Interview With the Vampire EP on the ‘Grotesque Beauty’ of [Spoiler]’s Death Ahead of Season 2 Finale
If you just finished watching Episode 7 of Interview With the Vampire‘s sophomore season, you’re probably teetering somewhere between devastated and inconsolable. But know this: it could have been worse. Much worse.
SPOILER ALERT: Episode 7 ended with the brutal, heartbreaking, expertly crafted demise of Claudia. Viewers were left to watch in horror as the 14-year-old vampire was exposed to sunlight, gradually burning through her skin and bones until she was nothing more than a pile of ash. The entire sequence was painfully, excruciatingly dragged out, yet we only saw a fraction of the devastation.
“There’s probably 25 seconds you’re not seeing, because we were trying to find what that moment was and how long we could linger on it,” showrunner Rolin Jones tells TVLine. “In the book and movie, [Claudia’s death happens] sort of off-camera. You come to discover it afterwards. But we felt that, because [the show] had been with her for so long and had so much screen time with her, she deserved a death of distinction.”
Offering a tip of his hat to visual effects supervisor Ted Rae, Jones says the goal was to achieve a sort of “grotesque beauty” with Claudia’s death. “It had to beautiful and horrifying at the same time,” he explains, “and we worked very hard to achieve that. We also played a lot with music. We have a very wink-wink song that we thought we would play at the end, and we tried it a couple of times. But then we decided that silence was the way to go.”
And as Jones points out, we didn’t just lose Claudia as a character; we also lost Delainey Hayles as an actress. Singing the praises of the “soulful, extraordinary human,” who took over the role of Claudia in Season 2 as part of a last-minute recast, Jones says, the character’s death was “devastating because of all of the choices that Delainey was making, and the vulnerability and risks she was taking. She was a gift from the gods, and in that moment, it’s like you’re not just losing Claudia — we’re losing Delainey as well.”
But is this really the last we’ll ever see of her? Jones “won’t say never” to more of Delainey; all he’ll confirm at this point is exactly what we all saw on Sunday: “Claudia dies at the end of Episode 7.”
One thing’s for sure: Whatever you’re feeling right now, you’re going to be feeling it for at least another week. “The first six minutes of Episode 8 are still consumed with that death,” Jones warns us — so you’d better have those tissues at the ready.
Book readers, were you surprised to see Claudia’s death play out on screen? And non-book readers, did you really think they would kill her off? Drop a comment with your thoughts on this tragic turn of events below.
So incredibly well done. I cried. Enough said.
Thank you for recapping this under-praised series! I was really hoping Jacob Anderson and Assad Zaman would make joint Performers of the Week for their incredible two-hander in the San Francisco apartment flashback episode but maybe there’s another opportunity for them in the finale. I’m really looking forward to seeing what they have planned for Lestat, too. End of the line for him? Or is he back for Season 3?
Based on this episode, I would give to Jacob and Delainey, though I think there’s an argument to give to the entire cast. Assad and Sam both had great moments too, and the overall ensemble made for an excellent hour(ish) of television. But Jacob’s anguish throughout and Delainey’s resolve despite mental attacks, not to mention the looks between her and her companion, impressed me most this episode.
I was hoping there would be a chance the show might deviate from the source material and keep her alive. It can’t be mentioned enough how awesome an actress Delainey was/is and she played the hell out of this role.
Considering the impact Claudia’s death has on both Louis and Lestat in later novels I don’t see how they could do that and remain true to the source material.
I empathized with Lestat before this.
Now I hope Luis finishes him for good.
Then get ready, because all future seasons will have Lestat as the main character. Because he becomes the main character in the books.
There’s no way they can do this for this series. This Lestât is irredeemable and completely unlikeable. His reduction of screen time has improved this show 1000%.
I think this is why they were wise to include *SPOILER* Lestat’s perspective of their fight from Season 1, where it’s implied that Louis was the instigator. I feel a huge piece of the series is that we’re getting parts of the same story from multiple unreliable narrators – we really don’t know what’s fully what, but all of it seems plausible or at the very least, true to whoever is telling the story at that time.
Is Lestat truly irredeemable? Is Louis just as volatile and toxic as “the brat prince”? Did Armand alter Louis’ memory to make him believe he’s as volatile and toxic, and that Armand is the one that keeps him calm? We really can’t know… and in that confusion, the story continues.
Im looking forward to more Lestat. Im not sure I could watch more of Louis & Armand bickering.
