‘What We Do in the Shadows’ Cast Says Final Episodes Are ‘Capped With a Teary Goodbye’

The week Harvey Guillén learned “What We Do in the Shadows” would end with Season 6 was a rough one for the FX star. That Christmastime call came around the same time he was mourning a death in the family and dealing with a breakup.

“That week was so emotionally draining to me, and I was like, ‘Why is this happening?'” Guillén told TheWrap. “I used that going into the season because it was bittersweet … It played out perfectly because that was the tone for the whole wrapping of the year. By time I got to the end, it was just like I finished one chapter.”

That was how Kayvan Novak and Matt Berry also see the end of “What We Do in the Shadows,” the vampire comedy they’ve headlined for six seasons. For each of them, it marks the end of career chapter they’re happy to have had in their careers — a TV job that survived COVID-19 as well as two strikes that upended the film and television industries.

“It was in the back of everyone’s mind that it was the last season,” Novak, who plays Nandor the Relentless, told TheWrap. “The goodbye was always hanging there over your head. But once we got into the show it just felt like another season — loads of incredible writing and scripts and crazy things that we had to do. It was just fun, capped off with a teary goodbye.”

As for the Emmy-nominated Berry, he didn’t allow himself to become nostalgic while he was filming Season 6, noting that production of the final 10 episodes “wasn’t much different than any other season” for him. “There’s no time to be nostalgic for me. It’s just ‘Let me do the best with this material. Let me find the funniest joke'” Berry, who plays Laszlo, told TheWrap.

Berry explained that he “had” to approach the series with that level of focus. “Otherwise, it wasn’t worth getting on a plane for five hours and all that,” Berry said. “They’ve paid me to go over there and do this job. I won’t settle unless it’s as good for me personally as it can be.”

But with the benefit of time, he admitted that he “will miss it as a show.” “I had great fun doing it, and that never waned or wavered over the six years. It was a joy right from the start in 2018,” Berry said.

Though all three series stars are sad to see their FX comedy go, all teased that they’re happy with the ending. “I think we could have easily gone on for more, but it’s always nice to leave on a high note or leave them wanting more, because then it leaves the door open for anything possible in the future,” Guillén said.

“What We Do in the Shadows” has resulted in several favorite moments for its talented cast. For Novak, that has included shaping the different relationships with his castmates, whether that be Nandor’s “sibling rivalry” with Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) or pretending to be bored to sleep by Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch). For Guillén, the courage and power Guillermo found as he learned about his Van Helsing ancestry stands out as a high point.

“That could be used as a metaphor — we all have a little bit of Helsing in us we just never knew, and we’re stronger than we think. That’s a great thing I took from Guillermo. That’s my favorite part of him,” Guillén said.

The series is also ending without some storylines the cast was hoping to see. For example, Guillén hoped for some more episodes that focused more on the ill-fated vampire hunting team, The Mosquito Collectors of the Tri-State Area. “It’d be cool [to have a] storyline for a whole season where he has to live two worlds. Maybe that group goes and finds vampires that are evil-doers that he has to hunt down,” Guillén said, likening the idea to Guillermo having “a ‘Dexter’ complex.”

Novak also had a crime drama-adjacent pitch for the show. “They’ve killed so many people that an episode where the cops are on their tail would be cool,” Novak said. In his version, Novak imagines a “Miss Marple-type person coming in and poking their nose where it’s not wanted.”

A sillier pitch from the star involved Nandor becoming a food reviewer. “There’d be vomit everywhere,” Novak said.

Berry had an even sillier pitch. “Someone thinks they’re getting 100 golf balls, and they get 100,000 golf balls delivered to the mansion. That was one thing that I wish we did just because I wanted to see that,” Berry said, adding, “I’ll just use that myself in something.”

But ultimately all three stars are grateful and appreciative of the weird, wild and ambitious world they’ve inhabited over the last six seasons. “I’m completely satisfied with what [Laszlo] did. I don’t think there was anything extra that I needed to see him do,” Berry said.

Guillén praised Guillermo’s transformation over the course of the series. In Season 1, the character was introduced as a meek familiar to a house of vampires. Now in Season 6, Guillermo is a feared and confident vampire hunter who’s open about his sexuality. “What a gift as an actor to get to play a character that has so many evolutions,” Guillén said.

“These jobs don’t always happen to people. We’re all very lucky that we got this gig and everything came together at the right time with it,” Berry said.

“What We Do in the Shadows” airs Mondays at 10 p.m. ET/PT and streams the next day on Hulu.

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