What We Do In the Shadows’s fifth season is currently underway, and the FX series has already been greenlit for a sixth season — because one of the secrets to the show’s potential longevity is how much freedom the show’s vampiric characters have to be odd, strange or silly.
Speaking with Consequence prior to the beginning of the SAG actors’ strike, stars Kristen Schaal (The Guide), Harvey Guillén (Guillermo), Natasia Demetriou (Nadja), Mark Proksch (Colin Robinson), and Kayvan Novak (Nandor) have a good sense of what makes the show so special.
Guillén gives full credit to “an amazing team we have, stunts and costumes and prosthetics and special effects and all of that. Everyone loves what they do when they come to work every day. Everyone goes above and beyond. And that’s the cast and crew that we have on this show. We’re very lucky.”
Also, the beloved vampires of Staten Island remain beloved, Proksch notes, because at the show’s core, its five protagonists “are losers, they’re idiots. They can’t accomplish a damn thing. I think that’s comforting to people, to watch these five fools make their way through the world.”
“They have superpowers and they still can’t get anything done,” Demetriou adds.
Novak, though, disagrees with the categorization of “loser,” saying that “I think they believe what they do and they try and do those things wholeheartedly. They give it their all. They get nowhere, but they have a fun time getting nowhere. And I think more people need to take that as a life lesson, because a lot of people ultimately will get nowhere and spend their whole lives trying to get somewhere. And, you know, they feel like if I don’t get somewhere, then I’m gonna be a loser. But actually they’re missing that it’s a journey, not a destination, life.”
Adds Novak, “That’s my bit, and that’s why I’m running for comptroller next season.”
For more from the cast, watch the video above. New episodes of What We Do In the Shadows premiere Thursdays on FX.
Editor’s Note: This is a video interview. If the player is not viewable above, you can also view it on YouTube.
