SON: May I speak?
MOTHER: You may not.
SON: But I have just cause to do so.
MOTHER: But you do not have the right.
SON: I can tell you have vex coursing through your veins at this point in time, mother, but I want you to know that what I did was a lesson that needed to be taught.
MOTHER: And pray tell, you forlorn fledgling, what lesson is learnt by breaking your brother’s tablet?
SON: That the world is cruel, harsh, savage -
MOTHER: Those adjectives are best suited for you, brood of mine.
SON: Speak louder, mother, my ears are burning.
MOTHER: Oh, continue your teachings, boy, I’m finding them most enthralling.
SON: As I was saying before I was so abruptly heckled, the world is meant for teachings of desolation. Whether the lesson be taught by the almighty hand of fate, some supreme being, or by someone who didn’t want their essence taken by a camera.
MOTHER: Ha!
SON: The seminar that I indoctrinated was an important one, mother.
MOTHER: Are you talking about ‘this’ picture?
SON: How on earth did you get that?
MOTHER: The cloud that me and your brother share knows all. It was saved onto our family Billo before you terminated the tablet…
Oh, no, boy, this shall remain with this family forever as a constant reminder of your wrongdoings unto your brother.
SON: I performed wrongdoings unto him?! … Inverse that statement, mother, then you have the truth in front of you!
MOTHER: He wronged you?
SON: HE LAUGHED AT MY DISTORTED IMAGE.
MOTHER: Me and your father laughed heartily at it too, boy.
SON: Father knows?!
MOTHER: Father knows, yes … and he has already started the shipment of Christmas cards.
SON: AHH! You’re showing the masses?
MOTHER: Be grateful that I did not show them the annihilated tablet. Let that fall on the noble men and women who are trying to right the wrongs that you performed unto the tablet, your brother, and your kinsfolk.
SON: If they restore it, I shall lay it to waste once again.
MOTHER: Then the image shall be sent for birthdays.
SON: AND AGAIN!
MOTHER: THE JUBILEE!
SON: AAND AGAIN!!
MOTHER: AT THE RRRAPTURE!
SON: There won’t be laughing amongst the assemblage, mother!
MOTHER: Oh?
SON: There will be charges brought amongst you for mistreating a minor!
MOTHER: There shall be laughing, boy, and perhaps I should start now, don’t you agree? Ah-ha, yes, very good!
SON: Discontinue!
MOTHER: Yes, yes, very amusing, yes!
SON: CONCLUDE THIS!
MOTHER: Ha Ha! The mirth I am experiencing is considerable in size.
SON: CEEEAAAASSSE!!!
SON: Stop laughing!
MOTHER: Sorry, you are very bad for breaking you brother’s iPad.
SON: But he made me look stupid.
MOTHER: It does look a bit funny though.
SON: MUUMM!
the flashback with the witches when Lestat was nine - the reveal being that his mother forced him to watch his friends burn to give him motivation to leave home - I don't know if I got the punch the writers intended?
curious now if there's more to it and the girls saw his mother being inappropriate with him? didn't he start stuttering when he was nine?
loved how Lestat started to stand up to Sofia from ep6 onwards.
It's a really dense scene, but I actually think the little girls dying aren't intended to be the punch, it's the first woman, Marguerite, who's burned for being raped by her father:
It's implied there that the mother murdered the father for it, but also turned her daughter forwards, blaming her for the violence of the father. I think in that sense, the girls are a means to underscore Marguerite's death and elevate the message Gabi intends (and we can definitely debate why she intends it, because I think her intentionality is deliberately oblique) - his age won't save him, and to speak is to burn, to be punished. The monks say confession will save these women, and it's actually Augustin who says that they have confessed, yet nobody will let them free of the pyre. Their fate is sealed, they have been tried in the court of public and divine opinion, and it's not crimes that see them killed, but the violence they too briefly were able to survive.
This moment is formative because it becomes the foundation of Lestat's understanding of his own abuse - the monks say Margueritte seduced her father and Gabi effectively affirms it. Anything that happens later is on him, he ceased his prayers, he put a spell on his mother, on Magnus ('if I had seen 19 straight performances of my Lelio, I would have abandoned all decorum too'), on Armand, on Larry, on all those who touch him without his consent, and to speak about it is to be punished. The thing about this season is that that's only been punctuated for Lestat - he tells Louis about Magnus and it ends up in the book, 3.03 ties the Magnus and Nicki chapters together and in doing so connects both beats to Daniel's subsequent witch hunt, culminating in the revenge porn, and, of course, the revenge porn itself - - all of these are about exposure and the ways victims are punished for speaking and surviving.
In that sense, the witches place scene and Lestat's emphasis on the girls while the writing itself actually leads with, and focuses on Margueritte is about how Gabi has groomed him into not just silence, but self-blame and the romanticisation of abuse (the father favouring his enchantress daughter means it was her fault, just like Magnus being a fan of Lestat's enchanting performance means what he did to him was his), but I think it's also about him still not entirely understanding it or Gabi at all. He's just able to start grappling with the idea that the little voice in him that tells him it's wrong might be one he can start listening to.
