Hey! Was wondering if u have speculation you’d be willing to share abt how Armands backstory is going to be told in the tight 8 ep timeframe?
There seems to be a general season long structure of a question + anticipation -> reveal and twist. Im guessing ‘why did armand turn daniel?’ Is going to be one of the #Questions and I’m curious if u think past dm will be revealed in conjunction w armands backstory. Hoping for a bottle-ISH episode (maybe delusional LOL) spanning fragments of his whole life especially since a writer was hired specifically for his story.
The prospect of delhi, venice, san fran, and new york in each a different time period woven together to give context to armand is just soooooo fun to think about w how different but thematically overlapping they are to informing him as a person + present dm. I love imagining, but regardless of what happens ill be excited to have this story on screen :p
side note: tbh anusree’s work + passion for writing dignified and nuanced brown stories is so wonderful im such a fan and i just rly hope she gets her own episode ^^
So first, I would like to apologize for taking so long to answer this ask, and I hope you are still interested in my answer. However, as you may have noticed, there was a long ask before this one I was working on, and I really wanted to complete it before discussing this one.
And well, honestly? The most recent dialogue spoiler that was just shared publicly means I can now answer it a bit more easily than before, too, as well. 🙂
So, here's how I think Armand's backstory can be presented within an 8-episode structure:
Now, if you look very closely, Season 2 of the show pretty much follows a pretty easy-to-pinpoint 3-act structure over its 8 episodes.
Episodes 1 through 4 were pretty much Act 1, and the beginning of Act 2, when it came to how those episodes were structured, when it came to the overall story of that season.
Episode 5 of the season was the midpoint. The midpoint is when there is usually an event that changes things, and the audience's perspective/understanding, regarding what we watched during the first four episodes, before the midpoint, changes. (Which, btw, is something that not only happened in Season 2, regarding Episode 5, but in Season 1, regarding Episode 5, as well.)
Episode 6 -- in both seasons -- dealt with the fallout from Episode 5. And, more so in Season 2 than Season 1, it set the stage for a big end-of-act-2 "all is lost" moment in Episode 7, with Claudia's death and Louis being entombed in a lead coffin box.
Episode 8, then, begins with the end of Act 2 and contains all of Act 3 of the story. In Season 2, things start with Louis' "dark night of the soul" moment, where he's still entombed in the wall. And you can say Act 3 basically starts when Armand frees him from that entombment, and Louis then starts planning his revenge on the theater coven.
Act 3 is also usually defined by a "twist" that happens within it before the end of the story. In Season 1, it was the reveal that Louis purposely stopped Claudia from burning Lestat, meaning Lestat was still alive. In Season 2, it was Daniel getting a copy of the trial-play script, which showed that Armand directed the trial-play that got Claudia killed, and it was Lestat who saved Louis, not Armand.
And then, something that is unique to TV shows or movies/books with planned sequels is that the final moments of the show/story are usually a cliffhanger "hook" that begins to set up the story for the next season/arc, which contains either a new problem/situation that will contain a new source of conflict going into the next season/movie/book.
So, with all of the above in mind, for Season 4, overall, we are looking at an adaptation of the book The Queen of the Damned. That is going to be the main, overarching story that will be taking place during Season 4. (And things and plot points were being set up for a QotD adaptation all the way back in Season 1.) And so it will need to be broken into the above story structure that I laid out.
However, Rolin Jones spoke before Season 1 aired that an adaptation of QotD would very likely have to be split over two seasons, simply because that book is so big and long, containing a pretty grand-sized story. And most recently, he talked about QotD being some big as it is that he had to start working in events from it in Season 3 as well. Some of which we already know about, like Baby Jenks' character being in Season 3.
And if splitting the adaptation of that book into two full seasons also remains true? Then, to find out where Armand's backstory can fit into this, I think we first have to look at what parts of the QotD book would go into an adaptation of that book split over two seasons.
Meaning, what parts would have to be adapted for Season 4, and which parts of the book might either already be making it into Season 3, or can be left for Season 5. (Or Season 4, Part 2, if that is what they decide to call it instead.)
So, going through the sections of the QotD book and thinking about it, I think all the important parts needed in a "Part 1" adaptation of QotD will, right now, depend heavily on how many things from that book are already being put into Season 3 of the show.
For example, the Baby Jenks chapter. Again, we already know the character is in Season 3 of the show, and pretty significantly, I'd say right now. So, if we get the majority of her story in Season 3? Season 4 might possibly only have to adapt her death scene, and that's all.
