Note: This article contains general spoilers for both Season 1 and Season 2 of AMC’s Interview With the Vampire.
In an era where queer narratives are increasing in visibility across media, AMC’s Interview With the Vampire stands out as more than just a reinvention of Anne Rice’s iconic bloodsucking tale—it’s a cultural artifact that redefines gothic horror through the lens of queer agency. It’s a defining moment in a wave of gothic and queer reinterpretations shaping today’s media landscape. By emphasizing self-determination and agency, the show serves as a timely piece that stands out amongst contemporary queer storytelling.
AMC’s Interview with the Vampire is not just a genre masterpiece, but a necessary reflection that highlights queer struggles today. By positioning Interview within this larger cultural movement, I’ll be taking a look at the show’s approach to power and identity. I’ll also discuss how it connects historical suffering with today’s queer self-determination even in the face of rising anti-LGBTQ+ movements. Mine will only be a small piece of commentary on this show’s vastness: I did cut myself off at a certain point, otherwise I would be elderly in my rocking chair explaining to anyone who would listen that I just have one more point to make.
Why this show, why now?
First and foremost, Interview With the Vampire is a show that makes you think. In our endlessly depressing news cycle, reality TV helps turn your brain off for a bit. However, we need a stimulating flip side to that, too. With a storyline that hits the ground running, AMC’s Interview has so much to think about that you almost need to pause occasionally to let your mind catch up. Or, alternatively, you could do what I do and rewatch the entire thing twenty times.
The current socio-political landscape is, simply put, harmful. Trump’s re-election has resulted in administrative chaos that has, among other things, caused more people to fear simply existing. Recent setbacks include anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, attacks on transgender rights, erasure in school curriculums, and workplace rollbacks.
Because Interview weaves together themes of identity, race, and sexuality, it does not simply exist as an entertaining show—although it is certainly addictive and had me gladly ruining my sleep schedule—it also serves as a reflection of oppression and resistance. It’s not really a “throw on while you do laundry” type of story. It manages to be both thought-provoking and entertaining, and it’s that which makes it the intelligent TV show we need. It presents the unique experience of a Black queer vampire experiencing discrimination throughout time, something mostly unseen in media, and which of course most of us cannot physically live long enough to comment on.
As a main character who starts with little societal advantage but agency in his home life, Louis de Pointe du Lac is complicated and fascinating. The show made an excellent choice in not only reimagining this role for a Black man, but also for giving power to a character who many view as weak in the 1973 book and 1994 movie.
Originally a white slaveowner running an indigo plantation, Louis is a character Anne Rice mostly dropped from The Vampire Chronicles after the first book. Fans and characters alike tend to refer to Book Louis as boring, weak, and whiny. In the movie, Tom Cruise’s Lestat says Louis is “still whining,” “my idiot friend,” and a “whining coward of a vampire.” Lestat becomes frustrated with Louis in the AMC show as well, but this is combined with a desire to have an equal companion, especially since what attracted him to Louis in the first place was seeing him pull a knife on his brother. In the show, Lestat de Lioncourt, Louis’s immortal companion, is explicitly shown to be his romantic partner, and this prompts a reckoning for Louis to be true to himself. This version is taking place in 1910, when queer Black identities were not commonly accepted or discussed.
Louis weighs in on his identity after recalling a racist comment that made him snap; something seemingly innocuous but that acted as the last brick in a tall wall of exclusion:
They all came from the same organ inside me… An organ unknown to science at the time. Because what scientist would look for an organ found only in Black men who use their weakness to rise? But I wasn’t a man anymore. I was something else. I had powers now and decades of rage to process.
Daniel Molloy, the interviewer who for various reasons is fairly oblivious to most of Louis’s circumstance at the start of the show, has a moment of clarity that reinforces this point in the subsequent episode: “Take a queer black man in America. Make him a vampire. Fuck with that vampire. And see what comes of it.”
AMC’s Interview, America’s legislation
At a time when LGBTQ+ rights are under relentless attack—from anti-trans legislation to the erasure of queer history in schools—AMC’s Interview with the Vampire offers more than gothic escapism. It presents a fierce, unapologetic vision of queer survival and self-determination.