Seee and I thought the deal was that all the girls were rated and being burned to protect the men. And the which i why i was wondering if Aimee had been assaulted by one lestats brothers.
Say what you want about the script but STOP bringing the actors into this my god 😞 what the fuck is wrong with people that has them talking like this!!!!
There’s no way this person is British or knows anything about the UK because Jacob is absolutely considered black. You can trust me on that. If anything, we’re less specific about it. The American view of race is so detailed that only they would consider separating people into black and mixed like this.
Jacob will have his own personal views on his identity but no British person would ever suggest he wasn’t black. That is what we say. We do not approach it the way Americans do. He’s viewed as black, he is black and the suggestion that he’s not really black, or he’s not black enough is just so…
This goes beyond being parasocial. I don’t even know what to call this.
As an american and not Black I can only speak to this on the colourism level as this if very much a thing in the Latine communities. In systems of oppression where proximity to whiteness come with privileges biracial people always catch strays from both ends of the spectrum. I dont know if it is differences culturally. Like in the Casta system with indigenous people you could "clean" your blood by marrying white (spanish) people, but it was more complex with Black people because even in the casta system there was a belief (not completely enforced the same way through out the colonies) that Black heritage could not be "cleaned" or in America the idea of one drop of blood decided your race, but the realities if passing also were at play for a long time.
All that to say. What ive often heard and seen among americans white is about that idea of proximity to whiteness and the misunderstanding that the closer one is to it the less strays they catch and the less they can understand the experiences of the "truly" oppressed. And I think that especially eith american hostory of pitting minorities against one another and the complex histories there, there seems to be a very harsh view of biracial Black men and women and thier relationship to blackness and black "the black experience". I cant speak to it so I wont try.
To me as a latina who also has had to think about her relationship and ideas of race, ethnicity, and cultural experiences, the rhetoric of splitting hairs on heritage and race is to me just a further propagation of the same colonial/conquest systems.
I do acknowledge that there very well are or could be distinct experiences for biracial individuals. As a latina who is mestiza i know my experience are very different from a Latin a who is indigenous and identifies as such. And I agree that some stories belong to specific communities and should go to actors of those communities. Like i dont necessarily want light skinned Cuban actors playing the parts of peons in the encomienda systems of Mexico because heritage and race are integral to those stories in a specific way. But i dont mind America Fererra (honduran) playing a mexican american girl in a fashion magazine because while the heritage is in shiw states as mexican you could have replaces it with any latine culture because the story wasnt about that although being a minority and othered in a primarily white space was tacit in the story.
All this to say, I could understand that in a story where the character is specifically a black american being played by a black brit, why some people would prefer a black american actor because i think the experience portrayed is intended (for IWTV) as integral to the character.
But you could also argue that the show is more leaning at a general black experience and racism which was never exclusive to Black Americans
In my opinion, and again i understand as someone who is not black my opinion matters little on this, Jacob is a black man. Whether he is biracial or not he is black, "presents" as black, and has experienced racism due to his blackness. He also has a unique experience as a biracial black man because of those added layers and dynamic within the black community (and again maybe it is just american and latinx communities).
To say he is somehow less black is so part of the problem.
You still don’t get it. How do you still not get it?
We don’t need to preface every single post with “revenge porn is bad :(“ because no fucking shit it’s bad. The show frames it as bad.
Discussing possible motivations? Not an attempt to justify it. You cannot justify the unjustifiable.
Now do they have their justifications for it? Absolutely. Delegitimise Lestat, stop the concert, try to halt the Great Conversion. Prevent 50,000 vampires from being in the same place at once. We know this ends badly.
It is interesting to talk about that. You know, the plot of the show we’re all watching? It’s fun to discuss. When something is obviously bad and the show hits you over the head with the fact that it’s bad, you do not need to keep reiterating that it’s bad. It’s not complicated.
Why Luke Brandon Field will be the one taking over the role of Daniel IF this does end up being Eric's last season as a regular on the show (and why it is never going to be anyone else but Luke)
Now, before I start with this, let me say: there is no agenda behind what I am about to say and lay out in this post, though I know some people are going to assign one to me about it all anyway, no matter what I say beforehand. Because that is how this fandom, sadly, works: if you are predicting something is going to happen, that must mean you want it to happen. 🙄
No. At least with myself, saying what I think is happening, or going to happen, is not the same thing as it being something I hope is going to happen. I do know how to divorce the two things when it comes to meta writing, theorising, and predicting.
Frankly, if there is any agenda from me with this, it's just one of me being tired of not talking about this publicly after over a year. (Because there are those whom I've laid this all out privately before over that span of time.)
And I know, I know about the rampant ageism that has been going on about all of this with Daniel's character over the past two or so weeks now. I've seen it. Yes, it's always been there before now, but it has reached new heights since Armand's love confession to Daniel. So yeah, there was never going to be a good time to go into what I'm about to go into.
Not to mention the attacks on Eric's acting, which just feel very much like an extension of all of that, as well.
Yeah. What I'm going to say is NOT going to help with any of that. I know that right up front.
But I did say I would start talking about what I think is going on with Daniel and what the show might be doing with him after EP305 aired, and well... I might as well.
