Nothing lasts forever. Even vampires. So, when FX announced that the critically acclaimed “What We Do In The Shadows” was ending with season six, it wasn’t that surprising. Five seasons is a pretty great run for any television program in the current media environment. For Harvey Guillen, who portrays the familiar Guillermo to a 760-year-old plus vampire Nandor, played by Kayvan Novak, the news was somewhat bittersweet.
Speaking to The Playlist last week, Guillen prefaces that he was glad the cast and crew knew season six would be their last before filming began. It was reassuring considering the uncertainty after the WGA and SAG strikes last year. They simply didn’t know what the future of any show would be.
“Even though we knew we were picked out for seasons five and six, we weren’t a hundred percent sure going forward or even if we would get to start season six or continue,” Guillen reveals. “So, when we were told the timing, it was a little off. We were told a day before Christmas Eve or something like that. It was like the week of Christmas. And we were pretty sure that in our gut we had a feeling that we’d go to seven because we were asked, “How do you feel about continuing?” And at first, we were like, ‘Well, after five, where do we go with that storyline?’ But hearing what six would look like, we were like, ‘Oh, you know what? Maybe there’s a possibility to continue. And if everyone’s O.K. and everyone’s happy with it…’ but everything happens for a reason and the way that we ended things, I think it’s going to be great. It’s going to be perfect. And I’m glad that I knew ahead of time so I could really enjoy these last few months filming and being with Kayvan. And that’s the one thing that’s so tragic is the person you’re so used to seeing every year, clockwork is now an ocean away.”
Over the course of our interview, Guillen teases an unexpected direction for season six, his emotional scene with Myrna Cabello in season five, how those ancient vampires might have more compassion than you’d think, and much, much more.
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The Playlist: It’s a little late, but congratulations on last season.
Harvey Guillen: Thank you. I can’t believe it’s been six seasons.
Before you went into season five, did you know that Guillermo was finally going to get to become a vampire? Had they given you some warning?
They gave a little bit of a heads-up. I think it’s finally happening, but no details of how or what would happen. So, at the end of season four, we just see that he’s going to keep matters into his own hands. And then season five, he starts the process. I didn’t know what was going to happen beginning of season five. So, being on set the first week we finally get the scripts, or at least a few first scripts, and then I see what’s happening. So, the transformation is instant. It takes a while. And it doesn’t really happen until the last episode of Season five, kind of until he realizes that it’s not meant for him. Completely, not who he’s meant to be, which is really sad and tragic. Sometimes what we want for ourselves isn’t what’s best for us.
Were you expecting it to go down that road or did you think the series would arc or end with him enjoying being a vampire and finally getting what he wanted?
I mean, I thought the joke that Kristen Schaal makes all the time on the set was he can’t become a vampire. That’s where the show ends. She would joke around because that’s what everyone was waiting for. The anticipation of this crescendo of a storyline where he finally gets what he wants or that he ends up being with Nandoor, which is what a lot of people would cheer for. [Laughs.] I didn’t know what to expect. So after we ended season five, it kind of felt a little like, “Where do we go from here? What’s next?” Because this is what his dream has been. And you’ve got to remember that as the human character in the show, he’s the only one with the linear storyline that has been sprinkled in every season for the last half-decade. And so that was kind of interesting because people really kind of relate to Guillermo and are drawn to him because he’s the human story and we’re all human watching this story. And of course, it’s fun to watch the vampires and their adventures and learning how to use the internet and to get a promotion, call, network work, and all of these things. But Guillermo is the real dream that we all have in ourselves where we aspire to that life we want and the bigger house, the job, the partner. So, those are all human dreams that we’re cheering him for, but you’re really kind of just cheering yourself because we all want to be happy.
I can’t remember if it was divulged in an episode in a previous season, so I apologize in that context, but from your perspective, why did you think Guillermo always wanted to be a vampire?
When I was creating early on, there weren’t a lot of details. I wasn’t given a lot of a backstory. So, I kind of made my own backstory. And I think that Guillermo grew up being bullied and he felt different and whether that was because of sexuality or his economic status or whatnot, he felt like he was not accepted. And I think that he thought he escaped to the world of movies and watching “Interview with a Vampire” and the idea that there was a possibility that this could be a reality someday, that you could be this fabulous, glamorous, rich, handsome, powerful creature being that that was really alluring to him. So, I think he thought that to better my life, to make myself better, I need to become that. That would fix all my problems. Sometimes we think that if we get something, it’ll fix every problem in our lives. And I think he was really kind of honed in on that, that becoming a vampire would fix all his problems. Unfortunately, it didn’t cause more, but he really thought it would. So, for over 14 years, he was a familiar to a vampire who kept promising and promising in that itself had kind of a conflict. But that’s why I gave him the backstory of that’s what he wanted it so bad.
Why did Nandor get so angry? Was he mad at himself for finally not making Guillermo a vampire, or was he that much of a control freak?