In recent years, the number of anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment has risen steeply. According to the Trans Legislation Tracker, 2025 is the sixth consecutive year of record-breaking attempts at anti-trans legislation. As of February 17, 2025, 46 states have already presented 517 anti-trans bills. This is a dramatic spike, since in the entirety of 2024 a total of 674 bills were considered. We’re clearly on track to pass that number in record time.
Similarly, book bans are also off the charts, and many are due to LGBTQ+ themes and characters of color. From 2022 to 2023 alone, challenged books in public libraries increased by 92%. Educators note these numbers are in part due to book lists circulating on social media, which gather sensational attention. In 2022, the Harvard Gazette noted, 40% of cases called to ban 100 or more books at once.
Thus, these are not books that parents randomly come across in an “offensive” way. These book challenges are rising in popularity because of people who have never read the story they’re claiming is inappropriate. With whole lists of banned picture books, it’s clear people are simply objecting to the existence of marginalized identities. Because there isn’t much substance to a picture book, it’s not a complicated message that’s the problem. It’s just people existing.
While there’s been progress, discrimination loves a comeback, and in reviewing the past, AMC’s Interview has us reconciling fantasy with reality. It’s tough to show that without defeatist vibes, but this show manages to portray this with an empowering, energetic undercurrent.
Having the time to take up space
Traditionally, gothic horror explores themes of marginalization and societal fear. The “other” has historically been a source of both fright and fascination. We hate, yet are obsessed with, what we can’t understand or what we don’t know. In gothic fiction, these outsider identities manifest frequently as ghosts, vampires, zombies, and werewolves.
These narratives reflect fears of the “exotic” or the “invading other.” Stories like Dracula feature the vampire as a symbol of sexual repression, both dangerous and alluring. The Picture of Dorian Gray and Frankenstein also provide this metaphor with monstrous transformation. In doing so, they explore fears around moral corruption, unchecked scientific ambition, and shifting societal norms.
In recent years, queer horror has taken a turn for the healthier. Still, it’s not given a seat at the head of the table, just occasional invites to brunch. Recently, The Haunting of Bly Manor featured queer characters Dani and Jamie. However, the show was a limited series based on The Turn of the Screw, not meant to continue. Thus, Dani and Jamie don’t end up with a lot of time together.
Another recent adaptation, Dead Boy Detectives, includes a scene of one boy confessing his love to another. It’s great to see, but the streaming platform didn’t give the story room to finish. Neither Detectives nor Bly has the intellectual property value of Interview, which can be important to attract viewers. Plus, both were original to Netflix, a name usually mentioned along with tedious account sharing policies and lack of consistent, expansive content.
AMC’s Interview subverts the “othering” of queerness by layering the literal on top of the metaphorical. Show runner Rolin Jones has stated that AMC wants ten seasons of this story. That’s a lot for any show, let alone a queer story that on any other day might get dropped after Episode 1. In a time when many streaming shows are canceled, especially diverse ones, it’s nothing short of a miracle to have time to explore the depths of what makes these characters tick.
Claudia and the horrors
Whether through paranormal entities or haunted pasts, modern gothic horror centers queer voices, even the complicated ones. Fond of Claudia but not of the theater, Louis takes her to the Théâtre des Vampires in Paris, where they meet other queer vampires of color. This effectively blends Claudia into a Black queer vampire theater kid, which is delicious in its own right.
The leader of the Paris coven, in Armand’s absence due to his growing connection with Louis, is the white vampire Santiago. He and the coven distrust Louis and Claudia for lying in a supposedly unforgivable way, but like Louis, Claudia was never aware that any Great Laws existed for them to break. Santiago, more than the others, looks down on them for not knowing what their white maker never taught them. They’re at a disadvantage in both life and death, with Claudia having another layer of agency stripped by having had no choice in becoming a vampire.
