The first novel in the series, Interview with the Vampire (1976), was made into a 1994 film starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas, Christian Slater and Kirsten Dunst.

The Queen of the Damned (1988) was adapted into a 2002 film of the same name, starring Stuart Townsend and Aaliyah and using some material from 1985's The Vampire Lestat.

In May 2020, AMC acquired the rights to both The Vampire Chronicles and Lives of the Mayfair Witches for developing film and television projects.

A television series, Interview with the Vampire, premiered on AMC on October 2, 2022, starring Jacob Anderson and Sam Reid.

"[3] That same year she produced a YouTube video in which she told her readers that she had dismissed any intentions of writing any more books in The Vampire Chronicles, calling the series "closed".

This book chronicles Lestat's own origins, as he resurfaces in the modern world and attempts to find meaning by exposing himself to humanity in the guise of a rock star.

A thief switches bodies with him and runs off, and Lestat enlists David Talbot, leader of the Talamasca and one of his only remaining friends, to help him retrieve it.

2003's Blood Canticle intertwines the vampire, Blackwood and Mayfair storylines, and was intended by Rice to conclude the series.

We learn that they cry tears of blood, that they're capable of reading other people's minds, that they can be destroyed by fire and sunlight.

Memnoch also acknowledges that many other types of earthbound supernatural creatures exist aside from the vampires, which leaves open connections to Rice's Taltos and werewolf stories.

Mekare and Maharet, twin witches living on Mount Carmel, were able to speak to the mischievous and bloodthirsty shade Amel.

Coveting their knowledge and power, the Queen imprisoned and tortured the witches for some time; this infuriated the spirit of Amel, who began to haunt Akasha's villages and her nobles.

In time, as Akasha's own treacherous noblemen conspired against her and instigated both her murder and that of her husband, King Enkil, the spirit of Amel infused into her body as she lay dying.

Overwhelmed and captured, the twins were separated and sent into exile; Maharet to familiar lands in the Red Sea, and Mekare to uncharted waters out towards the west.

Despite this, many of the self-made blood gods – vampires from Akasha's earlier progeny – remained entombed in hollowed-out trees or brick cells where they starved.

Early in the Common Era, the elder who was entrusted to keep the Parents abandoned Akasha and Enkil in the desert to wait for the sun to rise and consume them.

Following this, the fledgling Marius – a gifted Roman scholar – went to Egypt and retrieved the Divine Parents, making them his sacred responsibility as the new keeper.

This lends well to artistic pursuits such as painting, writing, and singing; all of which are refined by their eidetic memory and heightened beauty.

While virtually all other internal bodily functions expire, Rice's vampires still possess a noticeable heartbeat – albeit considerably slower than that of a living heart.

Many young vampires experience existential crises or crippling depression as they learn to cope with their isolated nature.

While a few vampires seem to find a way to cope with immortality, most capitulate to self-destructive anger or depression and do not survive beyond some decades or a few centuries.

[12][13][14][15] Susan Ferraro of The New York Times wrote that "Gay readers see in the vampires' lonely, secretive search for others of their kind a metaphor for the homosexual experience.

"[16] In 1996, Rice commented: On the homoerotic content of my novels: I can only say what I have said many times—that no form of love between consenting individuals appears wrong to me.

"[12] He notes that in particular "gay and lesbian readers have been quick to identify with the representation of the vampire, suggesting its experiences parallel those of the sexual outsider.

"[12] Richard Dyer discusses the recurring homoerotic motifs of vampire fiction in his article "Children of the Night", primarily "the necessity of secrecy, the persistence of a forbidden passion, and the fear of discovery.

[18] Interview with the Vampire was released in November 1994 starring Tom Cruise as Lestat, Brad Pitt as Louis, Kirsten Dunst as Claudia and Antonio Banderas as Armand.

Rice said that she and her son Christopher would be developing and executive producing a potential television series based on the novels.

[29] In May 2020, it was announced that AMC had acquired the rights to The Vampire Chronicles and Lives of the Mayfair Witches for developing film and television projects.

[30] In June 2021, it was announced that AMC had given a series order for Interview with the Vampire, an eight-episode television adaptation of the novel.

[31] The series premiered on AMC on October 2, 2022,[32] starring Jacob Anderson as Louis,[33] and Sam Reid as Lestat.