AMC’s Interview With The Vampire: 10 Memes That Perfectly Sum Up Lestat As A Character

Lestat de Lioncourt is one of the most beloved characters in Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, and AMC’s Interview with the Vampire series did more than justice to the Brat Prince by choosing Sam Reid to embody his roguish charm and feral hedonism. He prowls the streets of New Orleans looking for his life mate and finally finds him in the directionless Louis de Pointe du Lac, a man of “diverse ventures” who has yet to find his place in the world.

Lestat alters Louis’ world forever by giving him The Gift, while also revealing a lot about himself in the process of becoming his sire, lover, murderer, and companion. Watching the vampire’s many decades together unfold in one epic odyssey, fans can’t get enough of Reid’s multi-faceted performance, and these memes celebrate his charisma and wide range of emotional versatility.

Lestat Waits Until Louis Is At His Weakest Point To Turn Him

When first they meet, Lestat senses that Louis is hesitant to get to know him and welcome The Gift, so he bides his time. Unfortunately, Louis is stubborn, and is hand is forced. He begins to drive Louis to such depths of tragedy that he willingly accepts becoming a vampire from Lestat.

Lestat can pretend that he’s turning Louis for his benefit, but in reality, Lestat is doing it for himself just as much as his potential lover. He hopes to be able to finally have the true love he has always wanted but does not always feel worthy of, but Louis only grows to resent him for it, especially as his new lifestyle drives a stake between him and his family.

Lestat Loves To Look Good Doing Bad Things

Interview with the Vampire changed a lot of the original story, but Lestat’s personality remains a constant. Rice wrote him as a beautiful but deadly creature, with an almost fetishistic love for causing chaos just to observe the results of his handiwork.

In the series, Reid does a commendable job capturing Lestat’s vanity and conceit, tossing his hair haughtily when he’s annoyed, defied, or even just very impressed with himself. The attention to detail when it comes to Lestat and the performative nature of his monstrous nature is a real treat for fans.

Lestat Loves Discussing Cultural Idiosyncrasies With Louis

As the decades continue for Lestat and Louis, they find themselves getting used to the passing of time and its effect on society around them. They have to adapt to certain new technology and ideologies if they want to fit in, but they can be bewildering as they are adopted into their lives.

Lestat’s reactions to the cultural milieu around him is often hilarious, and he voices his contempt readily to Louis whenever he discovers something new. This meme imagines what Lestat would think of Sponge Bob Squarepants, and the results are predictably hilarious.

Lestat Has Many Justifications For His Actions

Lestat may love humans who are masters of artistic crafts like fine art and music, but he generally sees himself as above the petty concerns of humankind. He has a million and one ways to justify why he can kill them without impunity, and uses them to persuade Louis to join him in his hedonistic quest for meaning in their unlives.

It’s no surprise that given his way with words, Lestat gets the best quotes in Interview with the Vampire, and the quote in this meme is taken directly from Rice’s work. Lestat’s quote is compared to someone else with sociopathic tendencies, Hannibal Lecter, whose flowery language was used to twist Will Graham’s mind in sync with his own beliefs.

Lestat Has A Great Appetite For Blood

While Louis is content to “survive” by not ingesting more than he needs from humans, Lestat is far more gluttonous when it comes to drinking their blood. He doesn’t want to consume what he needs to get by, but rather revel in the act of cornering his prey and being present for the final moments of their lives as he slowly sucks their essence from their bodies.

This meme features Tom Cruise as Lestat from the 1994 film Interview with the Vampire, but it properly emphasizes Lestat’s near depthless need for satiation. For him, the pleasure is in the hunt, and applying reason to it only gives it “leg irons.” It’s no wonder that Lestat has to keep moving on from place to place!

Lestat Often Prioritizes Fashion Over Food

Lestat’s priorities sometimes appear to be all over the place; sometimes he’s concerned about Louis eating vermin rather than humans, and otherwise he’s the one declaring that it would be best to starve themselves for three days prior to the Marti Gras ball so that feasting will be all the more euphoric.

This meme pokes fun at the fact that when it suits his needs, Lestat doesn’t seem to care about what the loved ones around him need. Just watching him revel in is self-importance at the ball is evidence of his selfishness.

Lestat Does Horrible Things Out Of Spite

The cast of Interview with the Vampire has been in all manner of media, but even though Reid has done period pieces before, the series represented a unique challenge for him playing a Frenchman residing in the South. Nevertheless, he pulls off the performance with aplomb, including Lestat’s tendency to be contrary for the sake of it.

When Louis and Claudia find out that Lestat is still seeing Antoinette, Claudia demands that Lestat kill her, but he has no such intention. By seeing Antoinette, he can make Louis jealous and keep him in a state of tumultuous emotions, which he seems to feed on almost as much as blood. Louis never tells Lestat that he’s enough for him, so Lestat feels he must rile him up to force Louis’ hand.

Lestat Is Theatrical

There’s no doubt about it that Lestat is both theatrical and a style icon, strutting through every frame of the series as though he’s walking down the runway of RuPaul’s Drag Race. The full extent of his pageantry appears at the ball thrown by his household for New Orleans society, in which he is named The King of Mardi Gras, prompting fans to wonder how he would do on the competition series.

When Reid was asked in an official Reddit AmA whether he thought Lestat would win Drag Race, he believed that the Brat Prince would simply kill every other contestant and take the prize for himself. This only makes sense, considering Lestat does not “compete” – he paid the judges to be crowned King of Mardi Gras, after all.

Lestat Uses Antoinette To Make Louis Jealous

Interview with the Vampire joins some of the best LGBTQ+ vampire TV shows in its depiction of two men in a same-gender relationship, one gay and one bisexual, each exploring their identities to the fullest extent of their emotional, spiritual, and mental capacity.

When Louis begins to become disgusted by Lestat and his perspectives, Lestat must look elsewhere to be validated and, in some cases, feel less like a third wheel to Louis and Claudia. He uses the chanteuse Antoinette in an effort to make Louis jealous, and for the most part, it works. Louis and Claudia prove a harder nut to crack.

Lestat Just Wants To Be Loved Forever

About midway through the series, Lestat tells Claudia and Louis about Nicholas, the love of his life whose death made him swear off finding a life partner for a century. Louis awakened in him such an ardent feeling of longing and hopefulness that he chose him as his next life partner, and Louis had no idea about his ulterior motive.

Unfortunately, as this meme suggests, Lestat didn’t predict that Louis would try to leave him. He thought he could force Louis to love him by being his maker, but that only guarantees a bond, not true love. It makes Lestat’s story tragic even for all of its inherent selfishness.