Vampire television is coming back to life. While FX's hilarious "What We Do in the Shadows" is still representing for the undead on the small screen, there hasn't been much in the way of dramas lately. Enter the gothic charms of "Interview With the Vampire" . . . again.
On Monday, AMC announced that a series adaptation of the famed Anne Rice novel – which once was adapted into a cult-favorite movie in the '90s – will debut on AMC and AMC+ in 2022. The new eight-episode series will be the first title adapted from AMC's acquisition deal last year that includes 18 Rice titles encompassing the Vampire Chronicles and the Mayfair Witches novels.
Rolin Jones ("Friday Night Lights," "Perry Mason") comes on as the series creator, showrunner and executive producer, while Rice herself and son Christopher remain on as the non-writing executive producers of the show.
"In 1973, a grieving mother and extraordinary writer began what would become the finest vampire novel ever written (all respects to Mr. Stoker)," said Jones in a statement. "Nearly 50 years later we know what's expected of us. We know how much this book and the ones that follow mean to their massive fan base. We feel you over our shoulders as we tend the Savage Garden. Louis and Lestat are coming out of hiding and we can't wait to reunite them with you."
The 1994 film adaptation of "Interview With the Vampire" stars Brad Pitt as Louis, a man who claims to have been a grieving plantation owner before becoming a vampire, turned by the vampire Lestat (Tom Cruise in a blond wig). Theirs is a rocky relationship as they disagree on whether they must kill humans to feed or not, and it comes to head over the transformation of a 10-year-old girl Claudia (Kirsten Dunst in a breakout role) into one of the undead.
Since the release of the popular yet controversial film, (which even prompted Oprah to walk out of a screening due to the film's gory yet sensual themes), the gothic and alluring world of vampires inspired by Rice's words have spawned a whole genre of bloodsucking media. With Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise as the '90s blueprint for smoldering male vampires, what followed were more projects that combined vampire love triangles: "True Blood" on HBO, the "Twilight" movies, "The Vampire Diaries" on the CW, among others. It should be noted that all are adaptations of popular book series written by women.
Written from Lestat's point of view, Rice's Vampire Chronicles have transformed the modern legacy of vampires and other supernatural beings from creatures of myth, to beings with humanity, magic and capable of intimacy in the human world.
Shares