‘Interview with the Vampire’ returns to AMC for a satisfying new season of Anne Rice’s tale

Its central characters might be morally adrift, but AMC’s second season of “Interview with the Vampire” has no delusions about what it is at its core. That much can be said.

It proves it in no uncertain terms a little more than midway through the new season’s second episode, in which actor Eric Bogosian — playing the relentlessly sarcastic interviewer of the titular bloodsucker — equates the whole melodramatic exercise to a daytime drama, just with fangs.

“It’s a telenovela! I mean, come on!,” he says, interrupting the vampire lovers Louis and Armand as they share their smoochy meet-cute.

While Bogosian teases them, the theme from “The Young and the Restless” tinkles along in melancholic accompaniment. “Bring me the tequila and some popcorn,” he adds. “Let’s flip to channel three hundred something. It’s a Univision night!”

It is at once a demonstration of the satisfying sense of humor pervading showrunner Rolin Jones’ ambitious adaptation of New Orleans author Anne Rice’s vampire epic and, at the same time, a knowing wink to its audience.

“Yes, we know this is getting a little soapy,” it seems to be saying. “But bear with us. We’ve got a lot of story to tell.”

Six action-packed episodes

And while this eight-episode continuation of Rice’s tale is more “Days of our Lives” than “Game of Thrones” — the latter being Rice’s North Star early in the project’s development, before her death in 2021 — there is, indeed, a lot of story packed into the six episodes sent to critics for review.

And, as was the case with 2022’s Season 1, that story is an enjoyable one, a handsomely shot and well-cast blend of horror, humor and romance in which bodices and throats are ripped in equal measure.

It all starts right where Season 1 left off, midway through the events of Rice’s game-changing 1976 best-seller — and right after Louis and the child vampire Claudia decided to leave the troublemaking vampire Lestat for dead and put New Orleans in the rearview.

Their destination: World War II-era Paris. Their hope: to find Old World vampires and continue their vampiric education.

Each episode, while not without the occasional talky lull, boasts its own macabre surprises that deserve preserving, so our plot recap will end there.

Its share of liberties

It is, however, worth noting that, as with the series’ inaugural season, this new one takes its share of liberties with Rice’s source material. But, also as with Season 1, the beating heart of the story remains alive and well.

In fact, its embracing, and indeed its enhancement, of the book’s LGBTQ+ themes might be considered by many a storytelling improvement. Similarly, its casting of Black actors to portray Louis and Claudia adds an interesting depth.

That narrative tinkering aside, viewers familiar with the book should find plenty to appreciate.

In fact, they can be expected to thrill at the sight of such things as the Théâtre des Vampires, a Parisian stage troupe in which Louis and Claudia find kindred spirits.

That is: the undead kind.

A stunningly creative blend

Those unfamiliar with Rice’s books stand to be just as captivated, assuming they can stomach the sight of the occasional spurting jugular. The troupe’s performances — a stunningly creative blend of stage, animation and projection work — are nothing short of enchanting, especially in Episode 4.

In that case, credit goes to actress Delainey Hayles, who, assuming the role of Claudia from Season 1’s Bailey Bass, proves a glowing highlight of nearly every scene in which she appears.

Ben Daniels, as the snarling vampire actor Santiago, delivers a similarly laudable turn.

(Lest they be overlooked, Jacob Anderson as Louis and Sam Ried as Lestat, both of whom reprise their Season 1 roles, once more deliver with aplomb.)

If there is a disappointment, it’s that — although the season was filmed partly in New Orleans, sharing time with Prague and Paris — none of it is set here. That means local viewers won’t be able to indulge in the usual parlor game of trying to spot local scenery.

But that is so much parochial nitpicking.

Sure, there is camp. Yes, there is melodrama. And, of course, there is the aforementioned soapiness, fueled by unending expressions of existential dread.

But despite it, and maybe because of it, the second season of “Interview with a Vampire” — much like the first — is bloody good fun.

Mike Scott can be reached at moviegoermike@gmail.com.