‘Interview With the Vampire’ Stars Unpack That Shocking Finale Twist

Sometimes, it takes a “huh” to blow up a nearly 80-year-old relationship. Or at least that seemingly innocuous reaction is the catalyst to uncovering what investigative journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) calls a “seismic lie” in the thrilling Interview With the Vampire Season 2 finale.

(Warning: Spoilers ahead for Interview With the Vampire.)

Daniel has been playing part reporter and part couples therapist to the vampires Armand (Assad Zaman) and Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) in the AMC adaptation of the best-selling Anne Rice novel. Since discovering Armand manipulated Daniel’s mind in 1973, Daniel’s mistrust and disdain toward Armand have hit an all-time high. So when an annotated play script of the trial that killed Claudia (Delainey Hayles) in the late ’40s ends up in Daniel’s possession, you can be sure as shit believe he is going to spill Armand’s long-kept secret: It wasn’t Armand who saved Louis from execution on the Théâtre des Vampires stage, but Louis’s ex, Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid).

It gets worse, as Armand doesn’t just sell Louis and Claudia to the vampire coven doubling as a theater troupe; he also directs the play that doubles as their trial and punishment—and Claudia’s death. Louis could forgive Armand’s previous indiscretions throughout their relationship, but unsurprisingly, this is a dealbreaker. Before Louis takes an emotional trip back home to New Orleans to reunite with Lestat, he explicitly instructs Armand about the journalist, “You’re not to touch him.” Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) for Daniel, it seems like Armand ignored this instruction.

The next time we see Daniel, he is in a more buoyant and combative—even by his standards—mood on local Atlanta news promoting his best-selling memoir, Interview With the Vampire. His exuberance and DGAF attitude toward WYZL Atlanta host Leonard Micheal (David Costabile) isn’t simply due to his book's staggering five million sales in four months. It is a new lease of life—or should I say death—as Daniel has joined the creatures of the night. Yes, the interviewer is now a vampire.

When The Daily Beast’s Obsessed sat down to talk to Eric Bogosian and Assad Zaman over Zoom about this bombshell finale, the show’s just-announced Season 3 renewal hadn’t happened yet; however, that didn’t stop the pair from speculating about what might happen next. “I want to see mad Armand, crazy gremlin Armand. We get a glimpse of it in Episode 5. I'm ready to play with that next season,” says Zaman.

During a telepathic conversation between Louis and Daniel, Daniel seemingly refers to Armand as his maker. Still, when I said I wanted to see Daniel go for a drink with Lestat, Bogosian jokingly suggested: “I think that's how I became a vampire. I think we get really shit-faced together, and all of a sudden, his [Lestat’s] teeth are in my neck.”

Whereas Armand and Daniel can’t help but poke and prod at each other, their real-life counterparts are eager to get back to working together. Here, Bogosian and Zaman talk about the comment leading to Louis and Armand’s big breakup, Bogosian getting to fulfill one of his acting dreams, and how the playful behind-the-scenes atmosphere benefits the thorny and emotionally intimate sequences.

I’m going to start at the end of the finale and one of the biggest bombshells. Eric, at what point did you discover that Daniel would become a vampire this season, and what was your reaction?

Bogosian: I guess I knew as we were shooting, early in April or something. Weirdly for me, I was on a trip to the Midwest to see a play my wife was directing a couple of years ago, and I was thinking, “Is there anything left that I want to do? I’ve always wanted to play a vampire.” We’ve done workshops of the original Dracula play. I’m in one of those Blade 3 movies—very brief role. “I just want to be a vampire. It’s what I want.” Then, this offer came in the day after I landed. I was like, “What a coincidence!” But no, you’re not going to be a vampire. So yeah, as we moved toward it, I was very happy. I have no idea where this all leads to. Clearly, my character gets a different level of energy, which is really fun for me.

Zaman: You've got to start working out right now.

Bogosian: I am working out! [Daniel’s] Pretty sarcastic to begin with, but now I get to be full sarcastic and all the other things. In that scene where I'm interviewed about the book, that’s my pal David Costabile from Billions. We did Billions together, but I also play poker with him. I asked if it would be okay if he’d be the guy, and he came in, and we had a blast. I don’t know if I'm the best improviser in the world, but he is, and that was a fun scene to shoot.

We glimpse your vampire nails in that scene, and you've got the sunglasses on to hide the vampire eyes, but it also feels a little Lou Reed-y.

Bogosian: Lou Reed is the godfather to my look; to Anthony Bourdain’s look. There are people who basically inherited this black leather, curly black hair thing. Lou was one of the most dour people you could ever meet. There was nothing fun or spirited about Lou; he was intense. I’m sort of on my own there in my own little realm. I don’t know where it comes from. It’s not me. I guess I like being other people that aren’t like what I actually am like.

Did you get any advice on how to deal with the vampire nails and contact lens accessories?

Bogosian: I’ve been listening to these guys complaining for a year and a half. [Zaman laughs] I was not looking forward to it. There are two kinds of nails; there’s not-permanent nails—they’ll drive you crazy. Then there’s permanent nails, which I think Sam [Reid] has permanent nails.

