What We Do in the Shadows (TV series)

What We Do in the Shadows
Promotional poster
Genre	Comedy horror Mockumentary
Created by	Jemaine Clement
Based on	What We Do in the Shadows by Jemaine Clement Taika Waititi
Starring	Kayvan Novak Matt Berry Natasia Demetriou Harvey Guillén Mark Proksch
Opening theme	"You're Dead" by Norma Tanega
Composer	Mark Mothersbaugh
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	4 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Jemaine Clement Taika Waititi Paul Simms Scott Rudin Garrett Basch Eli Bush
Producers	Joanne Toll Hartley Gorenstein
Production locations	Toronto, Ontario
Running time	24–30 min.
Production companies	Two Canoes Pictures 343 Incorporated Defender Films FXP
Original release
Network	FX
Release	March 27, 2019 (2019-03-27) – present (present)

What We Do in the Shadows is an American comedy horror television series, based on the 2014 film of the same name written by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi, that premiered on March 27, 2019, on FX. The series follows three vampire roommates living in New York City and it stars Kayvan Novak, Matt Berry, Natasia Demetriou, Harvey Guillen, and Mark Proksch.

Premise

What We Do in the Shadows is set in Staten Island and follows "three vampires who have been roommates for hundreds and hundreds of years". After an unexpected visit from their ancient Master of the Old Country, they must find a way to conquer Staten Island for the vampire race before he awakens from his slumber.

Cast and characters

Main

• Kayvan Novak as Nandor the Relentless, a vampire who was once a soldier of the Ottoman Empire. He thinks of himself as the leader of the group.
• Matt Berry as Laszlo Cravensworth, an English nobleman vampire who was bitten by Nadja and as of now is her lover. He shows to have a ego for he disagrees with Nandor's leadership, he enjoys making music and makes topiary sculptures.
• Natasia Demetriou as Nadja, a female Romani vampire who is Laszlo's lover. However, she is secretly seeing a human man whom she believes is her last lover reincarnated. Nadja, out of pity for Jenna, turns her into a vampire.
• Harvey Guillén as Guillermo, Nandor's familiar. He has served his master for 10 years in order to become a vampire just like the fictional vampire Armand. But due to his awkwardness to Nandor, the only rewards he'll receive are compliments or heart warming gifts.
• Mark Proksch as Colin Robinson, an energy vampire who lives with the trio. Unlike regular vampires he shows no sign of vampirism except that his pupils sometimes glow and his reflection shows a pale version of himself. He will drain humans (and vampires) of their energy by boring or enraging them. He is also a Daywalker, which makes him free to roam day and night (making normal vampires jealous).

Recurring

• Doug Jones as Baron Afanas, an ancient vampire from the Old Country who believes vampires should rule the world. Both Nadja and Laszlo (who share the same secret) had a sexual affair with The Baron. He now sleeps in the trio's attic and shall awake when they succeed on their mission, but his loyal Familiar is tasked to watch them to make sure they actually do it.
• Beanie Feldstein and Hayden Szeto as Jenna and Jonathan, two LARPer virgins that Guillermo lured for the vampires to feast on. However, Colin beat them by draining their energy, making their blood bitter. Jenna is later transformed by Nadia into a vampire.
• Jake McDorman as Jeff Suckler, a mortal man Nadja secretly sees without Laszlo's knowledge. She believes that he might be her reincarnated lover Gregor, a Knight whom she accidentally decapitated during their last encounter.

Guests

• Mary Gillis as June, Nadja and Laszlo's Familiar. She appears to be a badly ill old woman that communicates through grunts, she eventually met her end when the Baron sucked all her blood when he arrived to Staten Island.
• Gloria Laino as The Baron's Familiar. She is keeping a watchful eye on the vampires to conquer the New World when her master awakes, Guillermo states that she appears unnoticed and hears "everything".
• Marceline Hugot as Barbara Lazarro, the madam president of the Staten Island Council. She was going to be the vampires way of taking over until Laszlo left a pile of dead raccoons on her doorstep when he try to win her trust, resulting her to be in shock.
• Richie Moriarty as Doug Peterson, a Junior Councilman of the Staten Island Council. Nandor thinks if he hypnotize him into his "Agent of Chaos", he'll replace Lazarro so he gives him control of the council. But this failed for the hypothesis drove him mad, thus kicking him out of the council.
• Anthony Atamanuik as Sean, the human next door neighbor. He always captures Laszlo's attention like he's his best friend, he is easily hypnotized by Laszlo so he gets out of conversations.
• Vanessa Bayer as Evie Russell, Colin's co-worker and an advanced form of Energy Vampire known as an Emotional Vampire who feeds off of the pity generated from her outlandish stories of suffering rather than simply frustrating people for food like Colin. Her name is a homophone of "E.V."
• Arj Barker as Arjan, the pack leader of the Staten Island Werewolf Support Group. He entered into the Truce between his kind and the vampires (which was created in 1993). His name is just Arj with a vaguely Middle European extension.
• Hannan Younis as Ange, a female African American werewolf part of Arjan's group. She undermines on Arjan's rules (like Laszlo to Nandor) and is very crossed with Nadja for throwing "offensive" insults to her and the others like claiming all werewolves are Native Americans.
• Justin Bigelli as Toby, a new member of the Werewolf Pack. Unlike his brethren, he can actually transform by picturing a full moon by using his imagination so he can do it anytime (only if it's nighttime).

