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.
After the screening of the first two episodes of the sixth and final season of the series, whose premiere is scheduled for October 21, the showrunner Paul Simms, the writer Sarah Naftalis and Sam Johnson, together with the cast members Matt Berry, Kayvan Novak, Harvey Guillén and Mark Proksch, were on hand Friday to receive special video messages from famous fans like Jeff Bridges and Mark Hamill, as well as discuss what fans can expect when their favorite Staten Island vampires 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 come out on top, and better too early than too late. I don't want to stay long enough for there to be only a few people in the front of this auditorium. I mean, look how many people are here,” he said, to a roar of applause. Later, answering questions from fans, he also confirmed that the writers and cast left nothing on the table and were able to get 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 from the upcoming season, Johnson joked, “Murder. Chaos… a lot of office stuff, which was great,” he shared. “This is a great season. You'll all be very happy.”
Speaking about what fans can expect from Guillermo in the final episodes of the series, Guillén shared: “It's nice to see him not feel like he needs to have his whole life with his friend here. He's finding himself. He finds out that he was supposed to be a vampire, and now he's trying to make it in the real world as a big kid, and unfortunately, they don't let him do it on his own. He's trying to be self-sufficient, confident in his work and whatnot, but they don't help the situation.
Reflecting on the fact that the storylines of their characters, Laszlo and Colin, become more and more intertwined over time in 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 had a lot of fun. We are really enjoying what you see on the screen. The sets are incredible. And when you get to act in that kind of setting, acting becomes a lot easier,” he said.
“In terms of characters, it's interesting because obviously Lazslo remembered raising him, but Colin doesn't,” Berry added. “So he spends the whole time thinking, why the fuck does this guy still want to stick around… because every 100 years, he kind of regenerates, doesn’t he?”
Berry was talking about vampire Colin's darkly hilarious regenerative abilities, to which Proksch shared his favorite take on playing an aged Colin as his teenage self: “The writers find it funny for some reason to see my naked body, and no one else in the world.” the world does. They find him very attractive. So every time I had to wear an outfit that was a little too skimpy and act like a kid, that was great to me. I loved it.
“We always wanted to do a Frankenstein-style story, but Laszlo completely denies having any knowledge of the Frankenstein story,” Simms also shared. “I think the interesting part of Colin and Laszlo together is in the second season, we thought we'd put the more gruff part [character] with a person whose pure purpose in life is to annoy and bore people. We thought it would be fun, and it's since turned into a real reluctant friendship, where neither of us would admit how close they are, but they are.
Later in the panel, before answering 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 I personally didn't particularly like before – is so fast, and you can do anything and be anywhere. You can't do that for a lot of other things,” Berry said. “I'll miss it, but it's really boring, because they don't care about maintenance and how things are done. This is what it looks like when it's done.”
“I'm going to miss these guys. I'm going to miss playing Nandor for you guys,” Novak said, before joking. “Thanks, I'll be appearing at Comic Con Austin, Texas, so meet me there.”
Guillén shared similar appreciation for working with the show's actors and writers “who are just naturally funny,” but also praised the crew. I think I'm going to really miss the crew that worked with us, and really hard on the show. They put this together. We made a show in crazy times and they found a way to make costumes and sets during a crazy pandemic and a time when you couldn't even leave the country. We kept fighting to make the show for you guys and I'm happy we did.
Proksch added: “The cast and crew, after six seasons, have really gotten a lot closer. But the freedom that you had on this show, the freedom and encouragement to improvise and have input into your character, or for me, the fact that I can just go off on weird tangents about stupid things that I like and useless information, I I'll never be able to do that and be on a show that I would have watched, even if I wasn't on it. He's so rare right now, especially in comedy, and I will definitely miss him.
The panel then focused on reflecting on the “greatest successes” of some of the actors' and writers' works. This included Berry explaining what was behind some of his famously funny lines, with the actor telling the NYPD audience: “It's never planned in advance. You only think about completing each scene and everything is also about having fun. You have to say these things more than once. It's a real surprise to me when certain jokes seem to pick up, and I can't predict what they are.
“And when he does, as we write, 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 a stomach ache, and he just asked Harvey to tell him the names of the dishes Mexicans.”
“They didn’t see that we liked several dozen versions,” Guillén shared. “We only used six, but he did them all. And each of them was just as funny as the last.
Guillén went on to talk about all the stunt work Guillermo took part in on the series, praising the stunt team who were “wonderful at teaching me how to do most of my stunts, and I'm really proud of that, because I don't often get to to do something like this on other projects.
For Proksch, when asked if any aspect of playing Colin had been a burden, the actor noted that he was actually afraid from the beginning that fans would hate the character. “In the first season, I was a little worried about being a character who was actually hated,” he said. “Fortunately this was resolved by further developing the character. It's crazy when you start a show and you're like, “Oh, what a crazy show.” It's really fun. There's no way we're going to get a second season. Then you'll have a second season, and there's no way we'll have a third season. And then when people start sending you photos of their friends who have noticed that they're your friends 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 surprising.”
While much of the panel remained optimistic, as the cast and creative team expressed their gratitude for working together on the show, as well as having the support of so many fans, the surprise video messages from Bridges and Hamill made sure that some of the panelists emotional. Hamill in particular shared his surprise but utmost appreciation for “the series' sly, subversive humor” and for having had the chance to appear on the show. “I think there is still a lot… life left in the show,” he said. “But I'm grateful for what I have. So thank you so much. Thank you for the memories.”