The cast and writers of What We Do in the Shadows teased what’s to come in the final season and shared their favorite memories of working on the show during FX’s New York Comic Con panel.
Following the screening of the first two episodes of the series’ sixth and final season, which is slated to premiere on Oct. 21, showrunner Paul Simms, writer Sarah Naftalis and Sam Johnson, along with cast members Matt Berry, Kayvan Novak, Harvey Guillén and Mark Proksch, were on hand Friday to receive special video messages from celebrity fans like Jeff Bridges and Mark Hamill, as well as discuss what fans can expect as their favorite vampires from Staten Island say goodbye.
Simms began the discussion by addressing the decision to end the series here and now, telling the audience, “I think it’s better to go out on top, and better too soon than too late. I don’t want to stay long enough that this auditorium would just have a few people in the front. I mean, just look at how many people are here,” he said, to a roar of cheers. Later, while answering fan questions, he also confirmed that the writers and cast left nothing on the table, and were able to get in everything they wanted to do by the series finale. “It’s all in season six. Everything we ever wanted to do is in there.”
When writers Naftalis and Johnson were asked what to expect out of the upcoming season, Johnson teased “Murder. Mayhem… a lot of office stuff, which has been a blast,” he shared. “This is a great season. You’re all going to be very happy.”
Speaking to what fans can expect for Guillermo in the series final slate of episodes, Guillén shared, “It’s nice to see him not feeling that he needs to have a whole life with his buddy over here. He’s finding himself. He finds that he was meant to be a vampire, and now he is trying to make it in the real world like a big boy, and unfortunately, they don’t let him do it on his own. He’s trying to be self-sufficient, self-reliant on his own work and whatnot, but they’re not helping the situation.”
Reflecting on their characters Laszlo and Colin’s storylines becoming more entwined with time on the series, Proksch shared that the journey has been fun. “They’re an odd couple, and odd couples work well together. I think that’s where a lot of the humor comes from. We have quite a bit of fun. We’re enjoying a lot of what you see on the screen. The sets are incredible. And when you get to play in that type of setting, it makes the acting so much easier,” he said.
“In terms of the characters, it’s interesting because obviously, Lazslo remembered bringing him up, but Colin doesn’t remember that,” Berry added. “So he’s just spending the whole time thinking, why the fuck does this guy still want to hang around… because every 100 years, he sort of regenerates doesn’t he?”
Berry was speaking to Colin the vampire’s darkly hilarious regenerating abilities, to which Proksch shared his favorite version of playing an aging Colin is his teenage self: “The writers find it funny for some reason to see my naked body, and no one else in the world does. They find it very attractive. So anytime I got to put on an outfit that’s a little too skimpy and act like a child, that was great for me. I loved that.”
“We had always wanted to do a Frankenstein-type story, but have Laszlo completely deny that he has any knowledge of the Frankenstein story,” Simms also shared. “I think the interesting part about Colin and Laszlo together is in season two, we thought we’d put the most curmudgeonly [character] with a person who’s pure goal in life is to annoy and bore people. We thought it’d be funny, and since then, it’s developed into a real begrudging friendship, where neither of them would admit how close they are, but they are.”
Later in the panel before taking fan questions, the cast and writers discussed what they’ll ultimately miss most about the show. “Obviously, the other actors, being in the freedom of the situation, because the nature of the mockumentary — which is something that I personally wasn’t particularly keen on before — is so quick, and you can do anything and stand anywhere. You don’t get to do that on lots of other things,” Berry said. “I shall miss that, but that’s really boring, because they don’t care about the maintenance and how things are done. It’s how it looks when it’s finished.”
“I’m gonna miss these guys. I’m gonna miss playing Nandor for you guys,” Novak said, before joking. “Thank you, I’ll be appearing at the Comic Con Austin, Texas, so see me there.”
Guillén shared similar appreciation for working with the show’s actors and writers “who are just funny naturally,” but also shouted out the crew. I think that I’ll miss most the crew that worked with us, and really hard for the show. They put this together. We made a show during crazy times, and they found a way to make costumes and set designs during a crazy pandemic and a time where you couldn’t even leave the country. We continued to fight to make the show for you guys and I’m glad we did.”
Added Proksch, “The cast and the crew, after six seasons, you really do grow quite close. But the freedom that you had on this show, the freedom and the encouragement to improvise and to have input into your character, or for me, being allowed to just go off on weird tangents about stupid stuff I like and useless information, I’ll never get to do that and to be on a show that I would have watched, even if I wasn’t in it. That’s so rare right now, especially in comedy, and I’m definitely going to miss that.”
The panel then pivoted to reflection on the “greatest hits” of some of the actor’s and writers work. That included Berry explaining what was behind some of his famously funny line readings, with the actor telling the NYCC crowd, “It’s never kind of pre planned. Every scene you’re just thinking about getting to the end and everything is to amuse yourself as well. You have to say these things more than once. It’s a real surprise to me when certain lines seem to kind of pick up, and I can’t predict which ones they are.”
“And when he does that, when we’re writing, we find more time for him to say New York City,” Simms added. “The other great thing I think about Matt is in a scene he had last season with Guillermo, where he said he was talking about Guillermo having an upset stomach, and just asked Harvey to tell him the names of Mexican dishes.”
“They didn’t see that we did like several dozen versions of that,” Guillén shared. “We only used like six, but he did them all. And each of them were as funny as the last one.”
Guillén went on to speak about all the stunt work Guillermo has been a part of on the series, shouting out the stunt team who was “wonderful about teaching me how to do the majority of my stunts, and I’m really proud of that, because I don’t get to do something like that on other projects often.”
For Proksch, when asked about whether any aspect of playing Colin has been a burden, the actor noted that he actually had fear early on that fans would hate the character. “In season one, I was a little concerned about being a character that is actually hated,” he said. “Luckily it was resolved by building up the character a little more. It is insane when you start a show and you’re like, Oh, this crazy show. It’s really fun. There’s no way we’re going to get a season two. Then you get a season two, and no way we’re going to get a season three. And then when people start sending you photos of their friends who did note that they’re friends with you dressed up as your character for Halloween, it’s such a bizarre feeling that your head can’t really comprehend that other people love that character so much. So it’s really amazing.”
While much of the panel remained upbeat, as the cast and creative team expressed their gratitude for getting to work on the show together, as well as having the support of so many fans, surprise video messages from Bridges and Hamill did make some of the panelists emotional. Hamill in particular shared his surprise but ultimate appreciation for the “sly, subversive humor of the series” and getting a chance to appear on the show. “I believe there’s still a lot of… life left in the show,” he said. “But I’m grateful for what I have. So thanks a lot. Thanks for the memories.”
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