Gothic horror often highlights the oppression of women, using decaying mansions and psychological horror to depict patriarchal trappings. Jane Eyre, Rebecca, and The Yellow Wallpaper all have heroines trapped by societal expectations and abusive power structures. Claudia’s also stuck in a body she can’t grow out of or die naturally in. Because of the age she was turned, puberty is her permanent physicality and, to an extent, her mentality. As she grows older, teenage impulsivity traps her mind even as she learns adult lessons.
Interview frames vampirism as both a source of power and an eternal struggle with identity. It takes Louis longer to come around to drinking human blood, but Claudia and Lestat revel in it. They are proud killers—both stubborn, driven by hunger and desire, and constantly running from the abuse of their past.
Claudia mentions this pride in Season 2, Episode 2, after a gruesome night at the Théâtre des Vampires sees the coven eating a woman onstage: “Past your empathy for that woman, past your fear of being exposed. Vampire pride. Those Frenchies love being vampires. And they shamed us because we never felt that way and we fucking should!”
Claudia is elated that she’s found others like her who bask in their true nature. Although society would have them feel ashamed, and although the coven doesn’t fully trust her, they’re still her people. In this, we see we’re not a trope or a cautionary tale: we’re complicated and sometimes a little un-hero-like. Still, there is pride to be found in that. If you’re not proud, you can end up resentful, and for your sanity, it’s best to accept who you are.
From veggie vamps to vicious vamps
AMC’s Interview is a modern gothic tale that shuts down queerness as a source of fear. Instead, it’s a lesson in survival. The show works against a long history of paranormal stories focusing on the “other” assimilating so as not to offend anyone’s sensibilities, and to show that they’re moral, upstanding citizens who probably pay taxes.
This includes the vampires of Twilight, who Stephenie Meyer writes as doing everyone a favor by not giving into their instinct to drink human blood. Interview takes this reticence and turns it on its head, asking why vampires should have to deny their nature. If we’re to take vampirism as a metaphor for queerness, which it often is, then indulging in human blood would be acting on, or “giving into” that queerness. Now, you’ve crossed the line into unforgivable. These guys are suffering from loneliness and an eternal search for the purpose of life! Let them have a drink, for God’s sake.
Vegetarian vampires are abundant. It’s common to see this “hero” as an acceptable version of a monster, if they must be that way. In addition to the Cullens, examples include Stefan of The Vampire Diaries, Seras from Hellsing, Jack Fleming of The Vampire Files, Darren Shan, Kostya in the Night Watch series, Draculaura from Monster High, the Alfonzes from the comic fantasy novel Family Bites, and Jander from the Ravenloft novel Vampire of the Mists.
In “The Vegetarian Vampire: Unpacking the Metaphor of Modern Vampire Stories,” Natalie C. Parker describes how the vegetarian vampire is often a straight white man with unchecked privilege. This applies to Edward Cullen as well as Anne Rice’s original version of Louis de Pointe du Lac. Once they become undead, a spiral of shame hits them that overlaps with what many oppressed people experience daily. AMC’s Interview, on the other hand, adds layers of meaning by featuring a Black Louis. This blend of literal and metaphorical produces the exciting, modernized AMC Interview brand of vampire. This makes the story that much more rich, interesting, thoughtful, and timely. I was sick of seeing moping white men, anyway. Sorry, Lestat.
The “other” as the “us”
As contemporary gothic horror centers marginalized perspectives, it shows the horror not in the “other,” but in the forces that cast shadows on outsiders. Hollywood ingrained fear of the “other” in movies with the Hays Code of 1934-1968. This was a production code which forbade, among other things, obscenity, violence, and homosexuality. But as the documentary The Celluloid Closet points out, “For all its efforts, [the Hays Code] didn’t erase homosexuals from screens. It just made them harder to find. And now they had a new identity as cold-blooded villains.”
Moving away from portraying queer figures only as villains, modern horror frames them as protagonists navigating a world that fears them. When we see Louis’s aversion to drinking human blood, it’s less “hmm, let me sit and think about this” and more “you’re starving yourself and rats aren’t gonna cut it.” His insistence on humanity—his ability to fit in—weakens him as he denies himself this need. This leads to his snapping and attacking people when his hunger gets to him, and perhaps harder to watch, sneaking out through the back door to accept a rat delivery.
