Dark greetings are in order one last time as the cast and crew of What We Do in the Shadows prepare to bid viewers adieu after wrapping filming its sixth and final season earlier this year.
TV Insider was on set for a rainy April day in Toronto (the real location of the Staten Island-based vampire roommate comedy from FX), where we were welcomed into their abode. Located on a sound stage, we joined other reporters for a front-line look at what’s to come in the final season. And the visit hinted at some big changes for the vampires — Nandor (Kayvan Novak), Nadja (Natasia Demetriou), Laszlo (Matt Berry), Colin Robinson (Mark Proskch), and The Guide (Kristen Schaal) — and their human friend and former familiar Guillermo (Harvey Guillén).
As viewers will recall at the end of Season 5, Guillermo rejected his vampirism, opting to remain human, but forgo his servitude to Nandor and the rest of the gang. But what does life look like without that dream motivating the man? “[Guillermo] has to go out into the real world and try to live more like a normal person and get a real job,” executive producer Paul Simms shared. “And I think what’s fun this season is that he does that and the vampires are so concerned about his ability to do it well that they all follow him to his new job to sort of — in their minds — help him out.”
Russ Martin/FX
Guillermo finds employment at a Wall Street financial firm, and his new position isn’t as much of a solo venture as he would have planned. According to Simms, both Nadja and Nandor individually decide to “follow him and get jobs there themselves to be able to monitor his progress and help him out.”
But don’t expect to see Nandor in a suit and tie like Guillermo may be as he accepts a job as a janitor not realizing “he could have gotten a higher level job” if he had been willing to kill for the gig. “But also Nandor finds a new purpose in life by being the janitor,” Simms added.
“Let’s just say we’re dealing with late-stage capitalism, class, mental health, sports, big issues,” executive producer Sam Johnson chimed in.
One particularly fun aspect of the Wall Street gig is Nadja’s Working Girl transformation, as writer Sarah Naftalis put it: “Nadja’s costuming is going to be very fun this year. There were a lot of photos of Working Girl printed out.. and her hair gets more insane than it’s ever been.” While fans have seen Nadja in attire she believes is appropriate for modern humans, Naftalis noted that her office looks are “cobbled together from victims over the past however many decades.”
Russ Martin/FX
And when it comes to Nadja’s concept of a “working woman,” Naftalis said, “She wants the lingo, she wants the small talk, she wants stocks going up, up, up!”
Emmy-winning costume designer Laura Montgomery also shared that Nadja will have “a sneak look, the Rebooks [with] the white socks. It’s definitely not as elaborate as the vampire costumes.”
With Nadja’s new job and Laszlo’s latest scientific ventures continuing on from Season 5, the usually happy couple will find themselves at odds quite a bit. The culprit for their unhappiness? Long-forgotten fifth vampire roommate, Jerry (played by guest star Mike O’Brien). After the vamps forgot to wake him up for more than a few decades, Jerry emerges to hold a mirror up to the gang and get them to realize they haven’t accomplished their previous dreams of conquering the world around them.
Jerry also mentions a decades-old feud Nadja and Laszlo had forgotten, essentially un-pausing and forcing them to confront a pointless argument for a chunk of the season. TV Insider and other reports caught a glimpse of this scene as it was filmed with Berry frequently delivering new versions of similar lines, exhibiting this comedy’s strong use of improv.
Russ Martin/FX
As for where Nadja and Laszlo stand as they grapple with Jerry’s disruption of their current bliss, “It’s quite realistic that you show a married couple…. they’re not going to always get on. But the downside of it for us was they’re having a row and they’re not speaking to each other. That meant we didn’t do as many scenes with each other. So that wasn’t fun,” Berry acknowledged of his lack of shared scenes with Demetriou.
“We’re still in it and we’re still married and there’s still a thing. It’s just… swearing at each other more,” Demetriou joked, cursing “piece of s**t” Jerry for “ruining a happily married couple’s life.” But while their marital turmoil may be negative, Nadja and Laszlos’s new storyline is sure to keep fans tuning in week after week.
And as Laszlo turns away from Nadja, he’ll be collaborating with Colin Robinson in the mansion’s long-unseen science lab. “It was so funny because when we built [Laszlo’s science cabinet] last year, that felt big to me,” production designer Shayne Fox revealed while walking onto the newest set stage. “[It was] this cool trunk and it actually folded up and looked like an old steamer trunk.” So, when it came to building the involved lab set, Fox said the production team expanded “on that vibe” found in Laszlo’s mobile lab. “That was like the mood board for all of [Laszlo’s] lab times a bazillion,” Fox noted, gesturing toward the elaborate set.
Russ Martin/FX
Playing assistant to Laszlo is Colin. “It’s always fun to get to work with any one cast member on the show. And Matt’s no different,” Proksch said. “You know, I love the pairing of the two characters because they’re so wildly different and neither of them can kind of tolerate each other to some extent.” Colin and Laszlo got closer in Season 4 following the energy vamp’s rebirth as “baby Colin.”
“They also have this kind of endearing [way of] finding each other… I think they finally see each other a bit as equals in that regard,” Proksch explained.
Speaking of balancing the scales as equals or otherwise, Nandor is flipping the script a bit by following Guillermo around, even doing janitorial work as the former familiar often did. “He’s cleaning the office, but he’s also keeping an eye on Guillermo as well. So he’s kind of like a guardian angel whilst at the same time basically just embarrassing Guillermo, which is fun because Guillermo was trying to move on and he won’t let him, but without admitting that he cares,” Novak teased of the dynamic between Nandor and Guillermo in this final season.
Related‘WWDITS’: The Vamps Get Experimental in Final Season Portraits
But why can’t Nandor let his familiar go? Shared Novak, “You’ll have to wait and find out… No, I think he’s very attached to him and their relationship is enduring in one f**ked-up way after another. So it’s been a real blast to play that.” One thing is for certain when it comes to this pair: Neither can quite let the other go.
As for other fun aspects of Season 6 that fans should look out for, director and co-executive producer Yana Gorskaya teased episodes modeled after Apocalypse Now, homages to Ghostbusters and Rear Window, and more. “We took a piece of our set on a scaffold to another location [to shoot]” for the Rear Window-like episode, she said. “It was so much harder than it will feel, but it was so cool to work out the math and the geometry of shooting… and creating that Hitchcockian feel of going through the windows.” She also shared that on “the Ghostbusters side of it, we got Steve Coogan to cameo as Laszlo’s ghost father!”
Montgomery also revealed there is some The Warriors inspiration to be found in one of Season 6’s episodes in which the vamps “had to dress up” because the Baron (Doug Jones) is receiving an award. But the occasion required more costumes than normal for reasons fans will learn as the season unfolds.
Stay tuned for more details, and let us know what you’re looking forward to from the final season of What We Do in the Shadows as the show unfolds on FX this fall.
What We Do in the Shadows, Season 6 Premiere, Monday, October 21, 10/9c, FX (next day on Hulu)
*Note: Harvey Guillén and Kristen Schaal were not on set the day TV Insider visited.
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