It also offers some of Lestat's perspective on the events of Interview with the Vampire, which has been published as an in-universe novel by the journalist, Daniel Molloy.

The book opens in the 1980s, with Lestat coming out of the ground after a long sleep, awakened by the rock and roll band, Satan's Night Out.

He reveals his identity, but the band believes he is joking as, in this world, Interview with the Vampire is a published novel and they recognize his name from the book.

Lestat's autobiography opens with his life as the youngest son of an impoverished noble family in the 18th century Auvergne countryside.

His mother, Gabrielle, encourages him to connect with Nicolas de Lenfent, a tailor's son who has recently returned from Paris.

Delirious from the horror of his circumstances, Lestat reveals his powers on stage - sending the human audience into a panic.

Gabrielle takes to the freedom of vampirism immediately, shedding the feminine clothes and roles she never longed for to become almost a new being.

The pair runs afoul of the Children of Darkness, a coven of devil-worshipping vampires led by Armand, who disapprove of their lifestyle of mingling with humanity and enjoying the pleasures of society.

Lestat learns that he and Gabrielle go against coven law in many ways, including their strength, as it is forbidden for an ancient vampire like Magnus to pass along his powers.

After a heated debate, Lestat turns Armand's coven to chaos by telling them their superstitions about serving Satan and avoiding churches are baseless and have no more evidence than his approach of living well.

They begin to write and compose disturbing melodies and plays to perform in front of human audiences.

Lestat receives updates from the theatre, and learns that Nicki's madness has spiraled beyond the control of the other vampires.

Gabrielle tells Lestat she is ready to pursue her own travels, intending to go into deep jungles away from humanity and its norms.

Lestat promises Gabrielle that he will live and not give up, but he is soon overcome by his losses and descends into the earth to sleep.

Marius explains that he finds purpose in eternity by guarding these old ones, as well as in scholarly pursuits and a commitment to drinking the blood of evildoers.

Marius tells him that he was made too young, and without a strong foundation of a first human lifetime, he will not have the personal strength to endure immortality.

He shares his arrival in New Orleans, his love for Louis, and remorse at recklessly turning Claudia into a child vampire.

After Claudia's nearly successful attempt to murder him, Lestat reveals that he went to Armand in Paris to beg for powerful blood to heal his wounds.

After recovering somewhat physically, Lestat returns to New Orleans, and gives another conflicting account to the end of Interview with the Vampire, saying he never spoke with Louis in his rotting house, only Armand.

He wastes away reading novels and drinking from animals for several years, becoming a wraithlike creature, before going to sleep in the earth.

He receives several threats from other vampires but dismisses them and schedules a major concert to take place in San Francisco, On the eve of the concert, Louis tracks Lestat down to the remote home where he's preparing with his band and they share a forgiving and romantic reunion.

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.

The musical, which was composed by Elton John and Bernie Taupin and written by Linda Woolverton, had a pre-Broadway tryout in California in late 2005 and ran for a total of 33 previews and 39 official performances at the Palace Theater in New York.

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

[11] On July 17, 2018, it was announced that the series was in development at streaming service Hulu and that Fuller had departed the production.

If renewed for future seasons, the show will continue to adapt material from The Vampire Lestat and subsequent novels in the series.

A teaser for the upcoming season was released in July 2024 following Comic Con, which showed Sam Reid as Lestat in his glam rockstar persona reciting the first few lines of the novel.

[23] Reviewing the audiobook adaptation, AudioFile wrote that "the plot twists are difficult to follow at times".

[16] Dave Langford reviewed The Vampire Lestat for White Dwarf #86, and stated that "[Rice is] audacious enough to propound an acceptable 'origin story' for vampirism, and to move from dark old Egyptian mysteries to the extremes of twentieth-century Dionysian ecstasy as Lestat gives his first live rock performance.