In Anne Rice’s The Vampire Lestat, Lestat de Lioncourt has reinvented himself as The Vampire Lestat, a rock musician keen on telling his side of the story. While on tour and being haunted by the “muses” from his past, his band’s popularity grows and so does Lestat’s influence over vampires and humans alike. We sat down with executive producer Mark Johnson, showrunner Hannah Moscovitch, and composer/writer Daniel Hart to discuss everything from this season’s unique creative process to some of the unexpected musical inspirations that influenced this season. 

So, I was trying to think of a way to visualize for audiences what the three of you do and how your work flows together, and I came up with this. If The Vampire Lestat is a living thing — Mark oversees the outer layer; Hannah is in charge of the meat, the muscle, and Daniel is in charge of the blood. Does that ring true to you? 

Mark Johnson: I’ll be the blood and the guts! [Laughs] 

Hannah Moscovitch: I think this year though, Daniel did so much and so many things. He was in the writer’s room, composing the songs, composing the score, and was on set making sure that the band looked right playing their musical instruments and performing, and that the music was authentic. You were doing a lot of things! 

Daniel Hart: Yeah, true. 

HM: So maybe he’s more like the organs. [Laughs] 

DH: It might be that Lestat is my blood actually. Thinking about it now, yes! We are each other’s blood. 

It’s a symbiotic relationship. 

DH: Indeed! 

So, Daniel, we spoke in June of 2024 about Season 2 and at that point you had started working on the music for this season. We talked a little about inspiration back then, and also about your process of working with Rolin for guidance. You were doing things scene by scene for Season 2, but obviously for The Vampire Lestat you were writing songs way before scenes were written. Can you talk a little about your creative process for this season? 

DH: I wrote the majority of the songs in the writer's room starting in 2024. That made it easier for me because we could sit around the table for a while and talk about character, talk about story arcs and plot points. We could talk about who was coming back this season from previous seasons and who was coming into this season who hadn't been there before. We talked about the key things we wanted to bring in from the books and what were things that we felt like we had some liberties to be creative with in terms of the story that Anne had created. So, all that was data for me that I could take and go off and work on songs related to that. 

I felt like I had been given a good foundation when I started working on songs, but then the songs came pretty quickly, faster than I thought they would, which probably says something about the blood being shared between me and Lestat. 

They were just simmering and waiting to come out. 

DH: I guess that says something about how much I relate to that character in ways that I didn't think that I did. 

HM: Or it just says something about how talented you are! 

DH: Oh, Hannah. [Laughs] So yeah, the songs came faster than the scenes coming out of the writer's room so that meant that everybody who was writing scenes had to figure out ways to work the songs into scenes. I had written lyrics that would no longer make sense after we figured out exactly who a character was going to be and what their relationship would be to Lestat, so then I would go back and revise lyrics. Or we would make songs longer or shorter based on the length of a scene. There was plenty of that, a lot of back and forth, but it was easier than I thought it would be to get to these songs and get to the essence of who Lestat is this season and who he has been in the past. How to reflect that in lyrics especially and in the music that he wanted to make for this season. 

When it comes to artistic and fashion influences, Lestat has his feet firmly planted in some of the coolest decades. I immediately thought of Marc Bolan, but I also thought of Scott Weiland of the Stone Temple Pilots and Gavin Rossdale in those early Bush years. Definitely a bit of a 90s vibe in there. 

DH: Very much so. 

When you were sorting out vibe, look, aesthetics how did you land on decisions? And I know I’m not off on the Bolan reference because you know I picked up on the use of ‘Jewel’ by T. Rex in Episode 3 immediately! 

DH: Yes! Well, we knew that Lestat was going to go on this huge journey of self-discovery throughout the season and that made me immediately feel like he can't stay in one genre or style of music. If he's evolving, then the music needs to evolve as well. It would have been my personal preference anyway because I like writing in lots of different styles of music and I don't like pigeon-holing myself or being pigeon-holed, so that was a fun challenge for me to figure out what styles he would be exploring. 

I had a conversation with Rolin [Jones, creator] early on in the writer's room. I said, "Does Lestat listen to Beyoncé and does he like her?" And Rolin was like, "Yeah, of course he listens to Beyoncé because everybody listens to Beyoncé!" So no, personally, I don't think Lestat’s music is overtly influenced by Beyonce's music. I feel like he's on a different journey, he's a different being. He's been around for 265 years! He saw orchestras play in 18th century France, so it's a different set of influences for Lestat. 

So, we figured out as we went along what his stylistic evolution would be. There's absolutely some T. Rex and Bowie in there, but all the way up to Chappell Roan, Mitski, and Olivia Rodrigo. There was a song that I was writing, and I went and listened to an Olivia Rodrigo song just to make sure I wasn't unintentionally stealing from someone else! [Laughs] There was also 100% a song where we were almost done with it, we were mixing it. Danny Reisch is the co-producer of all these songs with me this season, and he also mixes all the orchestral music too for the score. So, Danny and I were in his studio together and we were listening back to one of the songs from this season, and I said, "Can we make this sound a little bit more like a Stone Temple Pilots song?" 

I feel so validated! So, thank you [laughs]. Hannah, you’ve been in the thick of it in the writer’s room since the beginning. You're an incredibly prolific playwright which seems on its surface like such an independent venture that wouldn’t necessarily set you up for the teamwork needed in a writer’s room – but obviously that’s not the case. What has it been like being with this crew from the start of this crazy adventure, and how has your role shifted and changed as the seasons have progressed? 

HM: In Season 1, I was in the writer’s room only, so I wasn't on set at all. I was a producing writer but just in the room, so I was there for five months and then I was there for a couple of weeks in the Fall that year when we had to rebreak the whole season. So, I did that with Rolin, lived in his office house, but then from then on, I've been on the show also in production and throughout production. So that was a big shift, and I've been doing that since Season 2. 

MJ: She’s almost always by a camera. So, if Rolin's back in the writer’s room or doing whatever he's doing, Hannah's right on top of not just protecting the script, but quite frankly, the entire thing. And just a note, Rolin believes in — completely believes in — and I think is most comfortable with playwrights, which is very rare for most TV showrunners. I've worked with several who won't have a playwright anywhere near the role! 

HM: I am a playwright and I think part of the reason why I was able to come onto this show is because there is a similarity between my voice and Rolin's voice, and we both do things in a similar way. We like things to go dark, we like things to be grounded but operatic. We like humor and different levels of humor. We like the mix of dark and funny, so ultimately, we have an affinity and we can really write with each other. 

If you're walking down the streets of your favorite city with your headphones on, what do you put on to strut your stuff? 

MJ: It depends on that city and what time of day it is. So really it can be anything. I listen to a lot of opera and don't know anything about opera, but I find it incredibly fulfilling. Beyond that, I don't know. You? 

HM: I listen to some angry girl music. For sure, I love some of that, but I listen to a million different things. I listen to whatever I've heard recently that I most love, so yeah, it's hard to say one thing because I think I’m eclectic. I listen to really weird, different things. 

DH: ‘St. Thomas’ by Sonny Rollins. 

I knew Daniel would have a specific answer immediately! [Laughs]

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