Damien Atkins as Magnus in The Vampire Lestat Episode 3 Image via AMC By Carly Lane Published Jun 21, 2026, 10:20 PM EDT Carly Lane is an Atlanta-based writer and critic who has been with Collider in some form or fashion since 2021. She considers herself a television nerd, diehard romance/sci-fi/fantasy reader, and nascent horror lover. Her fondness of books is only eclipsed by the towering TBR that her shelves can't possibly contain. She is the author of A REGENCY GUIDE TO MODERN LIFE: 1800s ADVICE ON 21ST CENTURY LOVE, FRIENDS, FUN AND MORE , published through DK Books (an imprint of Penguin Random House) and currently available wherever books are sold. Sign in to your Collider account Add Us On follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap Editor's note: The below interview contains spoilers for The Vampire Lestat Episode 3.
AMC's Interview with the Vampire set a distinct tone when it premiered back in 2022 , but with the show's official transformation (and retitling) into The Vampire Lestat , there's also the sense that a completely different perspective has taken over the story. Lestat de Lioncourt's ( Sam Reid ) decision to finally sit down with journalist and newly-made vampire Daniel Molloy ( Eric Bogosian ) for his own on-camera interview starts more straightforwardly than you'd expect, with Daniel attempting to wring out the truth through a series of increasingly provocative questions and Lestat deftly evading honesty at every turn.
Yet the real story, as we've seen, always lies somewhere between public performance and what goes completely unspoken. When it comes to the tragic culmination of Lestat's relationship with his first love, musician Nicolas "Nicki" de Lenfent ( Joseph Potter ), as well as his own traumatic turning by the vampire Magnus ( Damien Atkins ), "Toronto" is as close to an instance of soul-baring as viewers have ever earned before — even if, as Potter reflected on in our interview ahead of the episode's premiere, it's delivered through a "lens of deceit." Below, Potter and Atkins discuss Episode 3's emotional Nicki and Magnus flashbacks, how manipulation and betrayal shape their characters' narratives in the series, the experience of playing ghosts who literally haunt Lestat's story, and more.
COLLIDER: Joseph, Nicki is one of the few characters who actually knows Lestat before he's turned into a vampire. How did that unique foundational knowledge impact your and Sam [Reid]'s approach to their relationship?
JOSEPH POTTER: It's interesting because, obviously, we meet them when they're in Paris for the first time. There's a level of, like, “Oh, how much did they know about each other in Auvergne?” It was such a privilege to have that little meet-cute in that scene. I think when Nicki and Lestat first meet each other, they're very down on their luck. They are poor. They're both these tragic souls , which, for Nicki, really unites them, which makes the difference when they get to Paris, and Lestat starts flying high. That makes the change just that much more devastating. So, that kind of shift was really fun to toy with.
Damien Atkins in The Vampire Lestat Episode 3 Image via AMC Damien, we've known very little about Magnus until this season apart from what Lestat has divulged, per Louis’ recollection. “Your Biggest Fan” paints him as this twisted fanboy…