Guillermo is almost ready to move on from his life as a familiar inWhat We Do in the Shadowsseason 6. The sole human character of the main cast is brought to life by Harvey Guillén, who had supporting roles in the likes ofThe InternshipandThe Magiciansbefore breaking out with the horror-comedy show. Since playing the familiar living in the center of the house of vampires, Guillén has also found acclaim starring in everything fromJosh Ruben’sWerewolves Withinadaptationto the animatedHarley Quinnshow,Blue BeetleandPuss in Boots: The Last Wish, among others.
What We Do in the Shadowsseason 6finds Guillermo, after transforming back into a human in the season 5 finale, living in the garden shed on the vampires' grounds, working to establish boundaries between them as he refuses to be their familiar anymore. Landing an office job, Guillermo quickly begins climbing the ranks of his company, only to learn that Nandor and Nadja’s interference is behind his quick promotions. As they continue to try and get his help with a variety of things, including their forgotten roommate Jerry, Guillermo must determine what he truly wants from his life.
What We Do In The Shadows Season 6 Episode Schedule: When New Episodes Release On FX & Hulu
What We Do in the Shadows season 6 marks the end of the vampire comedy, and here’s when and where to catch the final batch of episodes.
Alongside Guillén, the ensembleWhat We Do in the Shadowsseason 6 castsees the returns of Kayvan Novak as Nandor, Natasia Demetriou as Nadja, Mark Proksch as Colin Robinson, Matt Berry as Laszlo and Kristen Schaal as The Guide. With plenty of emotional character development as well as more outlandish antics from Guillermo and the vampire group, the acclaimed horror-comedy is going out on a high note, while also leaving just enough open for a potential return in the future.
In anticipation of the season’s premiere,Screen Rantinterviewed Harvey Guillén to discussWhat We Do in the Shadowsseason 6, how he feels about saying goodbye to Guillermo after six seasons, a sneaky bit of improvisation inBlue Beetlethat created a multiverse of his characters, and what to expect from Nandor and Guillermo’s relationship going into the series finale.
Guillén Has “Cried So Many Times” OverWhat We Do In The ShadowsEnding
The Final Scene, In Particular, Left Him Emotional To Shoot
Screen Rant: Harvey, I can’t believe we’re here to talk about thefinal season ofWhat We do in the Shadows. It’s bittersweet for me, as a fan. How does it feel for you reflecting on this journey as it comes to an end?
Harvey Guillén: Yeah, same, I think I’ve cried so many times since we wrapped, because of the scene that we shot, and also just the idea that this character, who’s been such a huge part of my life, and I’ve loved the journey of Guillermo, is coming to an end. But then I think, “Do things come to an end, you know?” You never know what the future holds, so who knows?
Guillén Will Miss 1 Aspect Of Playing Guillermo
He Is Also Looking To Create A Multiverse Linking Back ToShadows
Now, in talking about how big Guillermo has been a part of your life throughout these years, I love how you’re able to infuse your own personality into your characters, whether it be Joachim inWerewolves WithinorDr. de la Cruz inBlue Beetle.
Harvey Guillén: You know, Dr. de la Cruz was not in the script. I threw that in as a joke, because Ángel Manuel Soto, the director, is a fan of Shadows. And I said my full name, because, “My name is not Sanchez, pen—a, it’s Jose Morales” and I said the full Mexican name, which is, like, 20 names. At the end, I added “de la Cruz” as a joke, and I didn’t think it was gonna make it.
But he was like, “Hey, Warner Bros. says it’s okay.” They never stopped it, they never flagged it, so now, I made a multiverse where the doctor is related to Guillermo. And, I’ve also created other characters, other places where I can throw myself in a little bit. And if I can, I want to create a world where Guillermo is connected to several characters around the multiverse. [Laughs]
I think that is such a fun idea! But with all these characters having both your personality and the personality the writers brought to these characters, what is one thing you find that you’re gonna miss playing in Guillermo that you maybe don’t already have in your own life?
