At this point, those of us who watch TV on demand have seen it all. Stories featuring complex time-travel and multiple timelines, alternate universes (Upside Down, anyone?), modern takes on classical pieces, and in this case, what seemed to be yet another DEI cast adaptation of a well-beloved franchise. We didn’t want that.
Until we did.
AMC reported that the series premiere of Interview with the Vampire in 2022 became the biggest new series launch in AMC+ history for both viewership and subscriber acquisition. When the first season dropped on Netflix, AMC’s subscriptions tripled. This year, the third season, named The Vampire Lestat, continues to gather success, with some calling it the best TV season of 2026.
How did the team behind Interview with the Vampire/The Vampire Lestat (IWTV/TVL) manage to pull so many people in? Through immersive storytelling that knew its fan base well enough to build a world worth stepping into. Let’s unpack it.
A powerful refresh
Like every good piece of content, it all began with a great story, in this case adapted to the cultural sensibilities of the 2020s without betraying the original depth and emotional rawness of the characters. Many people thought they would desecrate Anne Rice’s work by casting a British POC lead, Jacob Anderson, in a role that originally portrayed a 1790s French plantation owner named Louis. But soon the audience realized we were instead seeing a 1910s mobster with more spine than the 90s version (played by Brad Pitt) ever had. The new Louis was someone you could root for, and if there’s one thing audiences love, it’s taking sides.
A real-life rockstar vampire
The series introduced us to the actual main character of the Vampire Chronicles: Lestat, the Brat Prince. Notice I’m not saying a perfect male lead, because at some point, we stop seeing a life-changing performance by Sam Reid and start witnessing Lestat himself in all his immortal glory. Sure, any good actor in a well-written role can accomplish that, but Reid goes beyond just acting. In the original story by Rice, Lestat becomes a rockstar, and AMC gives us just that in season 3, but through a multi-talented performance by Reid. The magic he achieved lies in the fact that the lines between Sam, the Vampire Lestat, and an actual rockstar get blurred. Besides being an actor, he is also a real-life singer/performer. In this alternate-but-not-quite reality, the audience stops watching a show and gets pulled into a narrative where they can become fans not just of a fictional character, but also of a music performer.
An in-world soundtrack
It would be inaccurate (and deeply unfair) to speak of IWTV/TVL world-building without mentioning the stellar work done by Daniel Hart, who wrote all the music and lyrics that compose Lestat’s album: The Failures, used for this year’s third season. The obvious, traditional marketing take would have been to make Lestat an arena-filling artist who performed whatever it is that breaks records at the time of filming. We already saw that in the 2000s adaptation of The Queen of the Damned, which portrayed Lestat as a Nu Metal rockstar, and today’s translation would most probably have had Lestat performing alongside Bad Bunny (oh gosh). But that wouldn’t have been faithful to the character or even the lore of the Vampire Chronicles (Anne Rice, after all, modeled Lestat’s rockstar persona after Jim Morrison). Hart crafted Lestat’s sound based on –you guessed it– Freddie Mercury, David Bowie, and classic rock. You can clearly hear those influences play through the 20 original songs (plus three variations) included in The Failures, which of course makes you think Lestat could’ve absolutely jammed with Queen while they rehearsed in the 80s. Excellent world-building right there.
Real musicianship
Of course there was also a brand partnership involved: The band played Fenders, but not the regular kind. They used a custom capsule collection of four modified Player II Stratocaster guitars called “LeStrat”. A fictional Pitchfork music review (3.1) of Lestat’s album and on-stage persona, written by Daniel Hart himself, featured on one of the show’s episodes, added to the credibility.
The stroke of genius
The show premiered with a live concert with Reid on vocals, in which tickets were given away to fans. This pulled Lestat, his band, and his in-world performance out of TV. What fans got was a… real-life vampire? An actor? A singer? Who cares. The difference between fiction and reality disappeared completely, and real fans became part of Lestat’s world, straight out of a vampire novel and into New York City’s Beacon Theatre. The live performance aired on Sunday, August 23, to complete the arc.
The result of all these moves? The real-life fan base of the fictional vampire is standing in this alternate-but-not-quite reality, cheering, streaming Lestat’s “The Loneliness” ad nauseam, and dying of FOMO because they weren’t able to get one of those free concert tickets for the June Beacon Theatre performance (I know I am, lol).
“But Fer, what if we don’t have a millionaire budget like AMC’s?”
Don’t fret. All of us mortals without millions to spend on activations or partnerships can rely on creativity, and the IWTV/TVL TV show is a masterclass in it. To sum it up:
- Know your audience well enough to discover what stirs strong emotions in it (like the new Louis does).
- Aim to pull your audience into the story you are telling, like making the real-life fans of the vampire become music fans of a real band.
- Focus on world-building; give them real-life credibility to anchor the message. Using Fenders does this perfectly.
- And finally, don’t just pull the audience into the narrative; pull the story into the real world as well. AMC accomplished this with the concert in New York.
So next time you’re planning an ad, post, or whatever marketing piece works for you, ask yourself: “How can I build ONE thing my audience can step into (an experience, a ritual, a piece of a world)?” It doesn’t have to be a real-life activation/experience like this one; just give your audience a feeling that involves your brand as part of their own life. What’s your Beacon Theatre?