How old is Claudia in Interview with the Vampire? Age explained

Interview with the Vampire has made its way onto Netflix, and with the tale introducing a whole group of immortal souls, you might be wondering how old Claudia actually is.

Interview with the Vampire mostly centers around the questionable relationship between two vampires, Lestat de Lioncourt and Louis de Pointe du Lac. However, they’re actually a trio, completed by the newborn Claudia.

Anyone who’s read Anne Rice’s book or seen the original ’90s horror movie will know how important Claudia is to their dynamic, though at times, her mind often seems far more matured than her adolescent body.

As such, there might be some confusion about her age. Here’s everything you need to know about how old Claudia is in Interview with the Vampire, in the book, TV show, and movie.

Claudia’s age changes in each version

Claudia’s age changes depending on whether you’re looking at the novel, movie, or TV show, but in the book, it’s canon that she’s five years old.

In Anne Rice’s novel, Claudia is a five-year-old girl when she’s turned into a vampire. Louis feeds off her plague-ridden body, and Lestat, fearing that Louis is growing tired of him, turns Claudia into one of them in the hopes that it’ll make them a family.

In time, Claudia’s mind matures but her body remains that of a five year old. As her mental state grows more mature, she becomes enraged that she’ll never get older.

However, the on-screen adaptations do things a little differently when it comes to her age. In the 1994 movie, Claudia (played by Kirsten Dunst) is around 11 years old, which is the same age Dunst was when she played her.

Warner Bros. Pictures

The shift in age isn’t explicitly explained, but on-screen, the situation certainly seems less depraved when you have an 11 year-old going up against Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, rather than a younger girl.

In the TV show, Claudia is aged up even more to 14 years old. Initially, she was played by Bailey Bass, and was replaced by Delainey Hayles in Season 2 due to “a variety of unforeseen circumstances.”

By comparison, Louis is around 25 years old when he turns into a vampire, and Lestat was also in his early 20s.

For more vampires, check out everything we know about the Twilight TV series. You can also find out what we know about Interview with the Vampire Season 2, and take a look at all the best TV shows of 2024.