“What We Do in the Shadows” stars Matt Berry, Mark Proksch, Kristen Schaal, and Kayvan Novak (via Zoom), executive producer and showrunner Paul Sims, and director Kyle Newacheck appeared in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday to preview (and celebrate) the sixth and final season of the Emmy-nominated FX comedy series.
Shots: Ahead of the panel, FX aired the full premiere of Season 6, which introduced Michael Patrick O'Brien (Saturday Night Live) as Jerry. Who is Jerry, you ask? He's the former roommate of Nandor (Novak), Laszlo (Perry), Nadia (Natasia Demetriou), and Collin Robinson (Brooks), who they all fondly remember as “the vampire of vampires” — until they realized they all forgot to wake him up from his deep slumber in 1976.
Jerry's return sends everyone into an existential crisis, turning the vampire relationship upside down by reminding them of who they were in the past. Meanwhile, we learn where Guillermo (Harvey Guillen) has been living since he left the vampire fold, how he became friends with Nandor, and the vampires begin to question why they agreed to let a human film crew follow them for so long.
What we learned: Sims said that when they realized that season six would be the end of the series, they decided to move away from the stereotypes that many shows fall into when they are in the final stretch.
“We just wanted to make a really funny season that wasn’t too sentimental or trying to tie up too many threads,” he said before promptly backtracking. “I mean, for diehard fans like you, all the threads will be tied up.”
Sims also noted that there will be several big cameos this season, featuring “people we loved a lot and thought were so funny” — including O'Brien's casting as Jerry.
Similar to how the documentary crew became more integrated into the show in the final season of The Office, Newacheck also noted that the documentary aspect of the show “opens up toward the end of the season in a very metaphysical way that was fun to make.”
“I will say that I played the director of the show at one point while I was directing the show, and that was the most special thing I've ever been involved with. So stay tuned, guys. It's going to get wild and weird,” he added.
The funniest moment: Novak, unable to attend in person, appeared on Zoom — as the relentless Nandor, sporting vampire teeth and a painted portrait of Nandor in the background. When asked if Guillermo would ever be able to resolve his feelings for Nandor, Novak as Nandor explained that Guillermo still lives with him with the level of fun cheesiness one would expect from the show.
“I have to lower my voice, because Guillermo is in the next room, masturbating into his pillow,” he said, before acting as if Guillermo was off camera. “What? No, I wasn’t talking about you. Shut up!”
