if they weren't sure how to adapt and/or reveal past devil's minion (in a satisfying way that doesn't feel wildly ooc) or how to incorporate the idea of armand stalking daniel in the past within their vision for the show then why turn daniel into a vampire at the end of season 2 at all?
why not keep him as mortal and do DM fully in the present day instead? have armand release him unharmed a few days after the explosive events of episode 8, according to louis's wishes. the talamasca still publishes the book, daniel has the same success mixed with a drop in reputation, his daughters still won't talk to him. but he can't let go of his renewed fascination with these vampires and the knowledge that he could have taken louis up on the offer to be turned. perhaps his parkinsons has got worse, he's deteriorating and wants a cure. we see him following lestat's tour, hoping to interview him and, at the beginning, not being granted access and so interviewing everyone on lestat's peripherary. or maybe lestat does welcome daniel on board, same as the show, and we see an actual interview taking place (because that really is what works best here, rolin), with a decent amount of time accorded to the flashbacks.
but daniel seems unsettled the whole time, paranoid. we see vampires approaching as if to attack him but they're quickly taken out by an unseen force. we also see glimpses of armand, appearing to stalk daniel at every tour stop. perhaps these are interspersed with flashback nightmares of armand in dubai, after louis has left, telling daniel he'll hound him, stalk him, never let him rest for what he's done. that maybe he'll kill him, maybe he won't.
show-only viewers assume present day armand is still angry and building up to kill or hurt daniel in some way, book readers know we're in the chase.
once the tension and horror have been sufficiently built, armand sits down next to daniel in a diner or on a park bench or wherever, immediately launching into a slightly manic ramble about philosophy, or perhaps he sees daniel's reading a book and asks whether he's enjoying it as much as he thought he would. his face lighting up in a way we've never seen before.
daniel sighs irritably but can't completely suppress a smile. we're thrown off kilter and wonder what the fuck has been going on here (they liiiiiike each otheeeeer)
why not condense the chase into happening over the past 3ish years since dubai and combine it with lestat's tour? armand's secretly started taking out vamps who try to hurt daniel because of the book and his proximity to lestat, they've become close and daniel's switched from dreading to craving armand's appearances even with personal knowledge of just how fucked up and dangerous armand is
maybe not a perfect one because i've just thought of this on the spot but at least it's fucking something. there's something in there that would be interesting to watch. at least it's not two guys talking about shit that happened off screen again.
