The Real Reason AMC's Interview with the Vampire Was Ignored by the Emmys

Summary

• AMC's Interview with the Vampire is an incredibly acclaimed show.
• Despite its popularity, it did not appear on the list of nominees for the Primetime Emmy Awards.
• That's largely because AMC is not a favorite of academics.

Interview with the Vampire is undoubtedly one of AMC's best projects in recent years. Unlike the Neil Jordan-directed 1994 movie of the same name, the new series is much more faithful to the source material of gothic fiction maestro Anne Rice. While the show still contains a number of deviations from the first novel in The Vampire Chronicles book series, the script has proven to be rich in deep explorations of issues of sexuality, race, and cultural background without shying away from being explicitly queer. What's more, many critics and audiences have absolutely adored the new Lestat and Louis, noting that Sam Reid and Jacob Anderson have in many ways eclipsed even Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt.

Such warm reviews, high ratings on review aggregators, and equally high ratings allowed the series to be renewed for a second season, which was released from to and received even more critical acclaim. Fortunately, Interview with the Vampire doesn't end here, as a third season is in the works, which will cover the events of The Vampire Lestat. But despite the positive news, fans were disappointed that such a quality show was not even nominated for an Emmy this year. So why did the Academy ignore AMC's Interview with the Vampire?

List of 2024 Emmy Nominees

The list of projects competing at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards was recently announced. Here are all the nominated scripted shows:

• 3 Body Problem (Netflix)
• Abbott Elementary (ABC)
• Baby Reindeer (Netflix)
• Black Mirror (Netflix)
• Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)
• Fallout (Prime Video)
• Fargo (FX)
• Fellow Travelers (Showtime)
• Feud: Capote vs The Swans (FX)
• Girls5eva (Netflix)
• Griselda (Netflix)
• Hacks (Max)
• Hijack (Apple TV+)
• Lessons in Chemistry (Apple TV+)
• Loot (Apple TV+)
• Mr & Mrs Smith (Prime Video)
• Only Murders in the Building (Hulu)
• Palm Royale (Apple TV+)
• Reservation Dogs (FX)
• Ripley (Netflix)
• True Detective: Night Country (HBO)
• Shōgun (FX)
• Slow Horses (Apple TV+)
• The Bear (FX)
• The Crown (Netflix)
• The Gentlemen (Netflix)
• The Gilded Age (HBO)
• The Morning Show (Apple TV+)
• The Ms. Pat Show (BET+)
• The Other Two (Max)
• The Sympathizer (HBO)
• Under The Bridge (Hulu)
• What We Do in the Shadows (FX)

At last year's Primetime Emmy Awards, one AMC project made it onto the list with five nominations in various categories. That was Better Call Saul, the cult spin-off of the equally cult Breaking Bad. Unfortunately, it never managed to win an award in its entire existence. It seems that academics don't hold AMC in high regard.

Why Was Interview with the Vampire Not Nominated?

Interview with the Vampire, meanwhile, has received incredibly high ratings. On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season received 98% from critics and 71% from audiences, and the second season received 98% and 83%, respectively. Unfortunately, this was not enough to satisfy the academics, and this is explained by several problems of the television industry.

First, despite the high quality of its projects, many of which have not only achieved cult status but have easily competed with other networks' series, AMC has never been a strong competitor to the big three of "prestige" television, namely HBO (and Max), Netflix and Prime Video. Unfortunately, as we can see, most of the nominated projects belong to them, which clearly points to lobbying.

Second, in the case of both the Oscars and the Primetime Emmys, academics have never honored the horror genre. The closest, of course, is True Detective: Night Country, but that's primarily a crime drama, which is, moreover, produced by HBO.

Well, hopefully one day great queer series will get the platform they deserve. Meanwhile, Interview with the Vampire Season 3 is in development.