Looking back it was such an ingenious ploy by the writers of hiding Armand (a beloved Anne Rice character) in plain sight till the final moments of the season. Assad Zaman gave a stellar performance, the meek secretary transforming into an ancient vampire terror.
I'm coming back to this now after having watched it for the first time long ago and it's exhilarating all over again, especially given how Assad has served such an exquisite performance as Armand in Season 2. Particularly here in the last scene: the removal of the gloves and contacts, then the slow ascension until finally, we're hit with those (now nearly trademark) tangerine eyes, we hear the authority in his voice. And then, his name is spoken👏👏👏...powerful, chilling and still just fantastic drama!
If you look at the season the choice to have "Rashid" have so many alone scenes with Daniel only to have the twist he is Armand is so genius! With season 2 most likely dive further into their dynamic and the "devil's minion" story I am so pumped to see what happens with these two
people were acting out that louis was too powerful for his vampire age, like setting things on fire with his mind etc. calling a writer’s mistake but now it makes sense.
They just revealed that there’s actually a servant in that house named Rashid. And now I can’t even watch Armand posing as him in the same light. Like sir why are you doing slutty cosplays of your employees?? 😂
How do I respectfully express how I feel about THIS specific rendition of Armand ... On one hand he has such #babyboy vibes, and on the other hand he feels so ancient that he equally gives off d#ddy vibes.
@@StarliteJem besides having auburn hair* Daniel was blonde. Armand had reddish brown hair :) But Assad is Armand for me now. He embodies him in every way.
Thank you for making this! I'm going through an armand/daniel phase, having just read devil's minion. Can't wait to see more of them, and more of armand being armand in the past and present.
Damn, best 15 minutes on the internet for me right now. Just started watching this show 2 weeks ago and binged the hell out of it. 15 mins of Assad had me hooked, and don’t get me wrong, I was all for Louis and Lestat until Armand revealed himself. And oh boy, what a reveal that was. His delivery of being stronger than a mediocre star was just perfect. And now I’m watching season 2 going wow, Armand is, I dare to say, more swoonier than Lestat. Assad’s eye acting is just so freaking hypnotic. I’m entranced every time he is on the screen. Hope there is a super cut for s2!
(Spoilers for s2 ep5) I get what you mean. And about his eye acting, I missed this the first few times, during the scene where Armand is talking to Louis after the latter got sunburned severely, and Daniel's sitting in the living room. And yk, Armand's mind-controlling Daniel so that he levitates off the floor before dropping back down a few times, while Armand is giving his "everything is fine" monologue - when he finishes that last line you can see his eyes twitch if you look closely (nystagmus). I mean, I already found his acting to be great but that just impressed me even more!
Anyone noticing Armand being alone with Daniel more often in these scenes??? After the big reveal it hits differently!! WHO SHIPS ARMAND AND DANIEL AFTER “QOTD”?!!💖💕💕
No, given the historical context, being called boy for being a adult Afri-Amer male. Him being Afri-Amer calling a white man boy but he's saying it out of age superiority not race superiority
6:10 Armand is dismissive of the interior designer’s thoughtfulness toward Louis in wanting to bring in the outdoors. It also indicates that Louis has been under longterm isolation. Major 🚩
Daniel: "That's my voice but I don't remember it." Oh my God. Just connecting this to Armand possibly manipulating Daniel's memories. And did Louis stop the tape recorder to prevent Daniel from hearing Armand's voice on it? And making the connection to Rashid too quickly?
Armand my beloved can't wait for season 2 and 3 and more of Armand's storylines!!!!!! I am so curious tho about what they will do with Armand now with story changes on the show, and how they will handle his and Daniel's relationship... because Armand/Daniel storyline was one of my fave chapters in "Queen of the damned"
@@Simone-yv3ro yeah from the shows' point of view they did a huge time jump and all of that is suppose to be in the past but Armand and Daniel looked like they don't know each other (other than the short scene in which Daniel remembers he saw him in a club once) so I really don't know where they will go with this. would be cool to see young Daniel and Armand and their times together :) with all the crazy ups and downs :)
@@mayaamis there is night island coming up, and that only exists because of their relationship so I wonder if they will be in a flashback of night island idk though.
@@Simone-yv3ro yeah what makes me sad is no matter what they decide to show in "flashback" clearly it won't end faithfully to the books because obviously Daniel is suppose to be turned into a vampire young and not grow old as a human so his and Armand's relationship also never grows over years :(
@@jillbecker8651 only the ones Daniel wears. Armand doesn’t make skin oils and wouldn’t need them to protect the diaries. He does, however, have long vampire nails he wouldn’t want Daniel to see - hence the gloves
When Louie said “our boy” it’s hinting something more in between them Armand and Louie (btw I haven’t read the book so anyone who has pls tell if I’m wrong or not)
It doesn't really follow the books, but yeah, in the books Armand was in love with Louis, but they had some... well, let's say they had some serious disagreements that didn't let them last 🥲 Book Armand canonically is bi tho and was in love with many more men besides Louis
so, Louis is has become very powerful since he has been drinking the blood of a 500 year old vampire....he can now set things on fire and can control the movements of others...what else can Louis do since he has Armand's blood?...
