AMC Drops 'The Vampire Lestat' Sneak Peek at IGN Fan Fest | June 2026 Release Announced
Sharpen your fangs. It's about to get bloody.
During IGN Fan Fest Day 1, AMC previewed a brand-new sneak peek of The Vampire Lestat and announced a June 2026 release date. And if this clip is any indication of what to expect out of the new season, we are in for one wild ride.
The Soft Era We Deserved
Lestat is on FaceTime. He’s calm, flirty, and seemingly at relative peace. He and Louis are in some form of post-reunion relationship/friendship where the ease of being on the phone together (Lestat previewing a song for him) feels more like habit than a tiptoe around reconciliation. We are dropped right in the middle of something sweet. Something playful and light. It’s a side of their relationship we didn’t get to explore in Seasons 1 and 2 of Interview With the Vampire and it draws us right back in the orbit that is them.
When Lestat invites Louis to visit him in Montreal—enticing him with meaningless facts about old money neighborhoods, no potholes, no hurricanes, and no witches—his request feels less like the overt seduction of his Season 1 persona and more like muscle memory—the softness of Dreamstat that may have echoed closer to Lestat’s true loving nature.
And Louis…Louis wants.
While the sneak peek opens on a side of their relationship that fans have been begging for since “In Throes of Increasing Wonder,” make no mistake boundaries exist.
There is something clearly communicated and respected in the renewed friendship when Lestat asks Louis to visit. Lestat longs for his presence, but he doesn’t push—leaving space for Louis to nestle in the feeling of dating again, and of having choice and agency. His playful rebuttal at being relegated to the guest bedroom hints at that boundary, but also a possibility of choosing to cross it.
The tension is devilishly sweet and the flirtation stokes small embers—both circling one another again but with caution and fluttering curiosity.
That is until Daniel Molloy.
All butterflies and soft music come to a screeching halt as we are shown the exact moment that causes a rift in Lestat and Louis’ relationship. And while the Google alert scene is as comedic as it is a record scratch, the visual framing of the entire clip and the change in writing style (modern dialogue) already make The Vampire Lestat an almost complete departure from the melancholy and malaise of Interview With the Vampire.
Lestat casually asks:
“Louis, do you know someone called Daniel Molloy?”
Louis panics. Stalls even, lending us a view into the Louis of Dubai—"are you schizophrenic, Louis?"—the part of his charm that keeps us talking about Jacob’s layered and nuanced performance to this very day.
Louis responds:
“I burned his laptop! I didn’t know he had it saved in the cloud.”
We survived one hurricane just to get launched into the eye of another: technology. And there’s nothing more dangerous than a vampire with an iPad and endless time on his hands.
The Adaptation of a Lifetime
From book to screen, the adaptations have morphed into something quite astonishing. As we learn from the exclusive peek, our introduction of Satan’s Night Out has been changed, technology has changed, and the simple fact that Louis was on the phone with Lestat when news of his book comes to light takes Anne Rice’s source material to heights no one ever dreamed possible. Rolin Jones and Hannah Moscovitch have somehow continued to find a way to modernize text without decimating the origin story that we fell in love with.
This creative direction is modern, smart, and funny in a way that it shouldn’t be, yet it’s refreshing. And visually? The framing already signals a shift in tone. It’s brighter, faster, and less suffocating (yes, I gathered this from a 3 minute clip…don’t judge me).
The melancholy that defined Interview With the Vampire now gives way to something more electric. So buckle up, beautiful unwell.
It’s going to be one hell of a summer.
Check out the clip below and mark your calendars. The Vampire Lestat is coming.