Because, again, there was never -- is never -- going to be a good time to say what I'm about to say. (I kept trying to wait for one and... yeah..).
Anyway, before reading this further, I please ask that you first go and read this post, which I’ll also link below, if you haven't before, which goes into and explains why I believe a body swap plotline is NOT going to be happening with Daniel, ever IMO:
💬 0 🔁 0 ❤️ 0 · Have you noticed that Alex’s eyes in the new ep6 stills seem to be violet? Could this be evidence that Daniel will in fact
Okay. (Seriously, please have read it if you haven’t already.)
So, yes, I think if this really is Eric's last season as a regular on the show (which I and some others have talked about here), then, IMO, Luke Brandon Field will be the one who will take over the role of Daniel Molloy full-time.
And it will only ever be Luke who does so, even if it doesn't happen at the end of this season.
And yet, well, given how Rolin and Eric were talking about Daniel "dying bad" in Episode 4 of the After Dark show? I think that it could be as soon as the very end of Season 3 (like, the last few moments of EP307), if not the opening of Season 4.
But whenever it might happen... I do think it will at some point, and for however many seasons the show continues on after that, Luke will be the primary actor who will play Daniel’s character IMO, once it does happen... and I do think, eventually it will.
And it will be no one else who does.
And that it is an actor switch between the two of them that Rolin has been planning on doing since the beginning IMO. Even if it doesn't end up happening by the end of this season.
And, well, to explain why, we actually have to go into the TV Production side of things here. Because that is the side of things the major signals about it, IMO, are coming from.
* * * * *
And yes, to make it clear, even with no body switching plot to make it happen (which I explained why in my other post I linked above), there are ways to do such a switch between Eric and Luke that can make it make sense in-show, with established book lore as well.
And ones that do not involve "de-aging" Daniel to do it either. Mentally, he would still be as old as he was/is now.
However, let me also say that even though I don’t think what might be coming (at least from what I'm seeing) story-wise for Daniel, that might do something like this to him, then that means they’d have to do a primary actor switch for Daniel's character.
I just think Rolin Jones is going to do one at some point, and he was always planning to, right from the start.
And, IF the show does it (because again, IF it happens, then I think this was something that was always coming), it was always going to result in a switch to Luke taking over the part of Daniel, IMO, and no one else.
Because had Interview with the Vampire not been split into two seasons? IMO, this switch between Eric and Luke would have happened at the end of Season 2, which was originally supposed to be The Vampire Lestat adaptation season, and not Season 3. And so that is why the actor switch I think is coming is happening now, and didn’t happen before.
Honestly, even before this season, even before I finally read the Prince Lestat Trilogy, I figured Luke would take over the part at some point in some way, pretty much for all the boring, practical reasons when it comes to TV Production that I listed in a post I made on this subject over two years ago.
But, well… only later on did I begin to also figure out that there were clues — very big clues — that Rolin Jones actually never intended for Eric to be the one to primarily play out the modern-day part of the romance regarding Daniel and Armand.
And the biggest clue about that being that… Rolin Jones never told Eric Bogosian about the Devil’s Minion romance when he hired Eric to play the part of older Daniel.
Which, when you really think about it? Makes no damn sense if Eric was going to be the actor primarily playing Daniel’s character for the full, modern-day romance storyline with Armand’s character.
* * * * *
To begin, think back to the story Assad and Eric told about how Eric actually found out about the Devil’s Minion romance: that it was something that Assad himself told Eric about… and that Eric didn’t believe him when he did!
(Source)
And, recently, we also heard, from Eric himself, in an interview he did with Autumn Brown, that he didn’t even know Assad was playing Armand until they reached filming the end of EP107!
But, again, we know from what Assad said after he was revealed to be Armand, following Season 1’s airing, that he did chemistry reads “with Daniel.”
So if Assad chemistry read with “Daniel”… how the hell would Eric not have known that Assad was playing Armand and that a romance between Daniel’s character and Armand’s character had happened in the book, and was set to be adapted on the show?
Unless… Eric wasn’t the “Daniel” that Assad chemistry read with. Or, at the very least, didn’t do a romantic chemistry read with... though, given what Eric said about the very first time he met Assad was on set, well...
When it comes to casting two people who are set to portray a romantic relationship on screen, chemistry reads are pretty important. Rolin, right out the gate, was praising the chemistry between Jacob and Sam when it came to their chemistry reads together when they were auditioning for their parts:
Which we have seen a little video footage for ourselves of:
(Source)
So I do not think, for one moment, that Rolin Jones has Assad Zaman chemistry read with actors for “Daniel” to only lock the actor he chose from those readings to play Daniel into playing the romance aspects of the Devil’s Minion relationship into only past flashback scenes.
And especially not so if it looks like Rolin not only did not tell the actor who is playing Daniel in the present day part of the story beforehand about the romance his character would be having before hiring him for the part, but also might not have had that actor do any chemistry reads together beforehand with the actor who would be playing Armand, either.
Again, Eric and Assad met for the first time on set. And when Assad told them that their characters would be hooking up, Eric had no idea what Assad was talking about.
