Sam Reid on ‘The Vampire Lestat’ Finale & His Fictional Rock Star Being Bested on the Billboard Charts
Categoria: Musica
The lead actor talks about his immortal diva's biggest breakdown yet.
Por Billboard | 22/07/2026
In the season finale of AMC’s The Vampire Lestat , our main vamp is reckoning with some of his life’s greatest failures, including an inability to take over the in-universe Billboard Hot 100 . That failure notwithstanding, it was quite an undertaking for creator Rolin Jones, music writer Daniel Hart and actor Sam Reid to bring Anne Rice’s beloved vampire rock star to the small screen — even if, in their retelling, Lestat’s massive fandom becomes a modest cult following (and his album ends up as a fictional chart flop, bested by Drake). Related 25 Songs That Inspired ‘The Vampire Lestat’ Soundtrack: Chappell Roan, David Bowie & More Daniel Hart on Putting Together ‘The Vampire Lestat’ Soundtrack — And Getting to Tear It Apart in the Script ‘The Vampire Lestat’ on Sling TV: Here’s How to Watch the Premiere Online Yet the character refresh didn’t stop there. While Reid modeled some onstage physicality after rock ‘n’ roll greats, he was careful about not pulling too much. “I looked at a lot of glam rock,” the Aussie tells Billboard over a video call from his home country, where he’s starring in a Sydney production of the play Doubt . “But I was a little bit concerned about him feeling too nostalgic, so I didn’t try and lean too much into that.” Preparing for the immortal theater kid’s latest musical adventure instead led Reid down a YouTube rabbit hole about… lions. “Lestat’s got big cat energy,” he laughs. “That’s how I always operate with him. It was like that, just on steroids.” In front of an audience, the vampire is feline and cocky, embracing a genre-typical androgyny (but put a pin in that for now). As we find out, any built-up façade is just as easily torn down. The finale, picking up after the double beheadings — debilitating, but not a sure death sentence — of Lestat and his partner Louis (Jacob Anderson), strips away the unflappable posturing; our Brat Prince spends the episode being roasted by his inner demons. Adding to that choir of critics? Completely brutal pans of his posthumous LP from Pitchfork and Stereogum . Rejected by the arts and the charts, “He’s not succeeding in anything that he tries to do, even in telling his story,” Reid says. Below, he further breaks down what went into playing rock star Lestat’s rock bottom. How did you prepare to embody Lestat as a rock star? You know, it’s weird to say, but I didn’t really think about it too much. Lestat’s always been a performer. He’s always naturally taken on this role of a larger-than-life character. So when I was thinking about the rock performances, I just leaned into the work that we had already done. Trying to overly craft it was a bit of a concern to me because I wanted it to feel natural. I didn’t want