'Interview with the Vampire' Cast and Character Guide: Who's Who in the Anne Rice Series (2024)

When Anne Rice began her Vampire Chronicles in 1976, vampires in pop culture had fallen far from Bela Lugosi’s debut as the elegant and deadly aristocrat in Dracula. Most vampire movies were monster movies centering around gore and violence or schlocky camp featuring the usual vampire tropes. But Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles changed all that. Here, a vampire rather than a human was the protagonist, and her work explored how vampires lived and loved among their own kind rather than just showing their connections to the human world. More than that, her vampires were sexy, elegant, and superior, influencing the portrayal of every vampire since–whether it's David Bowie in The Hunger, Robert Pattinson in the Twilight Series, or Gary Oldman in Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

While Neil Jordan’s 1994 movie Interview with a Vampire created some controversy with its casting (Brad Pitt as Louis, Tom Cruise as Lestat), the film still tried to placate fans by being as faithful as possible to the original story–with mixed results. Perhaps that’s why AMC's new series, Interview with the Vampire, features some bold departures in plot and characters that still adhere to the spirit of the novel. Even with changes to the characters' race, time period, setting, and plot points, the series has the same underlying themes as all of Anne Rice's work: the connection between love and hatred, the conflict between sexual desire and violence, and exploring how ancient, mythological creatures like vampires would live in our technology-obsessed modern world.

Here’s a guide to the main characters–three vampires and one human–as well as the actors who play them, in the new Interview with the Vampire series.

Related:‘Interview With the Vampire’s First Episode Doesn't Waste Any Time — and It Pays Off

Jacob Anderson as Louis de Pont du Lac

In Anne Rice’s original novel, Louis is an 18th-century Louisiana plantation owner who blames himself for the death of his troubled, fanatically religious younger brother. But the series producers presumably didn’t want to create yet another story centered around white plantation life, so they changed Louis into a 33-year-old mixed-race man and moved the story to the year 1910. Disillusioned by his father’s financial failures, Louis now owns various properties, including brothels, in the rough and tumble Storyville section of New Orleans, where prostitution is legal. His success allows him to fund an extravagant wedding for his sister Grace while his mother Florence believes he will eventually go into a more respectable line of business. However, Louis’s younger brother Paul abhors his brother’s line of work. Though respected as a businessman, Louis seethes at the casual, barely hidden racism directed towards him. He’s also tortured by doubts about his own sexuality–which are exacerbated after he meets Lestat. Unable to resist the mysterious stranger, Louis allows himself to be transformed into a vampire. In the year 2022, when he summons Daniel Molloy forty-odd years after their last meeting, Louis seems comfortable with his identity, both as a vampire and as a gay man. But, as the series shows, he has more than a few new secrets to share.

Actor Jacob Anderson, who portrays Louis in the series, is probably best known for playing Grey Worm in Game of Thrones. He has also appeared in numerous British television shows such as Doctor Who, Broadchurch, and Silent Witness, as well as movies such as Overlord (2018) and Comedown (2012). Anderson has also done work as a hip-hop artist under the name of Raleigh Ritchie. His next project is the film Timestalker, a fantasy romance about reincarnation.

Sam Reid as Lestat de Lioncourt

Little is known about Lestat when he first appears in Storyville except that he is a French aristocrat with a great deal of money, wears slightly old-fashioned clothes, and is immediately enamored by Louis. It soon becomes clear that Lestat is a connoisseur of pleasure–whether beautiful women, fine clothing, or exquisite music. At first, Louis, conflicted about his homosexuality and sensing danger, tries to fight his attraction to the seductive Lestat, but eventually, Lestat transforms him into a vampire. Lestat enjoys his immortality and, unlike Louis, feels no guilt about killing humans–even murdering an opera tenor as punishment for a bad performance. He is irritated by Louis’s preoccupation with his real-life family and refusal to drink human blood, but also provides him with expensive gifts to show his affection.