In fact, I can see Season 4 having her death in the opening episode of Season 4, if just to make the stakes regarding Akasha clear to the audience. But, then again, maybe Baby Jenks' death will happen at the end of Season 3. We have no way of knowing yet.
But just her presence in Season 3 alone already frees up some space -- and time -- that can be used for other things and characters coming in Season 4.
So first, to get one important part regarding Armand's backstory out of the way: I think, for sure, that we will get the full Devil's Minion chapter adapted in Season 4. I know there are probably still some people out there who, even with the spoilers we have, still aren't convinced that past-Devil's Minion happened, but IMO every sign is pointing to it, and IMO has been pointing to it even before Season 1 ended.
And given the clear indication that this show is hitting every major beat and plot point from the books, with its own spin on it, then there is no time to line everything up timeline-wise wrt Armand and Daniel, and where their characters are during the events of QotD, unless the relationship between them already happened in the past. Because that was pretty much the case when it came to the QotD book, when you really look at it.
The Devil's Minion chapter is, at its core, a flashback chapter, explaining where Armand was between the time we, as readers, last saw him towards the end of the flashback part of The Vampire Lestat, to where he was in the lead-up to Lestat's concert in Queen of the Damned.
And while the show doesn't have to explain that about it all, yes, it very much does have to explain the situation between him and Daniel that I think will have even more questions about it by the end of Season 3 that won't all be answered in Season 3. As well as any hooks Season 3 leaves us with, about the two of them, at the end of the season as well. (Which, yes, I do have a few vague theories and ideas about what that could be, but nothing I feel ready to share about yet. 😌)
Anyway, the show adapting and presenting that chapter on-screen as a flashback would also hold to that same structure from the book.
And while I think some parts of those flashbacks will be intercut with other things that are going on at the time (such as, primarily, Lestat and Akasha and what will be happening with them), I think there will be at least one episode, sometime around either Episode 2, 3, or 4, where one whole episode will dedicated specifically to the story of what happend between Armand and Daniel in the past.
And, just personally? I'm going to guess, at the moment, that it will be Episode 4x04. And that is simply because I think any Devil's Minion-focused adaptation episode we get will be the episode that will lead us into an adaptation of Armand's backstory, which, at the moment, I think we will fully see in Episode 4x06. (And, if anyone is curious? I can see Episode 4x03 mainly focusing on Jesse Reeves, with her introduction, of course, being in Episode 4x01.)
Because I can see the midpoint of Season 4 -- meaning Episode 5 of Season 4 -- not only including some big event that changes things wrt Lestat, Akasha, and that whole storyline, but one that reveals and begins to reveal the full extent of the relationship between Daniel, Armand, and Marius.
Because I think Marius and Armand coming face to face again on the show in the present day will happen in Episode 4x05. But, I also think it may be revealed in that episode that this isn't the first time the two saw each other in the modern day.
Because Marius will not already be involved when it comes to Akasha's storyline (being the keeper of Those Who Must Be Kept), I do think the show has changed things up a bit to also already have him involved in Daniel and Armand's storyline as well.
Maybe I'll be wrong, but I very much do think Marius is the one who blocked and clouded over Daniel's memories. And the 40 years that Armand and Daniel spent apart will be the equivalent of the almost 20 years Armand and Daniel spent apart in the books -- and Daniel spent with Marius -- after Daniel was turned in the books.
And I can see that revelation being the type of story-changing reveal that tends to happen in Episode 5s of this show.
And I think once Marius and Armand are in the same room, face to face, in the present, during everything that will likely be going on that brought them together in the same place?
That, IMO, would be the ideal time to finally present Armand's backstory to the viewing audience.
Devil's Minion, as I've said before, is told from Daniel's POV. So I expect any episode, and flashbacks to it during any other episodes (which, again, I think will be before Episode 5) to all be told from Daniel's POV. And I think a big thing at the beginning of Season 4 is going to be Daniel recovering those blocked and suppressed memories.
However, when it comes to Armand's POV? I don't at all think we got his true POV about anything during Season 2. Take, for example, his little fanfic wrt Lestat and other things in episode 2x03. I said at the time that it was suspect, mostly because Gabrielle was missing from all the scenes she should have been there for.
Armand was telling Daniel a tale in Season 2. A tale fitted to go with whatever tale he'd told Louis about that time, as seen by what Louis says when he entered the room at the end of it.
But his time in the Children of Darkness was pretty much glossed over, with none of the real, actual horrors that came to him having to join such a group. And his time with Marius was only spoken of within a flashback to Louis, not Daniel directly.
So, with Armand talking and telling his true and full backstory to Daniel (and, btw, yes, I hope in the show he tells it to Daniel, which I wish he had done in the books, instead of telling it to David Talbot), we will, in essence, finally get Armand's real POV for the first time in the show.