This is a very different angle than most vampire stories, which portray drinking human blood as unnecessarily indulgent and cruel. A rat diet is okay. But as Lestat responds to this suggestion from Louis in Season 1, Episode 2, “Is ‘okay’ what you desire, Louis? Shall we walk the night as the gods of easily attainable dreams?”
This was my first time hearing that particular vampire sentiment, and probably one of the first times of many Louis heard it as well. Plus, how many rats would you have to eat to equal the blood in a human? Too much math, that’s how many.
Writing our stories
The storyline of AMC’s Interview begins in 2022, and then jumps back in time and depicts 20th-century queer experiences. But even before its timeline joins the 21st century again, the parallels to modern queer issues are present. The story Louis tells begins in 1910s Storyville, a historical section of New Orleans that film and TV neglects. In Storyville, free people of color, Black Creole women, and sex workers could explore entrepreneurship and a vibrant music scene. Although it was once less segregated than other parts of the South, the government effectively closed Storyville by criminalizing prostitution.
A century in the future, this show reminds us that dangerous, racist rhetoric has not gone away. Perhaps in some places queer people of color are freer to hold hands in public, but not without some level of trepidation. This makes it more meaningful for Louis to conclude this particular Interview storyline by being ready to defend himself against the angry vampire mob. Even when things aren’t much different, he’s changed.
Louis telling his life story is an act of resistance. Especially with the ongoing erasure of LGBTQ+ history in education, it’s powerful to watch Louis, who has lived through over a century of anti-Black homophobia, recounting and coming to terms with his past. But he doesn’t hire Daniel as a scribe; he knows Daniel is an investigative journalist and that something was lacking in their initial 1973 interview. As they talk, Louis discovers more about his past that he had repressed due to trauma, time, or gaslighting. Louis putting his story on paper is an important reflection of the archiving of queer stories, no matter how inappropriate or close to “grooming” they may be to some.
Reclaiming the past, fighting for the future
Louis’s story shows us that reclaiming the past is important to be present and move toward the future. In Season 2, Daniel acquires historical documents related to the vampires he’s interviewing. It’s these archives that allow Louis to piece together the parts of his past that made him who he is. This is the push Louis needs to discover the truth and reclaim what happened to him. Now, he can move forward.
Revising history is present in Louis’s mind being altered, and also in the recent erasure of LGBTQ+ media. Censorship on federal websites due to “gender ideology,” allowing online misinformation, and removing HIV data are just some of the latest examples. On February 19th, the White House displayed new levels of callousness by uploading a video captioned “ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight”. Before that, on February 15th, the U.S. government removed the “T” from “LGBT” on the Stonewall National Monument website.
Queer and immigrant history is being erased and made into a joke in front of our very eyes. Our leaders are stirring the pot from every angle they can find. They are creating an environment in which wreaking havoc on transgender Americans is just another day in the news cycle, from sports to prisons to the military to schools to those just trying to leave the country. Any money or status you may have doesn’t matter; you’re not in the driver’s seat unless your name is Elon Musk.
Power without privilege
Discussing power, Louis’s actor Jacob Anderson notes that “even being given all of that power, it doesn’t necessarily protect you from a larger system.” Even as Louis grows in power and riches, these are not magic erasers for deep-rooted racism. He adds that he enjoys being a Black Creole vampire, and says, “I hope that all it does is open the gates for more. Let’s tell more stories; let’s be monsters and enjoy it… Let’s be problematic. Give us the space to be a problem.” I will, if I have any say in the matter.
In the first season of AMC’s Interview, Louis had both the power of being a vampire and the prestige of having the de Pointe du Lac name, and yet neither of those things mattered when the racist Alderman and his buddies started issuing decrees such as Ordinance 4118, which pushed to segregate Storyville businesses of color.
Racially motivated moments like this fuel many of Louis’s biggest decisions, including pushing him to attack the Alderman. This leads to Black Storyville burning, which in turn leads Louis to Claudia, a daughter figure. His pain overlaps with joy, and knowing Louis’s story, maybe we can also move onwards, even as the government implodes around us.