If you’ve read the novels, one of the things Anne Rice pushed was the idea Interview is specifically from Louis’ perspective and steeped in the pain he felt as Claudia’s death. Lestat will always be the brat prince, but he’s not exactly the evil person presented in the Interview novel (and series).
Exactly. Future seasons will have Lestat as the main character, since all the later books have him as the central character. The next book to be adapted for the third season will be “The Vampire Lestat, which will tell Lestat’s origin story, which will then lead into “Queen of the Dammed” which will be the origin story for the entire vampire race which will form the basis for a potential 4th season. Hopefully more books will be adapted into future season because they are all excellent. They could adapt the whole series. In fact, I hope they do.
What I like about this show is it’s not about vampires. It’s about two gay guys.
As the series progresses. Lestat becomes the main character. Louie will no longer be a main character on the show. The third season will be Lestat’s origin story.
Let’s hope they adapt the other books in the series. This season has been a massive improvement over the first. I pray that Louie kills them all.
As for the death scene, it’s called “showing off some VFX”. And that’s ok, they were well done.
In the original movie her death was iconic so it’s only right that they would show this one on the screen as well. I read Anne rice’s vampire novels and pray they go more into her novels than this one book although so much is different already.
I really hope AMC survives long enough to adapt The Vampire Lestat novel. You could get 3 seasons out of that novel. There is so much story and I would love to see Marius and Akasha.
There’s also “Queen of the Damned” which goes into detail about the origins of the vampire race. There’s “Tale of the Body Thief, a body-swap tale & then there is “Mennoch The Devil” in which he encounters both God & the Devil & learns their origin stories. Each season will be different & unique. That the be the beauty of this series.
I really hope so too. It’s looking dire over there financially. They didn’t use their money well. Hopefully more of it goes into making this show and it’s spinoffs better and better. They fumbled the ball with The Walking Dead franchise, I hope they do this justice.
What an incredible season this has been. This show is top notch. The end of this episode was hard to watch. I wanted so much more for those two.
I just love both!
I hope there will be a season 3.
I’m an avid reader, but this one of the first series I refuse to miss weekly.
Thank you!
Thanks for bringing Lestat back as well❤
Ahh Claudia’s death is not a spoiler. Just pointing that detail out
I haven’t read the book but I knew Claudia’s death was coming, honestly hoping they wouldn’t make her die but😭. I haven’t cried for a show/movie in a while and this one was really hard. Shout out to all the actors and crew for this whole show literally perfection!!!!!!!!
She was prefect. Down 2 the end. Not to take away from the first young lady. But Delaney killed it. I mean so on point every fugging scene. The end was like 300 Leonidas embrace that shyt like a champ
The episodes would be better if they fit into 60 minutes. It tends to drag at times.
Why is season 3 announcement taking so long? Hayles can be in it because it’s Lestat’s version of the story.
I was super surprised they killed Claudia and Madeline the way they did. It had me in tears seeing her look at lestat as she was dying her last look. This episode was one of the best I thought. Sam Reid deserves an Oscar for his performance. I love the show can’t wait til next week.
No. I wasn’t surprised. I’ve read the books multiple times and knew it was coming. I did not cry because I never really liked Claudia. I was riveted to the screen by the performance of Lestat and also the tension and emotion between Louis and Armand and louis and Lestat. This show is amazing and I’m sad that it is almost over for another year. Ready for The Vampire Lestat!
Just waiting for the announcement for season 3.
I love this version of interview, so much better than the movie and the original book.
Wonderfully done and entertaining.
Worth watching
Fantastic series, superb acting and writing. Sam IS exactly as I pictured Lestat from the novels. Big Anne Rice fan here, met her several times and had an hour long phone convo with her once when she lived in SF. I figured the producers would show the end of Claudia. Loved Delaney! This tv series is fine art!
I wasn’t really surprised that we saw Claudia die. I was sort of expecting it when I saw that there was going to be a “trial” staged in the Theatre. They were going to do the whole thing in front of the audience. It didn’t surprise me that it differed from the book that way either. In the book, practically everything is told 1st person, from Louis’ point of view. What’s important about Claudia’s death is Louis’ internal reaction to it. So, in the book, we hear about how he feels when he finds her remains and it’s perfectly satisfying. Scripted productions- plays, films, TV- are more external. So there you tend to need to show more of what actually happened because the audience perceives the action and its significance more from the outside.
The episode was incredible. Just watched it today.
I wish we could have had more time with Delainey Hayles as Claudia, she was fantastic and this whole second season has been so great, way better than the first, which was already pretty decent anyway