I’m sorry, but given how carefully crafted this show is? With Rolin flat out saying that one of the primary important aspects of the Loustat relationship was making sure the two actors he cast as Louis and Lestat had great chemistry with each other?
Then I do not think for one second that Rolin Jones would not have also gone through a similar vigorous audition and chemistry reading process for the two actors who would be playing Armand and Daniel, if he was really intending to adapt the Devil’s Minion storyline and romance.
Which, Rolin made very clear at SDCC 2022 that he was.
And Rolin was not — IS NOT — just going to randomly cast someone as Daniel Molloy just because he liked them / wants to work with them / worked with them before without some kind of chemistry reads with the actor playing Armand, which means Assad, first at the very least.
And, as said, Assad said so himself that he did read “with Daniel.” So why waste the results of whatever chemistry read happened by trying to cast some new actor into the part via a “body swap” plotline when there is book lore right there that gives you ways that you won’t have to do something like that at all? And can just use the same actor you originally chose, specifically because of the chemistry he had with Assad?
And, just for the record? I didn’t put these clues together regarding Eric not knowing about the Devil’s Minion romance and what that likely meant until around the spring of 2025.
So yeah, for a few years, I, too, missed the implications and clues regarding what it all meant. And yes, I felt like an idiot the moment I figured it all out.
But once I did figure it out….
No, the actor who is playing Alex was never going to take over playing Daniel’s character, and be put into a “Devil’s Minion romance” with Armand’s character.
Justin Kirk was never going to play Daniel Molloy and be in a “Devil’s Minion romance” storyline with Assad’s Armand.
Neither was Bally Gill, nor anyone else, either.
It is going to be Luke Brandon Field who takes over the role from Eric at some point.
And it was always only ever going to be Luke, and no one else.
It’s just, before Season 2 ended the way it did, I thought such a switch wouldn’t happen until around Season 5 or so. Even without having figured out the chemistry reading clue by that point yet. (Never mind having not yet read the Prince Lestat Trilogy of books, which would be the books that gave me the lore regarding how such a thing would be very simple to do, and way less convoluted — for general audience viewers to follow — than a body-swap plotline would be.)
But now? With everything I’ve laid out, along with that clue, and with everything else going on with Daniel’s character in Season 3? His clearly ill body (still shaking and using antibodies)? Lestat, talking about Daniel in the past tense in EP303? Rolin and Eric talking openly about Daniel "dying bad" in Episode 4 of After Dark?
I think the actor switch between Eric and Luke might be coming at the very, very end of Season 3. Or, at least, the start of Season 4.
And I think the actor switch between them would originally have happened at the end of Season 2, if not for the one-month-out-from-filming switch to splitting IWTV into two seasons instead of one.
And for the record? I don’t think Eric knew that this was likely his last season as a regular until he began filming EP305. Because that man has made it clear, on multiple occasions, that they only give him the scripts for things right before he shoots them.
Like, for EP205, Eric had no idea what the past stuff with Armand, Louis, and Daniel all was until he saw it in the final cut of the episode… and then, as he said himself, everything about it all clicked for him.
Or just this past year, when, again, during SDCC, he made it clear he only knows and shoots what he’s given, and so doesn’t always have the full context wrt things when he does so.
Most people in fandom just focused on the “steamy, beany, beefy soup” part of his comment at the time.
I, on the other hand? I was mainly busy being flabbergasted by the fact that Eric confirmed that he really didn’t know what Daniel’s character was up to, or what was coming up for the character, except when he was about to film each episode in question. (And even then, he didn’t understand the context of some things, like EP205, until he got to watch the whole episode. Meaning… they probably didn’t even give him the full script for EP205, and just his relevant pages only.)
Unlike Jacob, Sam, and Assad, Eric didn’t know in advance about anything. (Again, Assad not only knew about Devil’s Minion, he knew back when S2 was almost done airing that Armand’s backstory was coming in Season 4; heck, Sam Reid knew in advance which scenes in Season 1 and 2 were real and which ones were fake).
Eric was never told about Devil’s Minion in advance. And was now, during that SDCC interview, saying he’d never been told anything in advance about anything regarding the story, and Daniel’s role in it, at all during the filming of Seasons 1, 2, and currently Season 3, either.
Honestly, by the time Eric revealed in his interview with Autumn a few weeks ago that he didn’t even know Assad was playing The Vampire Armand until they were filming EP107? I was just kind of, like, “Yeah, that would track and fit given what he’s said before regarding things like this…”
And look, I’m sorry, but I just do not see Rolin leaving Eric to find out about the Devil’s Minion relationship from reading the books, or not having him chemistry screen-test with potential Armand actors beforehand, either, the same way he had Louis and Lestat actors do so, if he had seriously intended Eric's Daniel to play out the full romance with Armand in the modern day.
Hell, even if he hadn’t ended up testing with Assad but other perspective Armand actors only, I think Eric would have at least been told about the Armand and Daniel love story for such tests… or, at the very least, before filming began.
And he wasn't.
Devil’s Minion is like Loustat in status when it comes to this show. Meaning, if you are going to adapt it, and make the two actors part of a "core four" of actors for the show along with their romance together, then not only are you going to have two actors’ chemistry read togther for it, but it is something you would have told the actor who is hired to play Daniel Molloy about while they were still auditioning/or in talks about before you hire them for the part.