Harvey Guillén: The stunt stuff that he got to do. Guillermo turned out to be the Van Helsing bada– that we all needed in our lives, and that kind of stuff, I don’t get to do a lot of, and I really love it. Talking to Tig, our stunt director, he was like, “You’re really good at this.” It started off as a joke, of when they tested me to see if I could do some stunts. Literally, the test was like, “Okay, let me see you walk.” And I was like, “What?” They just wanted to see you walk, they started with the bare minimum, “Can you walk? Can you do this with your hand?” And then, before you knew it, “Can you jump out of a third-story window?” And I was like, “Sure.”
And I was doing everything, they were like, “Usually actors stop after the walk. [Laughs] Usually actors don’t go too far after certain points.” I just kept pushing myself, because already we have a stigma of being an actor, if your plus size and whatnot, that you can’t do certain things, and that’s not true. So, I wanted to break that idea that that’s not true. We can kick a–, and doing it more and more, I really like it. In this last season, I get to do a little parkour, it’s fun, and it’s really cool that they let me do it. I did all my stunts, basically, except for a few where, for insurance purposes, they wouldn’t let me do, they were like, “No.” [Laughs]
Like, when he falls backwards over his neck on the staircase in season 3, I think that was one they were like, “We’re gonna let your stunt double do that one.” I was like, “Eh, I can do it.” I’m glad I didn’t, because then I saw it, and I was like, “Oh my god, that looks like it could have gone terribly wrong.” [Laughs] But I did pretty much everything else. I just love doing stunts, and that’s something I’m gonna miss. There’s your spinoff, the Van Helsing-like Guillermo adventures. [Chuckles]
Guillermo Can’t Quite Move On From The Vampires For A Relatable Reason
“…those kinds of conversations just in the mirror are hard…”
So, in looking at season 6’s story, I love that we see Guillermo trying to move on from the vampires, but still being on the grounds and keeps getting drawn into their storylines. What do you think is sort of going through his head as he is trying to find out what his life is not being a familiar?
Harvey Guillén: I think it’s hard for people to break habits and change, and to make boundaries. And I think in personal relationships and work relationships, it’s always hard to have those conversations with yourself and say, “This isn’t healthy for me. This isn’t bettering my life. This isn’t going anywhere.” So, those kinds of conversations just in the mirror are hard, sometimes, because we get comfortable, and sometimes we get comfort in knowing the familiar, even though it’s miserable. But we, at least, know what it is, as opposed to the unknown. So, it’s better to know the misery you’re in than the misery that lies ahead that we don’t know.
I just feel Guillermo is finally comfortable enough, because he’s been breaking out of his cocoon slowly, and now he’s this butterfly that he’s proud of who he is. He’s comfortable in his sexuality, he knows he’s not what he’s been told by society. Even his housemates, who belittle him and treat him like a servant and whatnot. To so many degrees, as an audience member, I would be so upset, because he saved them so many times. But the thing is that Guillermo is leading with love and empathy, so he could never turn his back on his castmates, or his teammates in the household, because he loves them.
Even though they might have cold blood pumping through their hearts, because they’re dead and out of this world, they’re still his family, and they’re his chosen family, and he will protect them at any cost. And that’s another reason why he even came out to protect his chosen family and his biological family. Both of them were at war, and he chose his sexuality as a shield to protect both of them and stop the chaos. So, it’s stuff like that that looking back, he’s in a journey where he picks up in season 6, it’s like, “Yeah, good for him. Take a risk, take a huge risk, and take swings, because you never know what’s gonna pay off.”
Guillermo & Nandor’s Will-They-Won’t-They Relationship Will Get An Answer This Season
Guillén Does Hope, Though, For A Normalization In Same-Sex Friendships With Love
Since you mentioned his sexuality, that is one question I wanted to ask was, obviously, so much of this show has been a will-they-or-won’t-they for Guillermo and Nandor, and since we are in the final season, I’m curious if that is going to be explored a little further or a little more definitively.
Harvey Guillén: I think that, for the longest time, when I started playing Guillermo, that was the idea behind the character was like, “Are they, will they, does he?” And I think, because they have a little bit of Stockholm Syndrome, you start feeling a little bit of a way, because the only thing you see in front of you becomes like this person you idolize. He really does idolize Nandor, and he really does want to be a great vampire like him one day. And I think, sometimes, those lines can get blurry. So, the way that Guillermo is, I always say, I walk him on a tightrope, and it’s like if he falls one way, he could be in love, and if he falls the other way, it was admiration, it was just admiration for this person.
