Editor’s note: The below interview contains spoilers for The Vampire Lestat finale. After seven episodes, The Vampire Lestat has wrapped up, but not without dropping a few more surprises for fans along the way. The finale picks up right where the penultimate episode, “Montreal,” left off, with Lestat (Sam Reid) and Louis’ (Jacob Anderson) heads decisively separated from their bodies — at least until Armand (Assad Zaman) and Daniel (Eric Bogosian) have the chance to get some things off their chests. What Louis doesn’t know, however, and what he and the viewers soon learn, is that Armand has had even more of a hand in his connection with Regina (Delainey Hayles) than anyone even realized. Before the premiere of “The Failures,” Collider had the opportunity to speak to several cast members from The Vampire Lestat, including Hayles, about their characters’ most crucial moments in the episode. Over the course of the interview, which you can read below, the actress discusses the experience of acting opposite two different heads in her scenes with Anderson, what it was like to establish a very different onscreen dynamic with Zaman, and more. COLLIDER: There are so many complicated emotions and reveals in the scene between Louis, Armand, and Regina. What do you remember about how the whole thing was staged with Jacob [Anderson]? DELAINEY HAYLES: The team tried to do it as physically as possible, so it was really funny. There was an animatronic head, like an uncanny valley head of Jacob’s head. Sometimes I’d be acting towards the head, and then there’d be Jacob’s body at the end of the table. Then, on another take of the scene, there’s a hole in the table. You take the hole out, and Jacob comes in, and it’s just his head again, which was handy because when I was acting to the animatronic head, something was so off about it, but it was so perfect. Everything looked like Jacob, but then it looked nothing like Jacob at the same time. So, it was odd doing it. Then, when we swapped Jacob into the table, it was so much easier. It was a lot of fun. Jacob wore this green screen top so that we could edit it later in post. But yeah, that’s how we did it. It was really cool how it was done. I don’t know how the team managed to wrap their head around it. I think they made it harder, but it was more rewarding, if that makes sense. How many takes did it take you to get to that scream when Regina sees Louis’ head like that? HAYLES: [Laughs] In the episode, it cuts right as I begin, right? We did a take where I screamed until I couldn’t scream anymore, and I don’t think it made it into the episode. But it was fun to do. I think we did it around three or four times. I think that the bandage that I had over my eyes was messing up something in the shot, so we refilmed it. Everybody was very considerate of my voice. They were like, “You don’t have to do it this time. It’s fine.” I was like, “I’m in the scene. I’m a thespian. I will.”
‘The Vampire Lestat’s Delainey Hayles Enjoyed Playing a Very Different Dynamic With Assad Zaman

“It was nice to finally get to act with Assad and it not be Claudia and Armand hating each other…”

Assad Zaman and Delainey Hayles in The Vampire Lestat Episode 7Image via AMC

The episode reveals that Armand has been finding Claudia doppelgängers to mess with Louis, including Regina. When did you learn that that had been hanging over everything, and did it have an impact on anything you had already filmed? HAYLES: I definitely knew something was up. There was one scene in the diner where I got told to “just dabble in this and see if this kind of sticks.” So, the way that we did it is it’s kind of like she — you’ll see it if you watch it back; I think it’s Episode 5 — she kind of leaves her body for a second. I don’t know if many people picked up on that, but we see later on that that is to do with Armand. Did knowing that Regina had a different role in the whole thing, or at least was aware that she was being used to manipulate Louis, change your perspective on her at all? HAYLES: No. She knew what she was getting herself into, but she didn’t know the degree of it, and I think it all becomes very real to her. In the beginning, it was a lot of fun earning money just from pretending to be this book character, and then obviously she gets introduced to Lestat, and it’s like there’s an energy there. There comes a shift with her where she’s like, “Actually, these people, they’re not just weird, they’re a little bit scary.” So yeah, I don’t think she ever knew. It was kind of fun to play that, to be like, “I know a secret!” And then be like, “Oh, actually, I know nothing about the secret. I have no idea what I’m doing here. Forgive me.”

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Regina’s feelings about Armand are just so different from Claudia’s, and Claudia hates Armand for reasons that are completely justifiable, but what was it like to create a very different dynamic with Assad [Zaman] in the episode? HAYLES: It was nice to finally get to act with Assad and it not be Claudia and Armand hating each other, and there being the subtext of, like, “I know something’s up with you.” So, it was kind of really nice to see Assad do his thing. It was nice for the scene to be different and to feel different. Everything kind of did feel lighter, even though the scene itself is very heavy — there’s a head on the table. But it was lovely to do it, and it’s lovely to see Assad own a room.
‘The Vampire Lestat’s Delainey Hayles Discusses Louis and Regina’s Complicated Relationship

“He has a connection with her, whatever the connection is, so he does care for her.”

Delainey Hayles in The Vampire Lestat Episode 7Image via AMC

I spoke with Rolin [Jones] about the episode, including whether Louis’s ability to hang on even after literally losing his head had anything to do with him drinking Lestat’s blood in the penultimate episode. He actually made the point that it’s more about the young woman sitting in front of Louis. How much did you try to play Regina’s awareness of Louis’ protectiveness over her? HAYLES: Her initial emotion is shock, and I think she can see everything that Louis is doing, and she can see it as an attempt, but actually, she’s like, “Jesus Christ, what am I doing here?” That emotion kind of overshadows the “Oh, look at him saving me.” It’s like, “Actually, I really don’t know any of you like I thought I did.” We speak about Louis being addicted to grief, and maybe this is another way of him being like, “Oh, I can do something good here again.” He has a connection with her, whatever the connection is, so he does care for her. I think she apologizes to him profusely because she realizes that, “You are just grieving, and I don’t know what I’m doing here. I don’t know why this guy has a machete, and I think I have something to do with it, and I’m very sorry.”

Maybe there is a part of Louis that thinks, “I couldn’t save Claudia, but I can save Regina”? HAYLES: It’s another one of his things where he thinks he’s doing good. He just wants to do good, but it’s not always the right avenue. But this time, it is. She manages to escape. Last time you and I spoke, we talked about the séance and the impact of the salt circle’s confinement on your performance, but also, Claudia’s ghost breaks free of the circle midway through. Were there any conversations about the significance of that moment and what it could signal for Claudia’s potential return? HAYLES: Merrick really stressed the rules, and they were broken. She’s a lady who knows what she’s doing. I have no idea, but… the circle is broken. [Laughs] All episodes of The Vampire Lestat are now streaming on AMC+.