What We Do In The Shadows: FX Series Gets Trailer, Premiere Date
It's almost time for another look at the lighter side of life as a bloodsucking fiend.
FX posted a new trailer for What We Do in the Shadows, a series based on the 2014 Taiki Waititi comedy of the same name, to its YouTube channel this morning. Along with the spot came a release date of March 27, as reported by Deadline.
Co-created by Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok) and Jemaine Clement (of Flight of the Conchords fame), the series will follow a different group of vampires from those featured in the film, although it will employ the same documentary style. Our new gaggle of fiends resides in Staten Island, New York, where they were dispatched over a hundred years ago by mysterious head vampire Baron Arafas with a mandate to completely take over the New World under their vampiric dominion. Unfortunately, they got sidetracked, and have kind of been... well, just bumming around for the last century or so. The first ten-episode season will focus on the group's mad scramble to make it look like they've actually accomplished something in terms of continental domination when they receive word that Arafas is on his way to check on their progress.
In the latest trailer, we meet the entire gang: there's Nandor the Relentless (Kayvan Novak), whose familiar Guillermo is seen announcing his master's rise from his daily slumber to the documentary film crew. (After Nandor executes the time-honored "floating up out of the coffin to a standing position" vampire move, Guillermo chimes in with "Very cool, master. Very scary.") Nandor then beckons fellow bloodsuckers Laszlo (Matt Berry) and Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) so that he can air a few grievances in regard to hygiene — but not of the type that you might think. "Last night, there were all these people down there, half-drunk!" Nandor complains. "Well, where did they find the alcohol?" Laszlo asks. "No, they were half-drunk," Nandor clarifies. "They had been half-drunk... it's not hygienic!" Cue the vampire hissing match.
We see Nandor and Guillermo attempting to carry out a simple transaction at a convenience store, which goes awry when Nandor produces the wrong type of currency ("Sir, you can't be throwing ancient coins at me," the clerk protests; "Stab this man," Nandor curtly instructs Guillermo). We also get a bit of Guillermo's life away from the vampiric brood (which apparently involves a lot of Renaissance Fair-type cosplay) as we hear him explain his relationship to the vampires in voice over: "I'm not a killer," he says. "I find people who are easy to kill."
We then get a brief hint of some werewolf-on-vampire conflict, followed by an introduction to a character who is destined to be a fan favorite: Colin, who is not exactly a vampire in the traditional sense. "My name is Colin Robinson," he tells the documentary crew while we see him partaking in forced interactions with co-workers at a stereotypical office, "and I am an energy vampire. We wither bore you with long conversations, or we enrage you." The trailer wraps up with a brief action montage, capping off with another brief gag in the convenience store illustrating Nandor's extreme distaste for hokey Halloween decorations.
Fans of Waititi's brilliant film will find a whole lot to be pumped about here, as its singularly quirky tone seems to have been effortlessly ported over to the new medium. For as much comic mileage as the writer/director was able to wring from the premise of bickering modern-day vampires unsure of their place in the world for his film, it always felt like there was a lot still left to be explored, and the new series promises to dig deep for comedy gold in a way that would have been impossible for a simple feature-length sequel to accomplish.
In an Entertainment Weekly interview, Waititi suggested as much (in typically tongue-in-cheek fashion) while also teasing the possibility that even though they aren't even on the same continent, one or more characters from the film could still make an appearance in the series. "I don't know why I thought it would be a good idea to make it into a TV show, because I'd say about a week into shooting the movie we were questioning how we could make a five minute idea into a feature film. Now, we're really stretching this idea," he said. "But this one's set in New York and it's different characters. So, it's in the same universe, the Taika-Jemaine universe, and it's another documentary crew at the same time and they've found another flat full of vampires. I'd like to say that our characters [from the movie] are still in New Zealand at the same time, there's a chance that there could be some crossover."
It'll be fun to see what the always-interesting Waititi has in store for us, and we don't have much longer to wait. FX will air the premiere on Wednesday, March 27 at 10:00 PM, with new episodes following each Wednesday thereafter.