The Vampire Chronicles is a series of gothic vampire novels and a media franchise, created by American writer Anne Rice, that revolves around the fictional character Lestat de Lioncourt, a French nobleman turned into a vampire in the 18th century. Rice said in a 2008 interview that her vampires were a "metaphor for lost souls". The homoerotic overtones of The Vampire Chronicles are also well-documented. As of November 2008, The Vampire Chronicles had sold 80 million copies worldwide. The first novel in the series, Interview with the Vampire (1976), was made into a 1994 film starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas, Christian Slater and Kirsten Dunst. The Queen of the Damned (1988) was adapted into a 2002 film of the same name, starring Stuart Townsend and Aaliyah and using some material from 1985's The Vampire Lestat. In May 2020, AMC acquired the rights to both The Vampire Chronicles and Lives of the Mayfair Witches for developing film and television projects. A television series, Interview with the Vampire, premiered on AMC on October 2, 2022, starring Jacob Anderson and Sam Reid. Source: Wikipedia (en)