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‘The Vampire Lestat’ Has Cast Its Queen of the Damned

“The Woman King” star Sheila Atim will take up the role of the first vampire for the AMC show.

The third season of Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire has found its Akasha. Ugandan-British actress Sheila Atim, who has starred in such films as The Woman King, Pinocchio and Mufasa: The Lion King as well as TV shows like Harlots and The Underground Railroad, will play the Queen of the Damned in the upcoming season, which is still in production. Akasha, nicknamed the Queen of the Damned due to her status as the first vampire, was previously played by R&B singer Aaliyah in the 2002 film Queen of the Damned, which was released six months after the 22-year-old’s death in a plane crash. While the AMC show’s third season, subtitled The Vampire Lestat, focuses on Sam Reid’s Lestat de Lioncourt and draws from Rice’s novel of the same name, beloved characters like Jacob Anderson’s Louis de Pointe du Lac and Eric Bogosian’s Daniel Molloy will also return. The news of Atim’s casting was confirmed at the show’s NYCC panel on Friday, where fans were also treated to an extended first look at the highly anticipated upcoming season. The Vampire Lestat will premiere on AMC in 2026.