Delainey Hayles as Claudia in ANNE RICE’S INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE – Season 2 | ©2024 AMC Networks/Larry Horricks

ANNE RICE’S INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE, based on the late Rice’s series of vampire novels, is now in its second season Sunday nights on AMC and AMC+.

While “the” vampire of the title is Louis de Pont du Lac (Jacob Anderson), being interviewed in the present by human journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian), one of the most indelible characters in both the first book and in the series is the vampire Claudia. In Rice’s novel Interview with a Vampire, Claudia is turned at the age of five and is forever trapped in that body; the series has her turned as a young teen, but she still resents going through the decades as someone essentially seen forever as a child.

Having characters who can’t age is tricky for any ongoing series, especially when the character in question is played by an actor who is maturing in real life. However, this isn’t the reason that Bailey Bass, who played Claudia in Season 1, had to be recast. Rather, it is that Bass is part of the ensemble cast of the AVATAR films. When schedules clashed, Bass’s prior commitment was to return to playing the Na’vi Tsireya in the James Cameron franchise, rather than come back to her undead role in INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE.

Consequently, Delainey Hayles portrays Claudia in INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE’s second season. Hayles has previously had roles in the British hospital drama HOLBY CITY and the miniseries TOO CLOSE.

Hayles participates in AMC’s INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE Q&A session for the Television Critics Association (TCA) Winter 2024 press tour. She makes herself available afterward for a few follow-up questions. This interview is a combination of comments she made during both.

As far as her version of Claudia compared to Bass’s version, Hayles says, “Claudia is still Claudia. She still has all the attributes that we know and love. She’s still bloodthirsty. And I think this season, we see her evolving into an older version of herself, so I’m looking forward to people seeing that.”

Anderson observes, “Delainey makes this completely her own in a way that enriches the show so beautifully. She’s like MVP of the season for me. She’s just excellent vibes all around.”

Hayles seems genuinely touched. “Thank you, Jacob.”

INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE – Season 2 Key Art | ©2024AMC Networks

Claudia looks a little younger than Hayles actually is, and of course is actually much older How does Hayles find playing these paradoxes?

“It’s an interesting internal conflict. She’s got years of experience behind her now, but her outside image doesn’t support that, and that was the thing I was most interested in, because when I think of Claudia, I think of her – well, Anne Rice references her as a doll. And my grandma used to have a lot of these porcelain dolls on her sofa, and even though obviously they weren’t real, they had a real presence in the room, and they were extremely uncomfortable,” Hayles laughs. “And that kind of is where I linked her with Claudia.”

Playing a vampire calls for colored contact lenses, long fake fingernails, and prosthetic fangs. Hayles has had some on-set adventures with all of these. “On my first day, I fell over twice, because that was the day that I got my lenses for the first time, and we were doing a night shoot And I forgot that there were props on the floor, and I just walked into them. I did a little roll. And then Jacob was like, ‘Well, you’re a professional stunt woman.’ I didn’t even see the bags. And then, I did it again. So, yeah, the lenses are my favorite part, but they’re also kind of hard to see [through], especially when it’s nighttime. And I lost my fang on my first day as well. I was very upset about that, but I got it back.”

What’s new for Claudia in Season 2? “Well, for Claudia, as she’s aging, she’s learning what she likes and what she doesn’t like and how to get what she wants. With Louis, they’re at odds with each other in the beginning.” Hayles laughs at the understatement. We know from Claudia’s diary that she’s angry that Louis is so emotionally depending on her, not to mention that she’s still angry he wouldn’t let her destroy the body of their maker Lestat (Sam Reid).

“Louis is kind of holding her back in a way, she thinks,” Hayles continues. “And when she reaches Eastern Europe, she has got this idea of what it is to be there. And I think it’s interesting to see how she navigates that, as well.”

But as of Season 2, Episode 2, Louis and Claudia have arrived in post-WWII France, where they discover the Théâtre des Vampires, an acting company of vampires pretending to be humans playing vampires. Claudia is completely enthralled, Hayles relates. “It’s like true family.”

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Article:  INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE: Actress Delainey Hayles on Season 2 of the AMC series based on the Anne Rice novels

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