The showrunner ofWhat We Do in the Shadowshas revealed the major goal they were able to accomplish in season 6. The FX mockumentary show, which stars Kayvan Novak, Matt Berry, Natasia Demetriou, and Mark Proksch as Staten Island-based vampire roommates Nandor, Laszlo, Nadja, and Colin Robinson, alongside Harvey Guillén as the human familiar Guillermo, is based on the 2014 New Zealand movie of the same name by Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement.What We Do in the Shadowsseason 6, which premiered with three episodes on October 21, will be the final season of the show.
Screen Ranthad the opportunity to sit down for an interview withWhat We Do in the Shadowsshowrunner Paul Simms to discuss season 6. He revealed that the season was not necessarily fulfilling any long-term goals because each time they develop a season, they “use up everything we have.” However, for the final season they got to accomplish a very different goal, which wasto “use all the funniest people that we’ve always wanted to use,“bringing on a guest cast that includes “Mike O’Brien, Tim Heidecker, Rajat Suresh, Jeremy Levick and Alyssa Limperis.”
This wasa major departure from the guest star approach in previous seasons, which was to prioritize stars who have played vampires onscreen before joining the show. Read Simms' full quote below:
Every season feels the same. People always ask like, “Oh, do you have things that you saved up for the last season?” And no, every season we feel like we use up everything we have, and then, when the season ends, we have a break and have time to recharge our batteries. And then, do another season where we use it up. It was the same thing this season, we just used up everything we had. There may have been one or two things where, like, “Oh, we always wanted to do that, let’s make sure that we do it.” A big part of that this season was, doing all those other seasons, we had a list of people that we thought were super funny guest stars. And we were like, “This is the season to have them all,” and that’s why you have, like, Mike O’Brien, Tim Heidecker, Rajat Suresh, Jeremy Levick and Alyssa Limperis. A lot of our seasons before, our guest stars have been people who’ve played vampires before, and we decided this season, let’s just use all the funniest people that we’ve always wanted to use.
What This What We Do In The Shadows Season 6 Update Means
The Show Is Embracing Both Sides Of Its Guest Cast
As Simms says, many of the guest stars from theWhat We Do in the Shadowscastare former onscreen vampires, particularly in the season 1 episode “The Trial,” which featuredWWDITS(2014)’s Taika Waititi, Jonathan Brugh, and Jemaine Clement,Only Lovers Left Alive’s Tilda Swinton,Buffy the Vampire Slayer(1992)’s Paul Reubens,Blade’s Wesley Snipes,From Dusk Till Dawn’s Danny Trejo, andTrue Blood’s Evan Rachel Wood as members of the Vampiric Council.Other vampire guest stars from over the years have includedThe Strain’s Doug JonesandOnly Lovers Left Alivedirector Jim Jarmusch.
Doug Jones is a frequent movie monster performer, having played roles including the The Amphibian Man inThe Shape of Water, the zombie Billy Butcherson inHocus Pocus, and the Pale Man inPan’s Labyrinth.
Season 6 seems to featurea much more even spread of comedy stars and vampire stars. While Jones has already reprised his recurring role as Baron Afanas, the majority of the incoming stars are indeed better known for their comedy work. This includesSNL’s Mike O’Brien as forgotten roommate Jerry the Vampire,Tim and Eric Awesome Show Good Job’s Tim Heidecker as Cannon Capital Strategies boss Jordan, andWhat We Do in the Shadowswriter Jeremy Levick and comedian Alyssa Limperis as CCS employees Jimmy and Lisa.
It remains to be seen what character fellowWhat We Do in the Shadowswriter Rajat Suresh plays, but they have all so farfleshed out the world of the show using their honed comic chops.
Our Take On Paul Simms' What We Do In The Shadows Comments
The New Season Has Been Well-Regarded So Far
This new approach to casting could be the reason thatWhat We Do in the Shadowsseason 6 reviewshave earned the new season a solidly Fresh 88% score on Rotten Tomatoes. While this is the lowest score for the show yet, which has previous earned scores between 94% and 100%, this is still a remarkably consistent result for a comedy show that has extended for so many seasons. It seems that the mockumentary will end its run byhelping maintain as consistent a comedic approach as possibleeven though the casting is shaking things up slightly.
What We Do in the Shadowsseason 6 airs on FX on Mondays through December 16.
What We Do in the Shadows
Cast
What We Do in the Shadows, released in 2019, is a mockumentary series exploring the nightly lives of a group of centuries-old vampires residing in Staten Island. The comedic show delves into their interactions with each other and the modern world, providing a humorous take on the vampire genre.