It is NOT something you’d leave them to find out about, by themselves, from reading the books after you’ve already hired them for the part.
IMO, Rolin Jones would have NEVER cast someone as Daniel Molloy to play the romance -- especially the one Armand/Daniel have and everything that it entails -- without making sure both actors were comfortable doing it, and comfortable with each other, first.
Not unless he never planned for that actor to be the one to portray Daniel when the show got into the full, present-day romantic relationship part of the storyline with Armand's character on screen in the first place.
Assad knew all about The Devil’s Minion by the time he was hired. Hence, his joke to Eric about them “hooking up.” Luke also clearly knew all about it, too.
Eric, on the other hand? Didn’t.
* * * * *
Anyway, if I am correct about what's coming, I think we’ll probably only see a few seconds of Luke as Daniel in EP307, if it happens this season and not during Season 4 or something. But if we do, I think it will be long enough to establish that Luke Brandon Field will be the one primarily playing the part of Daniel Molloy going forward from that point on.
And I think this IG post from Assad, wishing Eric a Happy Birthday, was a cheeky nod to that actor switch that I feel is coming:
As well as exchanges like this:
💬 0 🔁 137 ❤️ 642
Which, you know, I think also is some confirmation that only Eric and Luke will ever play the role of Daniel Molloy on this show. But I digress…
* * * * *
So yes, I think this is what is set to happen. Sometime, before the end of EP307, Daniel will not be body swapped. Instead, Luke will be the one we see as Daniel Molloy in the present day, IMO.
I don't think it will be fully revealed why Daniel now looks younger than he did before, let alone why he is alive if he "dies bad" sometime in EP307. But if anything like that happens to Daniel's character, then it will be Luke we'll see playing Daniel afterwards.
And yes, again, I do think that means he will be a Daniel Molloy who lived a full life as a human, a brief life as a vampire, and is now... well, we'll see which path the show chooses when it comes to that, if the above is what comes to pass.
Anyway, for anyone wondering if this means a mental age regression for Daniel, I very much do not think it'll mean that.
Not in the long run, at least.
Anyway, in the end, I very much do think we will still have our Daniel, character-wise. And played by someone who not only knows the character that Eric helped to create, but whom his fellow actors on the show have praised for how well he has based playing Daniel on what Eric has set for the character.
* * * *
And this, I believe, is the real secret and twist that the show has been holding close to the chest when Rolin and Eric were openly talking about Daniel’s death in the EP4 After Dark episode. Because the secret twist was never about Daniel’s death, nor even about Daniel’s character being brought back in some way after he died.
No. In my opinion, the secret that is being kept hidden, IMO, is an actor switch from Eric to Luke regarding who will be playing Daniel on the show going forward.
(And for the record, I think this may be why Luke wasn’t at the concert at the Beacon Theater after Rolin said he would be there. Probably a last-minute decision, given how so many in fandom had their eyes out and watching to see if Luke as young-Daniel would be in the season.)
So, if things come to pass as I, at the moment, think they will? Then I think it will be a seamless handover from Eric to Luke regarding the role of Daniel Molloy. One that works and makes sense within the story, and something that has been in the works and planning for a long time now as well.
And out of every other scenario that could have happened regarding such a thing? IF this is what happens, then I 100% think this is the best one they could have done.
And, you know, if I do end up being correct regarding what I think is about to happen, I just hope to god that people in this fandom don’t bash or attack Luke regarding this. Because, again, IMO, if it happens, then it was something that was always coming, given everything I laid out above.
And it is something that wasn’t Luke’s call. Or Assad’s or Eric’s, either.
Because, as I have repeatedly warned, the showrunner and creator of the show, Rolin Jones, has made it clear that he is not changing his plans regarding his vision of this adaptation. IF this happens, then it was all coming long before many people fell in love with Eric’s Daniel and the idea of a visibly-older Daniel and Armand playing out Armand and Daniel’s relationship.
And I mean, Luke isn’t that young, in my opinion (he’s 38 years old). And, you know, makeup can do wonders, for example:
And you know, in the books, Daniel’s hair was said to be “ashen” in color, as we see in the above picture. And I think it looks good on him, so you never know, and…
Okay, look, I don’t really know how to end this, okay? If my experience laying this all out to two other hardcore DM fans, who were both very much looking forward to Eric playing Daniel for the present-day DM romance, is any indication? All of these things I just laid out above about it probably feel like a punch to the gut.
I know. I get it. It felt like one to me, too, once I started to connect the clues and dots about it all last spring.
So I know that there is nothing I can say that will make anything I’ve said about all of this feel better for some people.
So again, I’m sorry. Because I also know that once you see it all, the things I’ve laid out above? You can’t unsee it.
But again, I do not make predictions and theories based on what I want to happen. Or what many in fandom may want to happen. What I may want, what fandom may want, DOESN’T MATTER and has nothing to do with what the show appears to be signaling, to me, what it looks like it is going to do.
And I’m just not someone who likes wasting my time deluding myself to the contrary.