And that’s a nice tight rope, because it’s such a balance that people are always asking, “Will they, won’t they?” I think sometimes we have to normalize two male friends being really close and not making it sexual. I think that we don’t do that in society. If we saw two best friends who are female holding hands on the playground, we’d be like, “Oh, my God, they’re best friends.” But if we see two boys holding hands on the playground, all of a sudden, “What are you guys doing? What are you guys doing? Separate them.” Because that’s not normal in society, that’s not “normal,” but it is, and it should be normalized, that we can have close friends and not be sexual, it doesn’t have to be.
We could have close, same-sex friends and do everything like in a relationship, go to movies, talk about your personal beliefs, your struggles, your life, crying on each other’s shoulders, and not have to make it sexual. Because I think once we cross that line, people are like, “Well, you might as well be married, why don’t you marry them?” And it’s like, you don’t have to marry them, you could be in love and have love for someone and not have to make it sexual. I think with these characters, we’ve done a really great job of keeping the audience on their toes of that. Now, will something happen this season that questions that even more, or makes them one way or the other? I guess you’ll have to find out.
TheWhat We Do In The ShadowsCrew Were In Talks For Another Season
“They know what they’re doing, and they know why they need to end there…”
I think I’m coming up on time, so I did also want to ask, how do you feel about the series finale in general? Do you feel satisfied? Is there anything you feel there’s left open that you wish could be explored more?
Harvey Guillén: It’s tough, because truth be told, I didn’t know we would go past five, because after he gets his wish, and he gets what he wants, where do we go with the storyline? So, after we got five and six, I was like, “Oh, cool,” but then when we wrapped five, I was like, “Wait, so what are we doing for six?” But as we were getting ready to go into six, there was talks of going into seven, so the ideas of storylines were ready to go for seven.
Unfortunately, again, with the business and everything and the strike that happened, we were off for a year. So, it throws everything off for a year, and it throws people’s schedules, and people are promised to do something else, or financially, it’s like we’ve lost a year of working on a show. So then, it was decided that to wrap it up, we would wrap it up at six and then add an extra episode. Actually, they were gonna add two extra episodes, and I think Paul was saying that he couldn’t figure out a nice way to wrap it up with 12, so we’ll make it 11.
So, we actually went down to 11 episodes, and it was just the way they were wrapped. I think it’s great. They know what they’re doing, and they know why they need to end there, because it leaves it in a place where we’re content, and we’re like, “Ah,” and then it makes sense. But things are always, maybe, not what they seem, so we have to keep that in mind, that in this world, anything’s possible. Did you see something clearly, or did you see what you wanted to see?
AboutWhat We Do In The ShadowsSeason 6
What We Do in the Shadows documents the nightly exploits of vampire roommates Nandor (Kayvan Novak), Laszlo (Matt Berry), Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) and Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) as they navigate the modern world of Staten Island with the help of their former familiar and current human friend, Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) as well as their vampire bureaucrat acquaintance, The Guide (Kristen Schaal).
After a very brief stint as a full-blown vampire, Guillermo is re-evaluating his life. Who is he if not a familiar who will do anything to please his Master in hopes of one day being turned into a vampire? Meanwhile, the vampires are re-evaluating, too. When their former roommate reappears after a 50-year nap, they realize how little they’ve done in half a century — not one goal accomplished, not one dream pursued, not one part of the New World conquered (except for their street and part of Ashley Street).
In the sixth and final season of the Emmy-nominated comedy, Nandor, Nadja, Laszlo, Colin and Guillermo will enter the workforce, visit New Hampshire, go to a human dinner party, fête The Baron and conjure a demon — all while trying to find their place and their purpose in this crazy, mixed-up world.
Check out our otherWhat We Do in the Shadowsseason 6 interviews with:
New episodes ofWhat We Do in the Shadowsseason 6 air Mondays on FX.
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.