Australian actor Sam Reid played lovelorn lawyer John Davinier in Belle (2013), abusive husband John Cree in The Limehouse Golem (2016), murderous artist Jonas in 2:22 (2017), and Seargent Klintoff in The Legend of Molly Johnson (2021). He’s also starred in numerous British mystery television shows including Prime Suspect: Tennison, Marple, Endeavor, and Whitechapel.

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Eric Bogosian as Daniel Molloy

When he first meets Louis in 1976, Daniel Molloy is simply identified as “the young boy,” a would-be journalist who interviews Louis about his life as a vampire. Now, in 2022, Daniel Molloy is cynical and middle-aged, having racked up both remarkable success and humiliating setbacks in his veteran journalism career. Suffering from Parkinson’s disease, Daniel has set up an online school for journalism students based on his colorful experiences and has a long history of drug and alcohol abuse documented in his memoir. When he gets Louis’s request to meet again, he immediately flies to Dubai hoping to recreate the greatest story of his career. And yet, his feelings about Louis are mixed–their first encounter ended in a fight and perhaps violence, and he resents the contradictions and outright lies that Louis told him in their first meeting.

In the series, Daniel Molloy is played by Eric Bogosian, who has been acting in theater, television, and the movies for nearly forty years and is probably the show’s most familiar face. In addition to starring in Oliver Stone’s 1988 film Talk Radio (based on a play Bogosian wrote), Bogosian’s film credits include Wonderland (2003), Cadillac Records (2008), and Uncut Gems (2019). He has also had recurring roles in numerous television shows including The Good Wife, Billions, Succession, and, most notably, appeared as Captain Danny Ross in Law and Order: Criminal Intent from 2006 to 2010. A 2004 Guggenheim Fellow, Bogosian has also published three novels, authored six performed plays, and written a book about the Armenian Genocide. Apart from appearing in Interview with the Vampire, his next project is the 2023 crime thriller film Reptile.

Bailey Bass as Claudia

Claudia, a young girl who was turned into a vampire, is often said to be inspired by Anne Rice’s real-life daughter Michelle, who died of granulocytic leukemia in 1972. In the novel, Claudia is an angelic, five-year-old urchin living on the streets of New Orleans when Lestat turns her into a vampire to be a kind of adopted daughter to Louis. As the decades pass, Claudia matures emotionally and mentally into an adult but remains trapped in the body of a child. The series changes Claudia’s race (from white to mixed-race) and age (from five to fourteen) but her character remains essentially the same. Like Lestat, she has no inhibitions about murdering for food and loves expensive trinkets and pleasures. And yet, her deepest relationship is with the sensitive Louis, who adores her even as he balks at her ruthlessness.

Bailey Bass, who portrays Claudia, is a relatively new actress who has appeared in Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and in a handful of movies including Moon and Sun (2014) and Psycho Sweet 16 (2022). Bass will also have a recurring supporting role in the next three Avatar movies, set to be released in 2022, 2024, and 2026, starting with Avatar: The Way of Water.

Apart from these characters, the show also features a number of recurring cast members including Assad Zaman as Rashid, Steven Norfleet as Louis' brother Paul de Pointe du Lac, Kalyne Coleman as Louis' sister Grace de Pointe du Lac, Rae Dawn Chong as Louis' mother Florence de Pointe du Lac, Jeff Pope as Finn O'Shea, Chris Stack as Tom Anderson, Luke Brandon Field as Young Daniel Molloy, Rachel Handler as Peg-Leg Doris, John DiMaggio as Alderman Fenwick, Dana Gourrier as Bricktop Williams, Christian Robinson as Levi Freniere, and Maura Grace Athari as Antoinette.

Read more about Interview with the Vampire:

• How to Watch 'Anne Rice's Interview With the Vampire'

• 'Anne Rice's Interview With the Vampire' Season 1 Episode 1 Recap: The End and the Beginning

• 'Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire' Season 1 Episode 2 Recap: Did You Eat the Baby?