‘Interview with the Vampire’ director Neil Jordan explained why there was no sequel to the 1994 movie.
In an interview with Variety, Jordan reflected on his experience with the film, which was adapted in honor of the 30th anniversary of Anne Rice’s beloved gothic horror novel. He discussed the reasons a sequel was never made.
“I was asked to write a script of ‘The Vampire Lestat,’ which I did. And quite simply, Tom [Cruise] didn’t want to reprise the role,” Jordan told the outlet. “It was as simple as that.”
Jordan argued that if Cruise, who plays Lestat de Lioncourt, was keen on a sequel, Warner Bros. would likely have pursued the project.
“If Mr. Cruise had said he would do it, I’m sure they would’ve done it,” he said. “But at the time he wasn’t doing sequels.”
A technical sequel, ‘Queen of the Damned,’ was released in 2002, but none of the original cast reprised their roles, with Lestat being portrayed by Stuart Townsend instead.
In the years since, AMC has developed its own television adaptation of the novel releasing two seasons so far. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly in 2022, the show’s executive producer Mark Johnson explained that he believed their version to be truer to the book than the film.
The 1994 film focused on Louis de Pointe du Lac (Brad Pitt), who claims his life story as a vampire, turned by Lestat de Lioncourt (Cruise), into a reporter named Daniel Molloy (Christian Slater). The cast also included Kirsten Dunst, Antonio Banderas, and Thandiwe Newton.