And, at the end of the day? The reason why I think this actor switch is going to happen isn’t even about the book/story lore that I feel will make it all make sense in the show itself. If it happens, it is mainly happening because of these boring, banal TV production reasons, which are:
1. The creator and showrunner of the show, Rolin Jones, was always planning to do it at this moment in the story.
2. That moment just happened to come at the end of Season 3 instead of the end of Season 2, as originally planned, after IWTV got split into 2 seasons, instead of just remaining one season long.
3. As Rolin Jones has warned before, he is not changing his overall plans regarding these bigger plans and story things.
4. The reason Rolin Jones hired Eric Bogosian to play the role of older Daniel Molloy had nothing to do with the full adaptation of The Devil’s Minion storyline and romance with Armand in the present-day part of the storyline, but for other reasons instead. Which is why Rolin never even told Eric about the Devil’s Minion storyline and romance when he gave Eric the part. Even though he was clearly going to adapt that storyline and romance on the show.
5. Rolin vigorously auditioned and chemistry-tested actors who were auditioning for Louis and Lestat. And given that Devil’s Minion also appears to be a primary romance on the show as well, then it stands to reason that a similar vigorous audition and chemistry reading process happened with actors who were auditioning for Armand and Daniel. Yet, there is every indication that Eric did not go through such a process. Nor, again, was he told anything about the Devil’s Minion storyline and romance by Rolin, and only found out about it by reading the books.
And so,
6. Because of all of the above, everything is — in my opinion — pointing to Eric not being the one who will be the primary actor playing Daniel anymore during the present-day storyline, as the show now heads more into the story and arc about that romance, likely starting in Season 4 and beyond. Because Eric was not hired by Rolin Jones to do so. (Even though he might have totally been up for doing it.)
First, so it's clear: I'm not arguing against your conclusion. Luke taking over for Eric could absolutely happen, and the practical case for it — an older actor, a modern-day romance that'll need a lot of screen time and physicality — is reasonable on its own, especially because ageism is real even if I or many fans don't care about Eric's age.
What I'd push back on is the evidence, not the outcome — and that's a real distinction, because poking holes in the support isn't saying the theory's false. It's saying it's an interpretation right now, not something the facts actually narrow down to.
The standard I'm using is that evidence is a fact that fits your theory better than it fits the ordinary explanation. If a detail is equally consistent with "secret plan" and with "nothing unusual is going on," it can't move the needle — the mundane version was always more likely by default, since there are a hundred normal reasons for any given thing and only one hidden-plan reason. When I run the clues through that, most come out neutral:
– Assad knowing about Devil's Minion doesn't point to Rolin briefing him — Assad read the books (like Sam did, probably Jacob, since he's said things that imply it, some as recently as his "I don't fuck with Marius, book Marius"). Eric didn't know because he was reading them as they filmed, which he admits. That's a difference in reading pace, not in how the showrunner treated them. Eric's own story — Assad joking they'd hook up, Eric not getting it, Assad telling him, Eric not believing him — is two actors comparing knowledge of the source material, not a producer revealing a storyline.
– "Read with Daniel" doesn't identify anyone. Chemistry reads are often one locked actor reading against several candidates, or against a casting reader/stand-in. So it could've been Eric, could've been Luke for the flashback role, could've been multiple people. None of those gets you to "Luke is the secret present-day Daniel." Plus, chemistry reads aren't just for romantic partners — it's common for them to happen across ensembles and multiple dynamics (sibling, co-worker, etc.), depending on whether the writers and producers want to see how their actors play off each other.
– "Met on set" can just mean the first time they were physically in a room — a lot of these reads happen over Zoom. It doesn't prove prior contact. And even if it was the first meeting, that isn't substantial evidence to replace Eric with Luke.
– "Still shaking / using antibodies" is lore consistency. Turning freezes the body where it is; it doesn't repair pre-existing damage (Maharet and Mekare never regenerate what they lost, and Lestat has scars from before he was turned). Daniel was turned with Parkinson's, so of course, he still shakes — that's expected, not a countdown. And the show hasn't said whether he's frozen or actively declining, so reading it as "he's dying" is picking one of two possible meanings.
– "Not changing my vision" only supports the switch if we already know the vision contains the switch, which is the whole question. On its own, it just means the showrunner will do what he plans to do, true of any plan.
– The absences and side details — Luke not at the Beacon, the birthday photo, past-tense lines — all have a dozen ordinary explanations. If Luke wasn't contracted for that appearance, he's not turning down other work or beholden to showing up if something else came up; that's just the default.
The one that struck me most is the "status" argument. Devil's Minion being high-status is true — but the same books that make it important also let Daniel basically disappear after Queen of the Damned (with barely a mention of returning to Armand, being left out of Marius's painting, and Armand's book handing the focus to Benji and Sybelle). So the thin material points at least as much toward "give him a grand death at the point he'd become a footnote anyway" as toward "recast him for a long modern romance." When one fact supports two opposite readings equally, it selects neither. And the producers saying they "promised Eric a grand death" and are "thinking carefully about what it looks like" sounds more like a future beat being designed than something arriving in EP307. Worth adding: the bulk of the Devil's Minion material originates in Queen of the Damned, which S3 is seeding and S4 will likely cover — so that timing is just adapting the book in order. It points at a recast no more than it points at killing Daniel off completely and permanently.