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	U.S. viewers (millions)
1	"Pilot"	Taika Waititi	Jemaine Clement	March 27, 2019 (2019-03-27)	XWS01001	0.617
2	"City Council"	Jemaine Clement	Paul Simms	April 3, 2019 (2019-04-03)	XWS01002	0.658
3	"Werewolf Feud"	Jemaine Clement	Josh Lieb	April 10, 2019 (2019-04-10)	XWS01004	0.305
4	"Manhattan Night Club"	Jemaine Clement	Tom Scharpling	April 17, 2019 (2019-04-17)	XWS01003	N/A
5	"Animal Control"	Jackie van Beek	Duncan Sarkies	April 24, 2019 (2019-04-24)	XWS01008	N/A
6	"Baron's Night Out"	Jackie van Beek	Iain Morris	May 1, 2019 (2019-05-01)	XWS01005	N/A
7	"The Trial"	Taika Waititi	Jemaine Clement	May 8, 2019 (2019-05-08)	XWS01006	N/A

Production

Development

On January 22, 2018, it was announced that FX had given the production a pilot order. The pilot was written by Jemaine Clement and directed by Taika Waititi both of whom are also executive producers alongside Scott Rudin, Paul Simms, Garrett Basch, and Eli Bush. On May 3, 2018, it was announced that FX had given the production a series order for a first season consisting of ten episodes, planned to premiere in 2019. On February 4, 2019, it was announced during the Television Critics Association's annual winter press tour that the series would premiere on March 27, 2019.

Casting

Alongside the pilot order announcement, it was confirmed that Kayvan Novak, Matt Berry, Natasia Demetriou, and Harvey Guillen would star in the pilot. On February 7, 2018, it was announced that Doug Jones, Beanie Feldstein, Jake McDorman, and Mark Proksch had been cast in the pilot in roles that had the potential to recur should the production receive a series order. On April 11, 2018, it was reported that Hayden Szeto had been cast in the pilot.

Filming

Principal photography for the series took place from October 22 to December 18, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario.

Release

Marketing

On October 31, 2018, a series of teaser trailers for the series were released. On January 10, 2019, another teaser trailer was released. On February 4, 2019, the official trailer for the series was released.

Premiere

On October 7, 2018, the series held a panel at the annual New York Comic Con moderated by Rolling Stone's Alan Sepinwall and featuring co-creators Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement, along with fellow executive producer Paul Simms. Before the panel began, the first episode of the series was screened for the audience. The world premiere for the series was screened during the 2019 South by Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas as a part of the festival's "Episodic Premieres" series.

Reception

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the series has an approval rating of 95%, based on 57 reviews, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Delightfully absurd and ridiculously fun, What We Do in the Shadows expands on the film's vampiric lore and finds fresh perspective in its charming, off-kilter cast to create a mockumentary series worth sinking your teeth into." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 80 out of 100, based on 28 critics, indicating "generally favorable review".

Ratings

Viewership and ratings per episode of What We Do in the Shadows

No.	Title	Air date	Rating (18–49)	Viewers (millions)	DVR (18–49)	DVR viewers (millions)	Total (18–49)	Total viewers (millions)
1	"Pilot"	March 27, 2019	0.2	0.617	0.4	0.938	0.6	1.556
2	"City Council"	April 3, 2019	0.3	0.658	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
3	"Werewolf Feud"	April 10, 2019	0.1	0.305	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD

External links

• Official website
• What We Do in the Shadows at IMDb