Because see, and I've said this before, Armand's backstory, IMO, does not need a full season dedicated to itself to do it justice. I honestly think you can tell his backstory -- starting from when he was abducted into slavery during his childhood, all the way up to his mind, will, and everything being broken within him by Santino, and then ending it with Armand taking charge of the Paris coven of the Children of Darkness -- in one and 1/2 episodes.
Because if you look at Armand's backstory, Armand doesn't contradict a single thing Lestat says about how the Children of Darkness ended and was disbanded; what happened with regards to the founding of the Théâtre des Vampires; how Nicki met his end; how Lestat came to him for help after Louis and Claudia tried to kill him, and the lead-up to the trial. Armand doesn't contradict any of it.
In fact, the only thing he does is confess to even more about what he did and what happened to Claudia before her death.
So, except for that, regrading Claudia? IMO, you can pretty much show the important parts of Armand's backstory in one and 1/2 episodes. Which, IMO, would mean all of Episode 4x06 and part of Episode 4x07.
And well, if I'm correct in my theory that episode 3x07 of the upcoming season will contain a revisit to the trial-play? Well, that would match up to us seeing the trial-play for the first time in Episode 2x07.
Which could then mean Episode 4x07 would be the parallel place to reveal the thing Armand did to Claudia, if the show reveals it in Season 4. (Because they could hold off on revealing it until another season later, maybe matching it more up timeline-wise as to when Armand revealed it in the books -- which was after he tried to take his own life. But we'll see.)
But yeah, as far as what the show will show wrt Armand's backstory, I think we'll for sure get some Delhi and Venice (maybe a bit more of the latter than the former, given what Armand maybe does or doesn't remember still wrt his childhood), and maybe a tiny bit of Paris.
Because one of the craziest things about Armand's backstory is that he was a vampire for only a week or two or so before he was kidnapped by Santino and brainwashed into a cult. How that brainwashing happened (and the horrors of how it started), I think, will be shown.
(And if the show follows the books and has Santino, along with Pandora, be the one to get Marius out of his ice prison, and so he is also there when Armand and Marius meet again? Then, oh good lord . . .)
Well, you basically have 300 years of Armand living underground in Paris before Lestat arrives and disrupts everything and his life. And all of that is about to be told in Season 3.
And as I said, in the books? Armand doesn't contradict any of it in his own account of it all. (Except for explaining the even more gruesome thing he did to Claudia before she died.) So there really won't be a need to reshow any of those events from Armand's POV once we see them in Season 3.
So, as I noted before, the actual long backstory part of Armand's life that the show would need to cover -- and I think it will cover in Season 4 -- is Armand's time with Marius. Even more so in the show, given the age-up the show has done with Armand's character, now having him be with Marius for 12 years before he was turned instead of just 3 years. (With 12 years also being the exact length of time, in the book, that Daniel and Armand's relationship happened before Armand turned Daniel.) And I think we will get some glimpses of his childhood in Delhi as well.
But I think as far as what we see wrt Armand's backstory in Season 4, that will be it, and the extent of it.
Because anything else past that would just be retreading steps we are about to see in Season 3 of the show, if the show sticks to the fact that, in the books, Armand didn't contradict anything Lestat revealed in his story about what happened in Paris.
And, as I said, anything regarding past-Devil's Minion was all told from Daniel's POV in the books. And I think that will remain so for the show as well.
So yeah, this is all just my, at the moment, idea of how the show can do Armand's backstory in Season 4. I can't be sure, of course, but it feels plausible to me, given how the show has structured things in the past regarding how it's adapting the books.
If QotD continues to have things from it brought into Season 3, like Baby Jenks, that fit within the modern-day timeline when it comes to both books (since The Vampire Lestat and The Queen of the Damned do have parts that overlap each other) then I think that very much will free up enough time in Season 4 to dedicate an episode and a 1/2 to Armand's backstory, and still leave time to adapt and bring in things from at least the first half of that book as well. (All the stuff with the backstory of the twins and such can be pushed to Season 5, or Season 4, Part 2 if they call it that.)
Because the major and key part of Armand's backstory that needs to be covered is the little he can remember of his childhood, being taken into slavery, his time with Marius, and then his kidnapping and brainwashing into the Children of Darkness.
After that, everything else will have already been covered, even if not via his own POV, if the show sticks the the books on this, and Armand in the show also has nothing to contradict either Lestat's account of what happened in Paris, and Daniel's account of their time together.
Hope this answers your question! 🙂
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