One more thing, and I mean it as an observation, not a gotcha: you frame this as the unwishful read — "I don't care about lore, this is just boring production reality, I'm not predicting what I want." But that frame kind of does the opposite of what it says. Every "boring production" clue here has a more boring, more ordinary explanation that isn't about the storyline at all — scheduling, contracts, reading pace, lore consistency, aesthetics — and the theory only works if you skip past those to the hidden-intent version. That's not the sober realist read; that's reaching. And I believe you that you're not predicting from what you want — I just don't think the signals are strong on their own, and I don't think they get stronger stacked together, because a stack of things that each individually fit the ordinary explanation is still just the ordinary explanation. Six neutral clues don't add up to one decisive one.
So none of this makes you wrong — it means these are things consistent with your theory, and consistent-with isn't evidence-for, because the ordinary explanations are consistent too. I'd land it at "plausible, could go either way" rather than "this is clearly what's coming," which isn't a knock — it's just what a theory is until something rules the alternatives out. And "more likely" cuts both ways: I'm not saying your read is unlikely, just that the evidence doesn't get anyone past "maybe." Neither of us knows, and that's the honest spot for both of us.
Can't stop thinking about how the only times we've seen Armand lose control over his facial expression is when he is being rejected, and how he tries to force a smile each time 😭😭
I don’t know how to break this to some of you but someone being cringe is not a crime. It’s not even a cancellable offense. Too many of y’all have lost your sense of whimsy and now give off the energy of the popular kids in school who side eyed and scoffed at anyone different. Hiding behind the veil of online anonymity has made some of you really mean for no good reason
I am going to be careful here as not to be a hypocrite but yes and want to say this bleeds into even peoples discourse about what type of media they like and how they express joy of said media. I think there is a difference between people wanting authenticly and genuinely discuss media and having dialogue about it even if they dont agree.
I think that there is a difference between people having fun with media and how they express joy about it.
Do many people see people doing the second and want to pretend that they are doing the first by tearing those people down and insulting thier intelligence and how they view media.
And I think you can vent without having to vent in the tags and if you want to vent in the tags fine, but when someone else does it practice what you ask them to do which is DRDL.
In every show I have genuinely enjoyed the fandoms get ugly because people disagree and dont get me wrong I think we can call out racism and sexism in the fandoms, because we'd be lying if we say it doesnt.
But sometimes people just want to joke. They want to woobyfy and call a character a kitten or a puppy. That is how they are engaging in joy with thr medium. And who is everyone else to come in and tell them not to. The reason fanfiction exists is to portray characters in situations and relationships, or facets of them how you imagine or how you want to. That is fun (even if it is dark or campy).
I think there is a difference between curating experience and sharing your opinions or ways of engaging without attack others. Let people live. Let them enjoy the medium in their way.
If I like this show and express it in this way even if you find it cringe get over it why are you policing how i express like and joy.
Let people live. Let them make cringe art or comments or fiction. Let them interpret or "misinterpret" things their own way. If it harms know back the heck up.
Let the people dance and be merry! Let them live!!!!
Armand is Role-Playing Queen Bringing his Fanfiction to Life.
Can we talk about how the layers of Interview with the Vampire don't just add depth—they actually make the entire show feel completely, hilariously absurd if you take Armand at his word?
As a massive Devil's Minion fan, I’ve been tracking this dynamic from the very beginning. Way back after the Season 1 finale reveal, I immediately went back through the first season to look at the Rashid/Daniel interaction—analyzing Assad Zaman’s choices, looking for microexpressions, and trying to parse out if a past DM relationship had already happened and been wiped, or if the show was building toward a totally new version of their romance. Then throughout Season 2, I was locked in on the tension between Assad and Eric Bogosian, watching them trade barbs and thinking, “Okay, a past relationship is definitely getting revealed, or the romance is officially starting right now.”
But then we get to the Season 3 revelations. Armand drops the bomb that he’s been in love with Daniel and stalking/manipulating his life for 52 years. And looking back at everything through that lens? The retroactive continuity makes Armand look absolutely, beautifully unhinged.
With every new piece of information we get, it almost feels like it negates what came before, unless you accept one fundamental truth: Armand is a literal role-playing queen who has been writing his own fanfiction each season just to see if Daniel will finally pay attention to him.
This is exactly why I need the gif-makers of the fandom to step up (I love you all ❤️). We need the side-by-sides. We need the slow-mo clips comparing his expressions across all three seasons so we can map out which emotions are associated with each look.—it’s about connecting the emotional dots.
If this specific expression in Season 3 is the look he gets mentioning something to Daniel when else does he have it? If this specific look is what genuine love looks like for him, where else in the background of the Dubai penthouse did he have that exact same look if ever and was it across seasons?