Louis holds the power in Season 2 as he silences the vampires out to get him for publishing his story. He sits in his penthouse, symbolic pieces of his history behind him. The camera pans in on his face and he says, serenely, “I own the night.” It’s a beautiful ending (for now) to a journey that we witnessed from his start in the early 1900s closet.
Why AMC’s Interview matters in 2025
This show matters right now because of its ties to the current political and socioeconomic landscape. AMC’s Interview strikes a delicate balance between gothic horror, queer romance, toxic relationships, and comedic timing. It takes creators that really care about their story and their audience to want to depict these characters so carefully. Interview’s show runners pay attention to fans and their creations, and have covered a writers’ room wall with fan art. The show reflects this dedication, from the intricate townhouse to the book dialogue that manages to feel fresh.
Interview is both a reflection of and a response to today’s queer struggles. In an era of pushback, storytelling like this remains an act of resistance. While this is horror, and stories of vampires tend to have a macabre vibe, and both seasons contain massive losses, there is still a note of hope. We see Louis reconciling with those losses with the help of a friend. Having reflected on his trauma and laid it all out, he can face the truth of who he is and how he will move forward.
It’s important that we support queer media, especially right now, even if it’s not what you normally gravitate toward. I enjoy both Heartstopper and Interview, but I assume it’d be normal for many of those viewers not to overlap.
But even if we haven’t seen something, or have no desire to, it’s important to raise awareness of these stories. Word of mouth is powerful for queer audiences—half the shows I’ve watched were first presented to me via Tumblr gifs—and this way, the demand may grow and prove to those in charge that there is interest in diverse stories.
In a world where we can censor lighthearted picture books for apparent obscenity, it sends a badass message to portray Louis and Lestat’s relationship on TV. It displays a queer relationship, one that is almost the complete antithesis of the cutesy Nick and Charlie’s from Heartstopper. It’s full of mess, blood, and some incredibly meme-able drama. But it does this with care, and it allows us to enter the minds of creatures who are hurt and who hurt others. In doing this, we sympathize with monsters and characters whose moral codes are inherently different from ours. Although I have yet to meet a vampire—as far as I know—stories like this can provide an awareness of why we do what we do. It might reveal to you the way you view the world, and how that view might differ from your neighbor.
This series shows various sides of a story while urging us to think critically instead of tying ourselves concretely to one explanation or another. That, by itself, is rare in media, as well as politics. Many of us view TV shows and the two-party system in the same old black and white, all or nothing, so the fact that AMC’s Interview is not that makes it extraordinary. There is no true “villain” because every character is capable of horrific things, especially from the viewpoint of a human.
As Jacob Anderson said, “My character is a Black Creole man and he’s queer and he’s kind of awful, but those things aren’t all tied in together. For me, that’s the dream of representation: that our behavior isn’t entirely tied in with our identity.”
Louis can just be all of those things. He doesn’t have to be the ideal queer character, because there are other queer characters to choose from. He doesn’t have to be the model character of color, because there are other characters of color. Interview is the show we need because it pushes this diversity further into the mainstream, where people’s small-minded ideas need to be challenged, especially in a country that elected, and re-elected, Donald Trump.
Lestat tells Louis to be all the beautiful things he is without apology, and it’s a great message for the audience, but the act of simply becoming a vampire does not allow Louis to do that, just as having power or money in the real world does not erase an underprivileged identity. As a Black man, Louis goes through over a century of hurt, depression, and oppression, and it’s very likely he’ll spend the rest of his time on earth dealing with how exactly to be all the beautiful things he is without apology. And probably us, too.
In supporting queer media, we resist censorship by engaging with stories that challenge oppression. This helps signal to creators everywhere that we need diversity, and that’s not just in terms of race, gender, sexuality, ability, or any other identity—the more of our stories we get on the screen, the more room we have for wider displays of diversity. Let us be problematic, as Jacob Anderson said. Give us the space to be a problem. If we can turn on the TV at any moment and see a straight white man making poor choices, we should then be able to turn off that news channel and seek entertainment reflecting those of us who are not the ones currently in charge of leading this country.
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