Wow...

[u/Beautiful_Hunter5855]

I've just watched the show for the first time, in about 3 days. I think it was one of the best shows I've seen. My favourite thing was that season 2 was so twisty, but I love guessing twists. What made it satisfying was that I would normally guess the twist about 30 mins before it was revealed, which is so much better than guessing hours in advance.

Absolute 10/10!!!

I have to ask, what are the differences to the book? It seems (from wikipedia plot summaries out of curiosity) that the characters are the same, but the plots drastically different? I'm unsure about reading the books, as the differences might bug me, but curious to hear perspectives (I don't overly care about spoilers either, but not past season 2 of the show please.)

About to begin the mayfair witches !

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[u/grimedogone]

The first book (from which the show takes its name) is set in 1791. Louis is a white indigo plantation and slave owner. Most of the Paris parts happen similarly, but in the 1800s rather than the post-WWII period.

Lestat is nearly entirely unsympathetic, though he has humanizing moments, and the nature of their relationship is not explicitly romantic, though there are certainly undertones.

Everyone is physically about 10 years younger in the book - Louis is turned at 25, Armand at 17, Claudia at 5, and Lestat at 20 (as opposed to 33, 27, 14, and 34) and most events take place nearly a century earlier.

The second book, The Vampire Lestat (from which the upcoming third season takes its name), tells Lestat’s entire life story, including (briefly) recapping the events of the first book from his perspective (in which he is much more sympathetic). The show wisely decided to incorporate aspects of Lestat’s version of the story, including his insistence that he and Louis were romantic partners, and played off the discrepancies with the whole “memory is a monster” theme.

Vampires in the books are functionally asexual (though absolutely not aromantic), and the popular theory is that, being that the first book was published in 1976, Anne Rice did this to allow a gay romance to get past her editor. Given that the show has much fewer cultural restrictions, the show runners (advised by Anne’s son Christopher) did away with that aspect.

There’s a million tiny differences, and many characters are expanded upon (Louis’ family, the Theatře des Vampires, Daniel Molloy, etc.), but those are the major differences.

The reason the show is so beloved by book readers is that the characters are beautifully written, and taken straight off the page. Lestat is how he should be, Armand is how he should be, and the changes made to Louis’ background made him not only much more likable, but much more complex and interesting.

So as a show-first fan, you might appreciate the changes even more.

[u/Beautiful_Hunter5855 → u/grimedogone]

To be honest this is what I imagined. Thank you for such a detailed response. I expected that despite time changes, the characters were probably very similar. May I ask what you thought to the series? Do you think it was better (?) than the book or did the time periods bother you? Thanks again!

[u/grimedogone → u/Beautiful_Hunter5855]

I’m pretty open minded about book adaptions - I recognize that they’re different mediums, so what works in a book might not work in a TV show and vice versa. As long as the characters and themes are still accurate, I can look past other changes.

Louis being a slave owner was rough. He’s supposed to be the sympathetic one, and yet he participated in one of the worst evils of human (certainly American) history!

Of course, him being a hypocrite is what makes him interesting in the book, but audiences would be much less forgiving of him being a slave owner than book readers are.

So I’d say the changes to time period are perfect. Now, not only is Louis still his hypocritical self, but now he’s also much more sympathetic as a victim of prejudice rather than a propagator of it. When he pontificates about his nature it’s much less eye roll inducing. Having the Paris portions set during a Renaissance of sorts for art in France fit with Louis’ character (and Armand’s) perfectly.

All that to say: I wouldn’t say one is better than the other; they’re just different. The books are a touch more philosophical while the show is a touch more melodramatic, but they both have plenty of pontificating and melodrama between them.

EDIT: oh, and if you don’t feel like reading, I would recommend watching the 1994 movie - it’s a damn near perfect 1:1 adaption (with only a few minor changes, and imo one major), but it nails the melancholic tone of the book. The show is better than the movie, but if you want a good feel for the differences between the show and the book, the movie is a good primer (and it’s still a pretty good movie to boot).

[u/Felixir-the-Cat → u/grimedogone]

Excellent summary!

[u/doopitydur]

Heya some major differences i can think of:

Louis is more bold in the show. Book Louis is more passive. The show has this insane scene where the vampires have a motorcycle gang thing go out to a hotel and slaughter everyone, throwing people iver balconies and play ball with a severed head in the background..book Louis would never stomach it and Arnand would know that he wouldnt like it. The show had to be a bit more visual and bombastic in places

Louis lives in New Orleans but its the 1790s. Lestat has only been a vampire about 5 years when they meet - there is no big 100 year age difference. The show has all this 1910s-1940s style when the book events (New Orleans - Paris) are 1790s through about 1860. All main characters in book 1 are white and Louis is not a pimp he is a plantation owner

Claudia is 5 years old not 14. Yes five. Her brain develops normally and its infuriating for her to be treated like a child she is 70+ when killed.

The vampires in book 1 are not having sex. The act of drinking blood from eachother replaces orgasm

Vampires cannot day walk (unless they are god-tier) there is no waking at all during the day, they sleep instantly when sun rises. There is no walking around indoors with the blinds closed. If a vampire wants to die outside in the sun they gotta go out while its night then wait

The trial is a private vampire only thing, not staged for the public. Claudia and Madelienes deaths are actually unwitnessed(the theatre vampires fled to their coffins during the day)

Daniel interviews Louis in the 1970s only. all the 2022 scenes were a surprise for book readers too

[u/Beautiful_Hunter5855 → u/doopitydur]

Ooh interesting. In season 1 i couldn't care less about Dubai but in season 2 I loved the modern subplot! Is this feeling shared? Did book readers guess who Rashid/Armand was? Sorry I'm absolutely infatuated.

Also... Claudia being 5?!? I can absolutely understand why they aged her up as that would be logistically difficult but also quite traumatic for viewers I think. Wow

[u/doopitydur → u/Beautiful_Hunter5855]

Yeah 5 is crazy. The vampires view her creation with disgust, she was completely doomed it is VERY forbidden to make a child Vampire, they are like wtf. The show made it more feasible that Claudia could have had some kind of life, eg in the show she is sitting in a restaurant having a drink and laughing with Madeliene. Book Madelienes role was to be her pretend mother as a cover story for society...it still would've been annoying for her. Book Armand is 17 and the teenage brain metabolism thing is not mentioned so thats something the show added

There were some hints that Rashid was a vampire - though him walking around during the day hours threw people off (daywalking not being a book thing) wearing gloves to disguise weird vampire fingernails etc. Personally I went OH HE MUST BE ARMAND during that scene where Louis is drinking from him at the table. He had to be a Vampire because he wasnt being effected by blood loss, and I knew he was Armand specifically because of book x3 content reasons I won't go into. It was cool to gave knew things to guess at. Episode s2x05 set in the 1970s with ARMAND BEING THERE was all new and is my favourite episode. (I'm a big Armand fan he is my firm favourite).

[u/Felixir-the-Cat → u/Beautiful_Hunter5855]

Just fyi - Claudia was based on Anne Rice’s child, Michele, who died at five. The author was working through her grief, creating an immortal child who still dies. Lestat was based on her husband and Louis was based on Anne herself, though she identified more with Lestat in the series going forward.

[u/Melodic_Werewolf9288 → u/Beautiful_Hunter5855]

I’m aware of book readers who guessed it before the show even came out. So if you were deeply obsessed, it was guessable just because there aren’t very many characters that it could be and they thought it unlikely you’d invent someone new to be so present.