'70s Rock-Inspired Fantasy Series Fueled by Legends Has a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes
You don't have to be an Anne Rice fan to enjoy AMC's latest fantasy series, The Vampire Lestat. You don't even have to be familiar with its larger universe, Interview With the Vampire. The supernatural epic, infused with '70s glam and gothic rock energy and starring Sam Reid as a flamboyant rock star vampire, stands confidently on its own.
And from the looks of its perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes, it's giving audiences something juicy to sink their teeth into.
Adapted from Rice's The Vampire Chronicles, The Vampire Lestat premiered June 7. And though it's technically the third season in the Interview With a Vampire series, showrunner Rolin Jones retitled the series to reflect the significant shift in narrative and source material.
The current installment spans centuries and continents, beginning chronologically with 18th-century France before leaping into modern-day America, and follows Lestat de Lioncourt, a charismatic vampire determined to reclaim his story after being cast as a villain. In his quest for reinvention, he joins a garage band, turns his life into rock songs, and attempts to rewrite history on his own terms.
The time-hopping narrative unfolds like a multi-city rock tour, moving through locales like Detroit, Toronto, and Toledo as Lestat exposes vampire secrets and reunites with his past along every pit stop. The dialogue is sharp, pace relentless, and rating unapologetically R. For viewers craving a classic rock revival, it might provide the fix you're looking for.
According to Billboard, the series' soundtrack was inspired by artists likely on heavy rotation on your favorite SiriusXM classic rock channels. We're talking David Bowie's "Life on Mars?," T. Rex's "20th Century Boy," Heart's "Barracuda," and The Rolling Stones' "Miss You." Of course, more modern hits, like Radiohead's "The National Anthem" and Nirvana's "All Apologies," provided inspo, too.
Related: Sam Reid Became Anne Rice's Lestat at the Beacon Theatre and Fans Were Not Ready
Composer Daniel Hart, who has toured with legends including Bowie and Radiohead, was tasked with writing more than 20 original songs for the show. Drawing aesthetic and musical inspiration from the 1970s and 1980s rock movements, he put all his inspiration into a single playlist shared exclusively with the publication.
"It's not necessarily a one-for-one playlist," he explained. "If you put these songs and Lestat's songs side by side, you won't always hear direct correlations. But I tried to pick songs … that would show both the breadth of Lestat's compositional abilities, and songs that were imbued with the kind of structure or showmanship I was chasing after in my own writing."
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At the time of writing this story, the series boasts a 100% critics score and 92% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. New episodes air every Sunday at 9 p.m. on AMC and its streaming platform, AMC+, where previous episodes are also available on demand. The seven-episode season finale is set for July 19.
Give it a go. See if it's worth a bite.
Related: 1968 Rock Classic That Flopped Initially Became a Cross-Generational Anthem
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This story was originally published June 14, 2026 at 5:27 PM.