Interview With the Vampire executive producer and new star address the Claudia recast in season 2. Based on Anne Rice’s seminal novel of the same name and created for TV by Rolin Jones, the AMC supernatural drama follows Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson), Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid), and Claudia (Bailey Bass), with journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) attempting to chronicle their story. In March 2023, it was announced that Delainey Hayles will take over the role of Claudia in season 2. Bass sent best wishes to Hayles in a statement, confirming that she would not be able to return to the show.
During a panel at the Television Critics Association’s Winter 2024 press tour with a Screen Rant representative present, Hayles and executive producer Mark Johnson spoke of the cast change for the eight-episode Interview With the Vampire season 2. Hayles discussed how the change impacts Claudia, while Johnson praised Hayles’ performance. Their quotes are below:
Hayles: “Claudia is still Claudia. She still has all the attributes that we know and love. She’s still bloodthirsty, and I think this season we see her evolve into an older version of herself. So I’m looking forward to people seeing that.”
Johnson: “For a variety of reasons, Bailey was not able to be with us… Yes, of course she’s the same Claudia, but she has matured and Delainey’s performance is just extraordinary, so our bad luck was our good luck.”
Where You Know Delainey Hayles From (& Who Else Is Joining Season 2?)
Hayles is recognizable from her recurring role as Billie Faber, appearing in six episodes between 2021 and 2022, in addition to one episode of the miniseries Too Close. She joins the Interview With the Vampire cast that includes Rogue One: A Star Wars Story actor Ben Daniels, who will portray Santiago, the vampire thespian of the Theatre des Vampires who grows increasingly suspicious of the American vampires Louis and Claudia, who arrive in Paris. The trailer for Interview with the Vampire season 2 has also debuted Hayles’ first appearance as Claudia.
Other additions include Breaking Bad and Suits alum David Costabile, who will play Leonard, a veteran TV personality who has a run-in with Molloy Roxane Duran as Madeleine and Bally Gill as “Real Rashid,” who are also set to have recurring roles. The upcoming episodes will adapt the second half of Anne Rice‘s novel, picking up after Lestat is barely alive after Claudia fed him the blood of the dead.
The Vampire Armand: How The Interview With The Vampire Changes The Character
The vampire Armand is a major player in Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, and the finale of Interview with the Vampire season 1 finally introduced him.
From the sounds of it, Claudia and Louis will face some significant turbulence in upcoming episodes. But for those who enjoyed Claudia’s character in the first installment, the addition of Delainey Hayles doesn’t sound like it will be disruptive to the momentum that Interview With the Vampire has already built and looks to expand on.
Interview With the Vampire
- Release Date
- October 2, 2022
- Cast
- Jacob Anderson , Sam Reid , Eric Bogosian , Bailey Bass
- Seasons
- 2
- Writers
- Rolin Jones
- Network
- AMC
- Streaming Service(s)
- AMC Plus
- Franchise(s)
- Immortal Universe
- Showrunner
- Mark Johnson
