Before the action even starts in Interview With the Vampire Season 2, the title cards announce a seismic shift for the AMC series. After the show and episode titles grace the screen, we read, “THE ROLE OF CLAUDIA WILL NOW BE PLAYED BY DELAINEY HAYLES.” It’s a theatrical way to address the biggest change between Interview With the Vampire Seasons 1 and 2: the incandescent Bailey Bass has departed the series and been replaced by Delainey Hayles.
Bailey Bass had the dubious luck of joining the first season of Interview With the Vampire after shooting her film debut in James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water. The Avatar sequel’s wild box office success meant that Bass had to return to the role of Tsireya for the future sequels…and could not reprise the role of Claudia on the AMC cult hit show.
Enter Delainey Hayles. The English actress has already worked on British productions like Holby City and Too Close, but is best-know for her work on the stage. Fitting for a version of Claudia who finds herself swept up in Anne Rice’s Théâtre des Vampires in Interview With the Vampire Season 2.
Hayles’s version of Claudia is different from Bass’s, yet still Claudia. In Hayles’s eyes you can see that the girlishness of Season 1’s Claudia has been officially swept away by time and trauma. Her codependent relationship with Louis (Jacob Anderson) becomes more fraught as the duo travel Europe and meet different strains of vampire, who offer different visions of what immortality can offer. Still, it is Claudia and Louis’s relationship that provides the propulsive heartbeat for most of Season 2’s action and it only works because Anderson and Hayles fit so effortlessly together on screen.
When Decider spoke to the stars of Interview With the Vampire Season 2 during February’s Winter 2024 TCA Press Tour, we asked Jacob Anderson and Delainey Hayles knew they had the chemistry to pull the Claudia re-cast off. Turns out, it was pretty early on…
“I think I maybe knew before Delainey did,” Jacob Anderson said.
Delainey Hayles laughed and concurred. “I think the audition,” she said.
“Yeah, Delainey’s audition, it was like the scene in the beginning of Episode 2, and she was amazing,” Anderson said. “As soon as she walked out of the room, we were like, ‘She’s Claudia!’ That is Claudia.”
“Oh, thank you,” Hayles said.
“Yeah, so for me, that was when I was like, ‘I think me and Delainey work really well together,” Anderson said.
Hayles then explained she felt that she and Jacob Anderson had forged a connection before the audition even began!
“I think mine was actually before the audition, we crossed paths in the bathroom. Do you remember that?” Hayles asked. Anderson did.
“I opened the door and Jacob was coming in and I just went, ‘Oh!’ And Jacob went, ‘Hi,’ and it was like the nicest ‘hi’ ever and I was like, ‘Oh, thank you,’” Hayles said, prompting Anderson to giggle. “And that’s when I knew he’s really sweet.”
“Like he was so good for me in that room. It was kind of really nerve-wracking. [Director] Levan [Akin] was there, mliss1578 Rolin [Jones] was there, the casting director was there, and then Jacob kind of made them all disappear in a way in the audition.”
“Literally,” Anderson then sarcastically quipped. “And that’s when Delainey found out that I wasn’t very nice. [Mock angry diva voice:] ‘You all need to get out of here! You’re ruining our process!’“
Normally, we would write something like, “Jokes aside, it’s clear that Hayles and Anderson have a magical onscreen bond.” However, the jokes the duo (and fellow star Sam Reid) shared during our quick conversation underscore the warmth and wit that defines such a positive relationship.
Interview With the Vampire Season 2 premieres May 12 on AMC.
