It would be incredibly difficult to adapt The Queen of the Damned
...and not incorporate the themes of power, exploitation, and resistance that pit Akasha against The Twins and the rest of the vampires.
Especially now, when the first three seasons have laid the groundwork for these themes with every major character introduced thus far.
Look at the emphasis on speaking and whose story gets told this season. Lestat has a stutter as a child. He feels like Daniel and Louis took his words and identity away from him with their book, and now he wants to leave behind a record of his life told through music.
And yet, he talks over the band and commandeers the entire trajectory of their careers. And yet, he specifically says in one recording that "tertiary characters" won't get to speak for themselves.
And yet, Lestatâs âmusesâ of Louis and Claudia donât talk back to him, but the ghosts of those who have no one left to contest their story (like Nicki) can.
Who gets to speak? Whose story gets told? Think of how Louis reads the pages of Claudiaâs diary to her abuser, trying to speak on her behalf. In episode 5, Akasha mentions a girl who cannot speak and one in the straw on the side of the road.
Consider how this relates to Mekare and Maharet.
Look at the intersection between desire, commerce, and exploitation this season. The repeat mention of Louisâs capitalist endeavors. The uncomfortable focus on his exploitation of Claudiaâs memory and Reginaâs economic status. He means well, but it's exploitative nevertheless.
Look at the repeat reminders of the sex industry through Regina, Armand, and Daniel. Hell, maybe thatâs why the strip club scene was so male gazed when the rest of the show generally isnât. (Okay, I'm not holding my breath on this one).
Why is Armand's sexual trauma repeatedly brought up this season? To remind the audience that he has a history that will make him suspicious of Akasha and relate to Maharet.
It's not a coincidence that Marius has an orientalist painting by one of the quintessential orientalist painters on his wall. It's not a coincidence that some of Marius's earliest lines involve him whispering to Akasha about Lestatâs blonde hair and blue eyes.
It's probably not a coincidence that episode 4 mentions the Dutch Republic and introduces the question of what the republic is known for. It's not known for sheltering French royalists (thatâs the Spanish Netherlands). No, itâs known for the Dutch East India Company that exploited South Asiaâwhere Armandâs fromâand Oceaniaâwhere Maharet landed when the sisters were separated across the oceans.
Where did Gabriella leave Lestat? On the shores of Spain, another major colonizer, especially in the Americas, like where Mekare landed. They could've been in Italy (also a colonizing empire), but no, they were written as being in Spain and observing (of all things) an opium ship.
Then letâs consider Akasha, a queen from Egypt who has been held by an Italian/Roman man for centuries. But a queen, nevertheless, so she is treated with a modicum of respect. And she chooses to speak to Lestat, the son of an aristocrat.
Lestat has wealth and privilege enough to give the Theatre des Vampires a "generous endowment." He has wealth enough to sail to America and immediately purchase a home in New Orleans. He has wealth enough to move to a gentrified neighborhood in Montreal the moment he decides to join the modern age.
Akasha has the vampiric power. He has the social currency. They can be, to quote episode 4, "dark monarchs, intertwined for all eternity."
On the other side of the coin, there are people who have been exploited or are descended from populations that are/have been historically exploited. Louis, Armand, and the sisters we've been building up to with all the twins scattered across the Anne Rice AMC universe...
This season began in the shadow of the French Revolution. Canât do that without chopping some headsâŚ
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