Interview With the Vampire stars break down episode 4's 'tipping point' of the season (exclusive)

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Interview With the Vampire season 2, episode 4, "I Want You More Than Anything in the World."

Everything is about to change on Interview With the Vampire.

In this week's episode, a lot came to light for many of the characters, and the stars of AMC's TV adaptation of Anne Rice's novels warn that this is truly the "tipping point" of the season. From Armand's (Assad Zaman) coven secretly mutinying behind his back because of his choices, to Louis (Jacob Anderson) "breaking up" with his visions of Lestat (Sam Reid), to Claudia (Delainey Hayles) meeting an extremely important person from the books, a lot of the table is set for an explosive back half of season 2. And in the present-day Dubai storyline, Daniel (Eric Bogosian) is beginning to piece together what really happened on that fateful night in San Francisco with Louis and Armand.

"This is a tipping point in the series, because after this episode, all the dynamics shift and change," Zaman warns Entertainment Weekly. "Just wait until episode 5, which is a bit of an outlier. It's a new kind of element."

While Zaman can't tease more than that about next week's installment, he adds that he loved bringing Armand and Louis' relationship to life in the Paris timeline as Armand gives up control, unknowingly allowing his coven to steal power from him.

"This is a new dynamic for Louis and Armand together as a couple, but also, Armand's relationship with his coven because of the choice he's made in choosing love, in choosing his pursuit and happiness with Louis," he says. "He's really struggling, though. He still thinks he's got the reins of the coven, but he is battling power now, and Santiago's sniffed it out, sniffed weakness, and I think he's going to utilize it and capitalize on it. Armand's vulnerability's starting to show, and I loved exploring that, but also, it does take a toll emotionally. It's quite exhausting."

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Like Armand, Louis also leans more into their relationship. He finally banishes his hallucinations of Lestat in an emotional breakup in the rain, which Anderson reveals is one of his favorite scenes of the season.

"It's a real turning point where he starts to accept who he is a little bit more, accept the darkness in him, the more detached, vampiric parts, and I think in order to do that, he has to start taking a bit of responsibility for himself," Anderson says. "He's accepting his nature, and that sets up what I love which is that really interesting dynamic with with Armand where their relationship takes on this sub/dom, almost like BDSM kind of role playing, where their roles switch." 

But filming that emotional "breakup" with Lestat wasn't as romantic as it appears onscreen. "I just had a hose pointed at my face, trying to act at 4 a.m. with the sun coming up," Anderson says with a laugh. "And like a literal fire hose pointed squarely at my face with [vampire contact] lenses on, and my hair that takes like an hour and a half to set just flopping over. It was a lot of resetting. It was kind of a miserable scene to shoot but I love what it is — and it's the last time you see Dream-stat."

Meanwhile, Claudia finally gets a play of her own in the Théâtre des Vampires, but her enthusiasm is short-lived as she's forced to play a baby in the same role for the next 50 years. It's her worst fear come true, since she's literally trapped in a child's body for the rest of her life and will never be seen as a adult herself. But while Claudia hates her new role, Hayles loved playing Claudia playing the baby.

"It's just so fun with how much she despises it," Hayles says with a laugh. "I'm singing, but I'm just like, 'F--- you guys.' And the more she hates it, the more the audience would chant things. [The actors playing the audience] were given free rein as well, and it was kind of like a back and forth of a tennis court. I was like, 'F--- you lot,' and they're like, 'Do it properly!' I'm like, 'No!' It was a lot of fun."

While Claudia is struggling with her onstage duties, hope comes in the form of a new acquaintance — Madeleine (Roxane Duran), the dressmaker Claudia meets one night. Book readers know that Madeleine will become an important figure in Claudia's life, and Hayles is "very excited for everybody to see what happens next because it's really, really beautiful."

"It's what Claudia deserves in a way, a bit of happiness," she adds.

New episodes of Interview With the Vampire air Sundays on AMC.