Zaman: I got them as well. I got the permanent ones.

Bogosian: My God, you can’t do anything when you have these nails on. When you do the eyes, you can’t really see. Although I’m always marveling at your reaction shots, Assad, because you guys do such intense stares into each other—and toward me. I got a little advice, but it was all pretty rushed. We were getting toward the wrap, and I was feeling like I could use a little more vampire practice and hopefully, I’ll get some in the future.

Assad, Armand hasn’t made a vampire before. How did you respond to the fact that he’s the one who turns Daniel? It feels like an act of revenge because Daniel ruined his nearly 80-year relationship.

Zaman: If you put it into human perspectives or human equivalences, it’s almost the most heinous and violent act that you commit out of desperation and anger. It is the kind of crime of passion when you either kill someone or really mutilate them. We know how Armand feels because we hear in Episode 6 how he feels about the idea of making another vampire. That’s why he’s never done it. It repulses him, and I think it truly does. I think it’s the idea of bringing someone into this kind of life knowing what he’s been through. It's something he wouldn't wish even on his worst enemy until his worst enemy tears his life apart.

What is brilliant is we have this question: When and how did this happen in Dubai? This season, the question was: What happened in San Francisco? I think next season is going to be: What happened in Dubai? I'm excited to explore how we got to that moment where Armand did it. Did it happen straight in a flash? I don't think it would have because Louis would have been too close in proximity. I’m really curious about how that goes down.

Bogosian: I was warned in the sushi bar. You know, he [Raglan James, played by Justin Kirk] said to me, ‘Other people have tried to pull this off, and they’re not around to talk about it, and some have been turned.’ I think deep down, there's always been a part that goes back to San Francisco that Daniel wants to be a vampire. But then he’s got your rational versus your irrational self, and his rational self, he explained in the first season why this is not a good idea. But how many times have we done things that are not a good idea, but you do it anyway?

The thing with Daniel, Armand, and Louis is the power dynamics constantly shift throughout the season. To me, it’s like an intellectual ménage à trois rather than a chess game. What was it like shooting that sequence in the finale where Daniel pulls at these threads? He’s got this extra information. He’s got this bombshell, and the tension is high, but there’s also a playful quality to it. What was it like in that room?

Bogosian: We knew where we were going, where we’re ending up, and what’s lovely is that this is a group of actors who can totally inhabit any moment, any beat, any emotion, but at the same time, understand that we’re creating a construction here. We know if you really want to hit a home run, you gotta bring the bat all the way back. So that would be the lighter moments in the beginning; “Oh, just one more question, haha.” At the same time, this deep undercurrent of our headbanging, the two of us [Daniel and Armand], has been ongoing, which I’m very convinced by. Your eyes are just amazing, Assad; your hatred for me.

Zaman: By the time we were doing this scene, I think the three of us, it was effortless because we knew each other so well. Each of those intense moments was completely the opposite off-screen. We had a great rapport and just had a laugh. Having fun with these kinds of moments is the most crucial part, because that’s when you can play and give different versions and alternatives for them to pick out.

In terms of the dynamic and the shift, for me, the one thing I really struggle looking at with Armand is when he decides to gloat after the interview is over. His sigh of relief, he thinks it’s all over, and he [Armand] decides to say this one little thing. “Yeah, he [Lestat] loved you. I can say that now. He loved you a great deal.” He doesn’t have to say that. You can see it in Eric. You can see Daniel look at Armand at that moment, and I can totally see in your eyes, “Ah, I'm gonna fucking enjoy this. I’m gonna enjoy taking you down right now, you fucking lying piece of shit.”

Bogosian: We felt very confident in the skills of our director [Levan Akin]. The script is fantastic to begin with, so we knew we could throw things. If we’re told to do this spectrum of emotion through this moment, we know they are going to assemble it into something tight and nice. There is one little beat—I don’t think you’re really aware of Assad— at the very end, Louis says some final things to me, and clearly, he’s in a great deal of power. He’s about to leave, and as we were shooting it, he [Jacob] put out his hand to shake my hand, which was not in the script. That was not just about what was happening in the scenes. That was also what has been happening with us, as you were saying, as a group for three years, and there was this feeling of goodbye that was pretty heartfelt. I don’t think there's any close-ups there, but we were feeling it in that moment.

This is a great bunch of actors, so we act, we pretend to be these people, and enjoy inhabiting these people and then living those alternate lives. I think [Robert] De Niro once said—excuse me for quoting this great actor—but he said, “I get to do all this stuff without the consequences.” For me, that's the game. It's let’s play pretend, we’re pretending, and then I get to do all that, including being a fun person. Because I’m not fun. I'm a very unfun person.

Zaman: Lie! It's a total lie! We had so much fun together in Prague.

Bogosian: I’m not like that guy, the guy that I am toward the very end of this thing, and I hope we get to do this some more because I’m ready to rock and do more of that.