Not only that he has lestat’s blood who has the blood of Magnus and Akosha, plus the other reason he has become more powerful is because he has fully embraced his vampiric nature
I was wondering where they are in Dubai. That view from the window. I read somewhere that they weren't actually filming in Dubai. That view seems to be from the penthouse appartments of the building with the name "One" by Omniyat Properties. Its a residential lot in Palm Jumeirah. It has characteristic concrete columns and the view from there is similar.
Louis deserved the slap. Daniel might’ve pushed, but Louis has control here. He has the power. It’s like kicking a dog when he made Daniel’s Parkinson’s flare up.
Imagine if Korn, Linkin Park, Static X, Marilyn Manson, Disturbed, & other bands from the original soundtrack Queen of The Damned make an appearance in season 3. Or perhaps sing their original film-hits?
He says it's because he wants to tell his story again properly, but that's definitely not the whole picture. I think it's because he's scared of letting these things fester inside him, he needs to unload some of it onto another person.
Armond must be a Dhampir, they way he can with stand sun light, also how Louie is able to drink from him and have sustenance. Plus, Armond can survive on food.
According to the books the older vampires get the less they are affected by sunlight (although in the fifth book Armand himself gets almost killed because of exposure to the sun), and the powers and abilities of younger vampires are enhanced if they drink blood from older vampires
Nah. They're going to pick someone who can act, not just model. I think they're going to pick an actor with plenty of theatre experience as well as some kind of North African.
@@valerialopez-md1bubut this is trash because armad is a weak vampire lol he is nothing marius was like what? 2000 years old and he can’t stand the power of the sun
Vampires were never injured by sunlight in old novels. The sunlight weakness was introduced in nosferatu as a means to conclude the movie, and ended up becoming a part of popular culture
I feel like I'm the only one who is disappointed by this Armand. He literally has next to nothing in relation to Armand from the books. It's just ridiculous to me. They butchered one of my favorite characters of all time.
They literally butchered the whole thing. Characters, story and all. At least in the first movie, it only veered from the book on a couple things (Armands age, and the Lestat in the car ending, and a few other small details) This remake is just garbage and pays 0 homage to the original books. They literally just using the title to capitalize on its success. I didn't think anything could have been worse than QOTD but this shit topped that.
He has 15 minutes of screentime and like 3 minutes of screentime after it's revealed he's actually Armand. You literally know nothing about how they've written his character or the direction of his story arcs and your already complaining?
I, once again, can't comprehend why can't they just cast an actor that looks like him in the books. Why is it so hard to find someone pale and auburn hair who looks 16? First Antonio Banderas and then that wtf doll chubby guy from Queen of the Damned, and now him? Really? At least his features and hair style are closer to that described idealistic Botticelli angel stuff. But still.......
If you'd watched the show, you'd find that Assad Zaman embodies Armand perfectly. Looks don't make or break a character. He captures Armand's essence beautifully. It's him. It also helps that Zaman looks like he stepped out of a Renaissance painting. He's a Botticelli cherub personified.
cannot unsee the eye assymetry, receding hairline, different sized ears and underbite fine actor but not for a renaissance character they prized symmetry philosophically he's got typical instagram face, no page boy youth frailty sorry Alain Delon evil fairy energy just isn't there, this guy's too tall and broad like a modern ballerina, he looks like he could kill you which is all wrong, too The Row model and nothing vulnerable. I could see a more ancient one though with longer hair. That could work with the Picasso eyes, more enigmatic. Unfortunately in trying to make him look younger it's the surest way to make anyone look older. This is common knowledge in modelling.
The acting, the dialogue, the costuming, the music and every other detail of this show is completely irrelevant because they didn't cast a white man I guess
It was acted well. Rashid actor has charisma. Script was good until the end when it went super camp. Armand and louie were companions in the book but louie never loved Armand. It was unrequited love. Because Louie carried guilt of killing and resented claudia being murdered which Armand was responsible for. Now im gonna be that guy which is going to touch point Louie was ex-slave plantation owner and all three main characters were white lestat, louie & claudia. As much as the actors are talented in their own right. Claudia was louie’s love of his life. Because he was bi-sexual and preferred women. Armand is a athestist. Rashid and Daniel actors are fabulous. Just not overall convincing once you have read Anne Rice novels. Diversity and inclusion is great but you ignore settings realistic basis of accounts it can have comical and pantomime feel throughout like Bidgerton.
It's supposed gay as hell as that's what the writer intended. You won't get as much of the deep storyline if they're not portrayed as the author wanted. If you have read the books, then saw the movie and now see the show, you'll see that the show won't make sense without the gay. The gay is what keeps the story quite gay. You think the very masculine world of the vampires isn't going to have blokes show some love to each other at some point in their immortal existence? Come on now, that's not rational. There's no logic to that some dude in there's gonna get sick of his women constatly dying. Some bloke is bound to look sizzling and a fella's dum suddenly starts to look quite appetizing*. Good thing 99.9% of TV shows put out there are portray the straight so you can get your awesome instead of trying to dim the light on one of the few exceptions. *edited a typo.
