Assad Zaman and Eric Bogosian on Daniel's turning
While (spoiler alert) his transformation at the end of Season 2 isn't exactly the pinnacle of consent, Bogosian isn't surprised Molloy took it in stride.
"When he says he doesn't want it in the first season, I don't think he trusts these guys very much. I mean, he could say, 'Yeah, give it to me', and the next thing you know, he's dinner. But really, deep down? He wants it. Those last moments of the last episode, you see how much fun he's having being awful. He's wanted to be this for a while, and he's gotten all this new energy. He's fully been corrupted." Bogosian laughs.
Bogosian shrugs, smirking to himself before venturing into Molloy's offscreen transformation anyway. "I mean look, Daniel and Armand [played by Assad Zaman]. Armand has certainly got reason to be pissed off at me. And he's been told to lay off, and then he just can't help himself, and he jumps me somewhere along the line. Now, he could have killed me, but maybe it's even more fun to 'doom me' to the dark gift. Maybe we just got really drunk together one night and said, 'What the fuck, let's do this! I don't have any answers yet either."
How does becoming a vampire change Daniel, aside from the obvious? "Isn't there a saying like, absolute power corrupts absolutely? You just don't know what's going to happen with a person if they get there," Eric Bogosian said. "How he makes that step, that will be a question," he continued.
"How did this happen, exactly? What happened? I mean, I'm, I don't know, did we end up splitting a fifth of Jack Daniels and then all of a sudden his teeth are in my neck? I don't know. But once I'm there, it's time to find out what that's about. I think that's something for Daniel all the time is he goes exploring, and he's not afraid. So here we are. Let's find out what this is about. But I think also his personality will change a little bit. I mean, there are people that he has resentments toward and who knows what kind of revenge.. I don't know, I don't know where we're going with this. And neither does the Anne Rice books, say where we're going with this. There's no roadmap for this.
Assad, Armand hasn't made a vampire before. How did you respond to the fact that he's the one who turns Daniel? It feels like an act of revenge because Daniel ruined his nearly 80-year relationship.
ASSAD: If you put it into human perspectives or human equivalences, it's almost the most heinous and violent act that you commit out of desperation and anger. It is the kind of crime of passion when you either kill someone or really mutilate them. We know how Armand feels because we hear in Episode 6 how he feels about the idea of making another vampire.
That's why he's never done it. It repulses him, and I think it truly does. I think it's the idea of bringing someone into this kind of life knowing what he's been through. It's something he wouldn't wish even on his worst enemy until his worst enemy tears his life apart.
What is brilliant is we have this question: When and how did this happen in Dubai? This season, the question was: What happened in San Francisco? I think next season is going to be: What happened in Dubai? I'm excited to explore how we got to that moment where Armand did it. Did it happen straight in a flash? I don't think it would have because Louis would have been too close in proximity. I'm really curious about how that goes down.
[...] Still, when I said I wanted to see Daniel go for a drink with Lestat, Bogosian jokingly suggested: "I think that's how I became a vampire. I think we get really shit-faced together, and all of a sudden, his teeth are in my neck."
Jul 1, 2024. The Daily Beast
ERIC: Of course, what we don't see in the last episode is how did he become a vamp? Did he say, "Yeah, I want to do it?" Or did he get drunk with Armand one night and when he wasn't looking, he became a vampire?
I guess we'll find out.
"I have no idea what's coming," Bogosian adds in their joint interview. "No one does. It's all locked in the minds of Rolin and Hannah [Moscovitch, writer]. I'd love to see the two of us after everybody's gone, just getting really s**tfaced someplace, and then all of a sudden, he's biting me." We would, too. Daniel is Armand's first fledgling now, after all.
ASSAD: Okay yeah, Armand did turn Daniel, that's pretty obvious. It was an act of... a moment of savage madness and vengeance and chaos and all of that. I guess he did, in the moment, the one thing that he's always despised or never been able to... you know, he wanted to do the one thing that he found most distasteful– turning someone else. In that moment, he hated Daniel for breaking what he's been working so hard to keep together and he was like, 'Well, I'm gonna break you.'
May 23, 2026. The Vampire Lestat: After Dark ✕ Preview Special
ASSAD: Vampirism to Armand, I think, acts like a form of self-flagellation, similar to the way prayer and punishment go hand in hand. So yes, there’s agency in turning Daniel, but also, he’s punishing a man whom he also worships in a fucked up way.
ERIC: [Daniel]'s also– This doesn't come out as much in the very beginning; but he was made a vampire against his will, and that has to do with Armand. And he's really really angry at Armand. You will see at some point how angry he is. So all this combines to– what is it called? [Sam] gave the term–
ROLIN: Oh, transformational trauma.
SAM: I didn't give it, [Rolin] gave it the term!
ERIC: The character [Lestat] gave it the term. So [Daniel]'s sort of in a traumatic state.
Jun 12, 2026. Rotten Tomatoes TV
