‘Interview with the Vampire’ Star Jacob Anderson Reveals Why Louis Saves Claudia in Episode 3

Interview with the Vampire Episode 3 “Is My Very Nature That of the Devil” ends with one of the most iconic moments in all of Anne Rice‘s writing: when Louis (Jacob Anderson) “saves” Claudia (Bailey Bass). Vampire Chronicles fans already know that in order to save the dying girl, Louis will beg Lestat (Sam Reid) to turn her into a vampire. What Louis believed was a kindness would soon transform into the worst sort of curse. Because she is forever trapped inside the body of a child, Claudia will suffer incomprehensible loneliness and insatiable horniness.

In the books, Claudia is a random five-year-old girl Louis finds on the streets dying of the plague. However in the AMC adaptation, her fate is already far more intertwined with Louis’s actions. This tween version of Claudia is trapped in a house fire that was sparked by Louis’s own act of vengeance. When a powerful white businessman coaxes Louis into buying an elite club, Louis believes he’s finally made it. However, his white rivals did it because they were about to change the laws in such a way as to render Louis’s club unprofitable. Louis confronts the man who ripped him off, kills him, and stages the body in such a way that it sparks a riot in New Orleans. The blacks and Creoles of the city are ruthlessly attacked and systemically murdered. The conflagration roiling through Claudia’s neighborhood is Louis’s fault.

Interview with the Vampire star Jacob Anderson said that Louis was largely motivated by “guilt” in the moment he saves Claudia, and not the hope that he and Lestat can build their own sort of family unit.

“I think he’s trying to cleanse himself of what he sees is a mistake. I think he thought that he could kind of mix human and vampire affairs or business, and it backfires,” Anderson said. “So I think in saving Claudia, he truly thinks he can kind of buy back a token to heaven or whatever metric it is that he sees his morality.”

“It’s not about a family at that point. In Episode 3, it’s not about, ‘Oh, maybe this is our child. Maybe we can raise her.’ I think he’s in such a state of panic in this affair that is quite simple at first. He’s like ‘I can’t undo my mistake but I can do a good thing, I can do one good deed.'”

We’ll have to wait for Interview with the Vampire Episode 4 to find out if Claudia sees Louis’s actions as good or evil…