This is suuuuuch pure trash acting and dialogue. I'm over here actually bothering ppl in public as I laugh hysterically at how bad it is. The books literally contain words lmao. They are made of words. You can just use the words in the books. If you wanted to make a whole new story and hire cheap writers off Fiverr and actors of Wish, why not just give it a different name?
@@PhilosoFeed nope! You could’ve realized you fundamentally disagreed with an adaption and moved on. It’s been a year and a half. Why are you wasting your life on something you hate. The books are right there, go reread them. They didn’t go anywhere.
i love that once the show tells the audience that rashid is armand (and if you read the books you know what’s coming), all his looks and interactions towards daniel gain a whole different perspective
plus the scene when Louis is feeding off him - it looks like Rashid is the submissive one in that scene and then when you go back it's clear Armaund is in charge there, rather than submitting to Louis and letting him drink from him, it's more like he's saying 'you may drink from me' in that way that sounds like an order.
@@agenttheater5Would you mind explaining. After watching it several times, I still don't understand the Daniel/Armond thing. Ljke were David and Armond a couple? Did they like each other at one point? Is Daniel gay, bisexual? I don't get how they are connected at all to each other.
I think they've left that out in the open. we're getting more answers and more backstory later. But Louis and Armaund have been together for over 50 years, we know that much from the part resigned part sarcastic way he asked Armand if he wanted to join them in the 70s when they first met Daniel @@BeRealForReal
@@BeRealForRealin the books Daniel goes looking for Lestat after the original interview because he wants to become a vampire and Armand finds him but lets him live because he finds Daniel amusing, then starts to stalk him and tells Daniel he'll be his guide in the new century that he knows so little about (also Louis just left him so Armand is lonely at this point) after 4 years Daniel basically goes "wait a minute are we dating?" And Armand buys him a private island, they are together for 12 years before Armand finally turnes Daniel Into a vampire right before Lestat kick starts vampire apocalypse with rock music
Bro!! i just found out Assad Zaman (the guy who played armand role here) is from bangladesh. its a miracke seeing a Bangladeshi actor playing in big shows like these ❤🎉🎉🎉🎉
Rashid turning out to be Armand was the crème de la crème of the TV adaptation. Assad Zaman, carried himself like I imagined the character from the books and the show made an interesting spin on the context of the character without losing Armand or his relationship to Louis. I look forward to Season 2 :)
damn i'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ready for devil's minion. I hope to god that Daniel laughs in their face after the "the love of my life" line, the side eye he gave Louis was PERFECTION. Oh and I never realized the groan could be hear in a lot of the scenes, like when Daniel wakes up at 12:35... what's up with that I still can't seem to settle with a theory!
@@luanasilva7341 in the show Daniel points out a sound and Rashid (who now we know is Armand) explains that they call it The Groan, and he blames the height of the building and the wind for the sound but it is a popular theory that it is caused by something/someone else. If you search for the groan in iwtv I'm sure you'll find a compilation of the times the sound is present.
what's absolutely killing me is that Louis isn't even Armand's great love....... Daniel is. but he's mad at him now for (at least partially) unclear reasons. *AAAAAAHHHHHH SEASON TWO IS GOING TO BE THE DEATH OF MEEE*
@@themozARTgroupie Even if his great love is Daniel, I don't see Armand as the kind to really let anyone go if they want to - seems like a 'it's over when I say it's over' kind of a man.
@@agenttheater5 oh absolutely, I don't disgree! (although I *am* very excited to learn how/why exactly Daniel's memory got wiped... something something maybe Armand did love him enough to let him go?? (or maybe he made that decision FOR Daniel, which would be a classic "goddammit Armand" again :'D)) i just the LAYERS in this story big fan and did i mention i literally cannot wait for S2 XD
he was being sassy… not even akasha can survive the sun for a period of time. he probably has high resistance but for a short period of time, otherwise he turn into ashes.
Armand is not. The person he is pretending to be, Rashid, is. Hence the slipping into a language other than Arabic and the little back and forth about where he's from.
What is going on with this show? Anne Rice Vampires can't move about during the day.. also why are Louis and Armand black? Louis OK that could be possible although how a plantation owner in the south who has his own slaves is black in the late 17th century I've no idea, but Andre was born in Russia in the 1400s... there's no way he'd be black unless he purposefully burnt his skin in the day.. but as I said before he shouldn't be able to move about in the day and at 500 years old it could well have killed him, he wouldn't have know until after the Memnoch incident when he tried to kill himself. Also Daniel was always just 'the boy' during Interview... he definitely looks too old here, or is that David Talbot? Very confused by this :D
You'll be less confused if you watch the show. it's a masterpiece, and even an improvement on the books in some respects. I'd say give it a go. Most book fans were not disappointed. It's the best adaptation of the Vampire Chronicles yet. The casting and the changes made are all on point and enrich the story.
