Interview with the Vampire series ending explained: Is Lestat dead?

Jacob Anderson stars as Louis de Pointe du Lac, the human-turned-vampire who is interviewed by journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian), with Sam Reid as his maker, the vampire Lestat de Lioncourt.

Along the way, the pair adopt teenager Claudia (Bailey Bass) - but the longer the family unit stays together, the more toxic things become.

The finale episode of Interview with the Vampire had one more twist in store - and it's a big one. Here's everything you need to know.

Is Lestat dead?

Short answer? Not quite. Here's what happened.

The episode opens with Louis ruminating on the various ways to kill a vampire - and whether he and Claudia would actually be capable of killing Lestat.

He recounts the family home getting claustrophobic, with the three of them "locked together in hatred" with Claudia rarely communicating with Louis through telepathic means. However, Louis is aware of Claudia plotting on her own.

The trio's neighbours leave Bibles and sigils on their doorstep and Lestat catches one man leaving a letter. Claudia discovers he's dying of cancer of the blood and hoped the vampires would be able to heal him. Nevertheless, Lestat insists they cannot stay in New Orleans and decides on Buenos Aires. Claudia says they should throw a party on the eve of their exit.

When Louis telepathically asks Claudia if the party is where she will try to kill Lestat, she says there's no "try" about it. She tells Louis that he needs to give Lestat his full heart for the plan to work.

Claudia decides to line up the party with Mardi Gras and Lestat bribes businessman/politician Tom Anderson, who is also a member of Krewe Raj, the secret society that planned the Mardi Gras party, into crowning him the King of Mardi Gras.

The family return home for months of preparation for the party. They fast for three days before the party to prepare for the feast to come. Claudia visits a chemist, seemingly preparing to poison Lestat.

The trio attend the ball and lure various attendees back to their house under the pretence of learning the secrets of immortality. Louis notes that he wasn't thinking clearly due to the fasting and admits conflicting emotions towards Lestat. The pair share a last dance at the ball.

After luring the chosen guests back to their home, the vampires share their real names and ages, pretending that they will share the secret to immortality. Of course, soon enough they attack and start feasting in gruesome scenes.

Claudia and Louis save a guest for Lestat. Lestat can smell something wrong with the guest's blood, and Antoinette (Maura Grace Athari) enters the room, declaring it to be laudanum and arsenic. He reveals that she's been eavesdropping on Claudia's conversations. Claudia fights Antoinette and stabs her through the heart and Lestat starts choking.

Claudia reveals that she knew Antoinette was listening and that Lestat had already taken in her poison, after drinking Anderson's blood. We see Louis slit Lestat's throat, cradling him in his arms. Claudia wants to burn Lestat's body but Louis refuses and, instead, the pair leave him out with the trash as they leave New Orleans.

Daniel isn't convinced though, with Claudia's diary having pages torn out. She also seemed furious with Louis and Daniel wants to know why.

Daniel realises that Louis didn't kill Lestat - instead he spared him, storing him in a coffin that can be unlocked from the inside and sending him to the dump, full of rats with blood that could bring him back from the brink of death.

More scenes from that night show Louis pinning Claudia against a wall when she suggests burning him, and wailing over Lestat's body - and we realise that Louis hasn't exactly been truthful.

Who is Armand?

Throughout the episode, Daniel seems suspicious of Louis' companion, Rashid. At this point, Rashid steps in to the end the interview. Daniel suggests nothing has changed since their last interview, but Rashid interrupts him, floating into the air like we saw Lestat do earlier in the season.

He says that this time: "I won't save your life." Fans of the books will remember Armand is the one who turned Daniel into a vampire when he was on the brink of death.

He says that he will always save Louis from himself and says Louis likely would have killed Daniel earlier in the interview if he had not stepped in. He also reveals that he is 514 years old. Ending the series on a jaw-dropping note, Louis introduces "the vampire Armand, the love of my life".

The reveal brings into question everything Louis has said so far. If he's been untruthful about Lestat's death and his relationship with Armand - what else has he lied about?

Fans will find out how the story continues, though, as a second season of the AMC show is currently in production.

Interview with the Vampire season 1 is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

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