The 3-Part Fantasy Horror Series So Good, It Started An Entire Shared Universe

Published Jul 17, 2026, 2:01 PM EDT Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies, television, culture, and politics online and in print since 2017. He worked as a Senior Editor in Adbusters Media Foundation from 2018-2019 and wrote for WhatCulture in early 2020. He has been a Senior Features Writer for ScreenRant since 2020. Although one AMC horror series remains inexplicably underrated, the show has quietly managed to spawn one of the best shared universes in TV history. Thanks to mega hits like Taylor Sheridan’s Western franchise Yellowstone, we are officially living in the era of the shared TV universe. While the Star Wars, MCU, and Star Trek shows have been building their shared universes for years, now, any given hit show can spawn an entire sprawling franchise of prequels, sequels, interquels, and spinoffs. The success of The Big Bang Theory was impressive for a hangout sitcom, but most shows in the genre are lucky to spawn a single follow-up show, like the Cheers spinoff Frasier or the Friends spinoff Joey. The fact that The Big Bang Theory spawned the prequel Young Sheldon, which, in turn, spawned its own sequel series Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, and now the HBO Max sci-fi comedy spinoff Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, proves just how ubiquitous this TV trend is in 2026. This makes it all the more surprising that one of TV’s best-reviewed fictional universes has largely managed to stay under the radar throughout its four-year run. AMC’s Anne Rice adaptation Interview with the Vampire was such a critically adored smash hit that the Gothic romance went on to spawn a spinoff in 2023’s Mayfair Witches and a second spinoff in 2025’s Talamasca: The Secret Order, with the upcoming series Night Island adding a fourth title to this rapidly expanding fictional universe. Even though Rice’s bestselling vampire romance Interview With The Vampire was already adapted as a $223 million box office smash in 1994, which starred A-listers Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise and was a critical success, the show’s 2022 reimagining quickly supplanted this cult classic as the definitive screen version of the story. With an astounding cast including Jacob Anderson, Sam Reid, Eric Bogosian, and Bailey Bass and Delaney Hayles in the split role of Claudia, Interview With The Vampire is a horror romance of uncommon depth and ambition. Like the novel and its earlier adaptation, the show follows Bogosian’s cynical reporter as he interviews Anderson’s elegiac Louis de Pointe du Lac, a supposed vampire who details his tragic life story to his biographer. While less gory and scary than IT: Welcome to Derry or many other recent boundary-pushing horror TV shows, Interview With The Vampire is a smart, campy, and moving melodrama that still finds time for moments of gruesome gore and shocking horror. Skip Bolen/AMC /Courtesy Everett Collection Louis’s doomed love story with Reid’s seductive Lestat is tragic, but Interview With The Vampire’s most interesting creative choice is the show’s decision to problematize its retelling of this tale. Louis’s deliberate elisions, inaccurate recollections, and self-serving framing are gradually stripped away by the series as Interview With The Vampire engages not just with themes like mortality, but also with memory, perspective, and identity. All of this might sound ambitious for what is ultimately one of many recent romance novel adaptations, but Interview With The Vampire’s ambition is what allowed the original show to spawn such a successful franchise. Although Talamasca: The Secret Order was canceled after one season, Mayfair Witches was recently renewed for a third outing. Meanwhile, the announcement of Night Island proves the franchise can last long after season 3, The Vampire Lestat, wraps up its story. Bold and daring, this gothic romance is like nothing else on TV right now. Thus, fans of horror, romance, and great TV alike should seek out Interview With The Vampire and its expansive shared universe. Release Date 2022 - 2024-00-00 Network AMC Showrunner Mark Johnson Cast Jacob Anderson Louis de Pointe du Lac Sam Reid Lestat de Lioncourt Directors Levan Akin, Alan Taylor, Craig Zisk, Emma Freeman, Keith Powell Writers Jonathan Ceniceroz, Coline Abert, Eleanor Burgess, Ben Philippe Franchise(s) Immortal Universe Creator(s) Rolin Jones