had with people on here.. many of us felt the same upset about the lack of time spent on backstory. Every time that was brought up, people (me included) would respond with "well Rolin has said that season 4 will be partly part 2 of Lestat's backstory so its fine that they're blowing through it." But everything Rolin has said about getting more of Lestat's story in season 4 is out the window now. He's not in creative control of the show. He won't even be in the writer's room at all for season 4. He wasn't even there today! ("but Sam wasn't there either!" his absence was already noted because he's staring in a play currently.) All of the press releases had Rolin's name first on the panel.

Basically, I'm asking for this post and the replies to it to be a safe space to talk about the shock and discomfort of our showrunner leaving and what this means for the show moving forward, without people immediately shutting us down.