The psychological nonsense of what this man was doing if he truly was harboring that emotional depth for Daniel the whole time is staggering:
The Season 1 "Aloof Servant" Alternate Universe: In Season 1, he isn't playing a frail, cowering human. He’s playing this elegant, devoted, utterly unbothered assistant to Louis. When Daniel throws a barb at him, Armand-as-Rashid just gives him a look, maybe responds once, and walks away like, "You are annoying and beneath me." But the funniest part of looking back is realizing that Daniel is so mean to Rashid for seemingly no reason. And we know it’s specifically an Armand thing, because the second the real Rashid shows up in the finale, Daniel is perfectly nice to him! Daniel’s subconscious knew exactly who he was dealing with. So that alternate universe did not lead to Dabiel loving him.
The Season 2 "Enemies-to-Lovers (failed)" Enemies Phase: Then in Season 2, the mask is off, and they shift into a full adversarial dynamic. Now they are giving as good as they get, actively trading sharp, toxic barbs. And the whole time, under the surface, Armand is apparently running a script in his head that says: "I've been obsessed with you for half a century, I have intimate knowledge of your entire life, and right now we are role-playing as bitter rivals."
It makes you spiral exactly the way Daniel spirals. You’re left asking: Was everything a lie?
Not a lie in the sense that the history or the mind-wipe didn't happen, but a lie because Armand was constantly playing these completely different characters. He’s always playing a version of himself that revolves around other people, yet he constantly drags Daniel back into the narrative. And now by Season 3, it’s like he’s finally shrugged and said, "Well, my relationship with Louis is over, everybody hates me, and I'm in love with you. So let's get into it." (I knew assad said he wasn't intending to and I believe him I just meant the coming back and being like lets be your maker and be in love this way of not the other way)
It is so profoundly weird, so deeply toxic, and so inherently Armand. He is a total gremlin, and his multi-season theater project is the most brilliantly chaotic thing on television.
Thank you. But I mean it really feels that way like it feels like fanfiction and roleplay and he was good at it because whilr I thi k I was looking for the drvils minion signs a person could watch both seasons and totally miss it and like he was committed to the bit. My boy should have been an actor not director.
I need to know. The more shit I see from the iwtv tvl fandom the more confused I get. I know that Armand is a horrible person, I've made a post about that before, they all suck. But why is everyone I'm seeing acting like Armand is BY FAR the worst of them all? Like I might not remember it all and especially all that coven shit has been removed from my brain. And yes he was very abusive to Claudia and part of the reason why she died. He manipulated Louis, and brainwashed him and Daniel. Which is all bad, but from what I remember and how I see it he really wasn't that much worse than Lestat.
People are even responding to others saying they should read the books to gain sympathy for him. I'm out here already being sympathetic towards him. And I could definitely understand if people hate him more cause he had so much part in Claudia's death. But I remember Lestat being insane towards Claudia as well, and let's not forget he saved Louis, he did nothing for Claudia and was there with the rehearsals for the play.
And I'm not here to say who's worse I'm just trying to understand the hate train Armand receives while Lestat and Loustat are being celebrated for breathing.
Honestly, it’s just fandom craziness. And it’s not even just a recent internet thing; for years, you’ve had people screaming that Marius is the absolute worst, while others insist, "No, Marius is cool." The reality is that people just have favorite characters and personal biases, which is totally fine—but it’s insane how unhinged people can get about it, and how quickly they will reduce a complex character down to a single flat trait.
Personally, I don’t fuck with Marius. Never have, never will. But outside of an occasional joke meme or venting with my fellow Marius-haters, you aren't going to catch me going onto a Marius-lover's post to demonize them or fight them for liking him. Anne Rice wrote complex, awful, beautiful characters. "Complex" doesn’t mean "good" or "morally right," but some people act like a character has to be redeemable for them to be allowed to like them.
And that brings us to the biggest gap in the fandom: the divide between people who just want to have fun with the show/books, and those who want to analyze and consume it strictly as high art or social commentary.
Because of that gap, you get these weirdly angry, passive-aggressive clashes. One group is making deep posts about objectification and parallel narrative positioning, while another group is calling Armand "babygirl" or joking about wanting Lestat to get dirty with so-and-so. People will take jokes or lighthearted shipping posts way too seriously, treating a bit of silly entertainment as "media illiteracy" or ignorance.
I love a good, deep discussion about the show’s themes, creative choices, and commentary just as much as I love a good meme "woobifying" the characters. Sometimes people do it because they genuinely relate to the character's flaws, but other times it's literally just for fun. It's not that people don't recognize the dark complexity of these vampires.
Plus, we are on Tumblr—curate your own experience! If you hate Armand, specific ships, or "babygirl" memes, the block button and muted tags are right there. Even if someone doesn't tag correctly, you still aren't obligated to engage, reblog, or start a fight. Notice how in my own rants about this, I don't directly tag the characters or call out anyone's handle, because that is active fighting behavior. If people go digging through general tags looking for a reason to be offended on behalf of a fictional vampire, that's a self-inflicted wound.
Unless you are applying this stuff to real life or being genuinely toxic to other fans, it just ain’t that deep. Just scroll past and let people enjoy the fiction how they want to.
really intrigued by how daniel's book is described as a "bodice ripper" and "steamy beach read" like do we think he took the time to write out some loustat smut scenes or are the passages describing french bengali smokeshow armand just so unwittingly and undeniably horny that you can practically feel the writer's sweat through the pages