I think he was mad because he wasn’t the one who made him because it was disrespectful. It’s almost like training under somebody at an agency or at a firm or something and your apprentice, and then basically at the last minute saying, I don’t think you’re good enough to be teaching me these things. I’ve devoted years and years to learning from you, but I’m going to go get my final education somewhere else, my final training. And that’s more of an I insult. And I think it was more of a personal thing for Nandor because he thinks Guillermo idolizes him, which he does. And something about not being someone’s favorite and choosing someone else never feels good. It’s almost like that person who knows somebody has a crush on them and teases them or leads them on a little bit because they like the attention. They like to know that they have a little bit of something they want. And then eventually that person kind of grows weary and says, this is getting old and I’m leaving and I’m not attracted to you anymore. I don’t want to be with you anymore.
We’ve seen episodes in the past where the vampires…I don’t want to say they have a heart, but they’ve reacted in ways that are not completely cold and narcissistic. In the last two episodes of season five, they show a lot more compassion than we’ve seen before. Was that surprising to you?
Yeah, that was surprising to me because these characters are a-holes, and it was surprising because that’s what makes them so charming in their dysfunctional morbid way. But it was nice to see because at the end of the day, if you look back, they were once human, and although they have forgotten what human compassion is, a part of them still has that in them. Even though their heart might be pumping cold blood, they are still in the human body and some things are never lost. I think some things like that might come to the surface once in a while, but it’d been a while. So, I think it took a lot of a time for them to have just an ounce of that shown. And that’s the credit to the writers who always think of clever ways of showing these characters in different lights.
I know you’ve already shot season six and over so many episodes it’s hard to sort of differentiate them, but for season five in particular, was there one episode, in particular, you remember either enjoying the most or feeling particularly proud of your performance?
I really feel proud of the moment where he goes and talks to his mom because he is letting her know that he’s not going to be coming around anymore and that things are going to change because he’s changing into what he thinks is a vampire sooner rather than later. He needs to kind of tie loose ends before time runs out because as a vampire, he can’t go home. He comes from a Van Helsing lineage. And so if he even showed up at the door, his mom’s instinct would be to kill him. It’s in her to kill him automatically. He tried to kill Nandor when he came and visited, so we forget that he is Van Helsing as well. So, it was him saying goodbye to his mom for the last time. And him laying on her lap and crying was really sad to me because it was putting myself in that situation like saying bye to your mother by choice, saying, “I can’t, I will never be able to see you again, ever So it’s almost like you have to mourn by saying goodbye, almost like a funeral to a relationship to a loved one. So that was really sad to do. I remember Myrna [Cabello] working with her, she plays my mother, she’s so lovely and kind, and she was crying. She was like, “I can’t, it’s too close. It’s so personal.” And her putting the crucifix that belonged to my grandmother over my neck, over in front of the mirror as I’m disappearing, slowly disappearing and fading away as time is running out, which was like a great metaphor for what we all have, right? Time is fleeting and it’s just appearing in front of us.
I know you can only say so much about the final season, but considering where we got to at the end of season five with Guillermo deciding he can’t be a vampire and being turned back into a human, my guess is he has to figure out what he’s going to do with the rest of his life, right?
Where do we go? That’s kind of the question. But sure enough, the writers have done an amazing job of putting us in a completely different environment and a different story and arc for the last season. So it’s hilarious. So I think the possibilities are endless.
I think you all knew before you started production, that this was going to be the last season. Were you glad you knew or do you wish you hadn’t known? Did it make it more emotional?
I’m glad that I knew beforehand because things shifted after last year and what was happening with the writer strike and the actor strike and all of that and things shifted and we didn’t know where the future of any show was going to be. Even though we knew we were picked out for seasons five and six, we weren’t a hundred percent sure going forward or even if we would get to start season six or continue. So, when we were told the timing, it was a little off. We were told a day before Christmas Eve or something like that. It was like the week of Christmas. And we were pretty sure that in our gut we had a feeling that we’d go to seven because we were asked, “How do you feel about continuing?” And at first we were like, “Well, after five, where do we go with that storyline?” But hearing what six would look like, we were like, “Oh, you know what? Maybe there’s a possibility to continue. And if everyone’s O.K. and everyone’s happy with it…” but everything happens for a reason and the way that we ended things, I think it’s going to be great. It’s going to be perfect. And I’m glad that I knew ahead of time so I could really enjoy these last few months filming and being with Kayvan. And that’s the one thing that’s so tragic is the person you’re so used to seeing every year, clockwork is now an ocean away.
I am really curious to see where all the characters end up at the end of the series, but I have to be honest, I’m mostly concerned about the documentary crew. Should I be worried about them?
You should always be worried about the documentary crew because as you saw in different episodes in the past, sometimes there are casualties. It’s a dangerous job. Being in a documentary crew for a documentary about vampires is just, it comes with the job, but you should always be worried but also be surprised. Maybe in the future, different ideas and stories might come out of that so you don’t know what’s ahead.
“What We Do In The Shadows” is available to stream on Hulu