Guillermo Shouldn’t Become a Vampire in ‘What We Do in the Shadows’ Season 5
Be careful what you wish for!
SHAWN VAN HORN PUBLISHED 19 HOURS AGO
What We Do in the Shadows is a mockumentary following the lives of four very odd vampires in Staten Island. There’s Nandor, who sees himself as the leader, though he’s anything but. There’s also horny husband and wife Laszlo and Nadja, and the hilariously dull energy vampire, Colin Robinson, who had quite the Season 4. The real leader, maybe the real star of the whole show, is Guillermo. He does everything for his undead companions from finding them human food to keeping their home maintained, but they barely notice him and usually don’t care to. Sometimes he’s even called “Gizmo,” because remembering his real name is too much of a bother.
BY
From the very beginning of What We Do in the Shadows, one of the best characters has been Guillermo (Harvey Guillén). At first, he seemed like a trope, a weak and timid human living as a familiar for vampire Nandor (Kayvan Novak). Quickly, however, we learned that there was more going on with Guillermo than any sidekick could contain. Over four seasons, Guillermo has grown more than any other character in the series, with him now a master vampire hunter due to his lineage to Van Helsing. One thing hasn’t changed in four seasons, though. Guillermo has desperately wanted to be a vampire and join in the blood-sucking fun with Nandor, Nadja (Natasia Demetriou), Laszlo (Matt Berry), and Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch). Nandor, however, constantly rejects him or makes promises that he’ll turn him “some other time.” At the end of Season 4, it appeared that Guillermo’s dream to be a member of the undead was about to happen. While it would make for an interesting storyline, it isn’t the right direction for this character.
Guillermo Has Wanted To Be a Vampire Since Day One
What We Do in the Shadows is a mockumentary following the lives of four very odd vampires in Staten Island. There’s Nandor, who sees himself as the leader, though he’s anything but. There’s also horny husband and wife Laszlo and Nadja, and the hilariously dull energy vampire, Colin Robinson, who had quite the Season 4. The real leader, maybe the real star of the whole show, is Guillermo. He does everything for his undead companions from finding them human food to keeping their home maintained, but they barely notice him and usually don’t care to. Sometimes he’s even called “Gizmo,” because remembering his real name is too much of a bother.
All Guillermo asks in return is for Nandor, the vampire he directly serves, to turn him into a vampire. Nandor always comes up with an excuse not to do it right at that moment, promising to do it later… and then inevitably failing to do so. Nandor needs someone to take care of him and Guillermo is great at it. If Nandor turns him, then he loses Guillermo as a servant. Over four seasons, Guillermo takes and takes the abuse, going from naive, to angry, to begrudgingly accepting that his vampire dreams just might not happen. Then something life-changing happens that alters Guillermo’s fate: He finds out that he’s a descendant of famed vampire hunter Van Helsing.
Guillermo Is More Interesting as a Human
Guillermo as the familiar begging to be turned had run its course as a storyline. What We Do in the Shadows needed to shake things up, and boy did they ever. It was perfectly ironic to see Guillermo, who wanted so badly to be a vampire, to now be such a master at killing them. He was like Blade with the way he could swiftly dispatch any undead enemy who dared harm his friends. It almost came easy to him. It made his home life a bit awkward, living with vampires while killing them and all, but he was accepted because he was protecting them. Laszlo even went so far as to force Guillermo to accompany Nadja to London at the end of Season 3 because he knew he could protect her.
Still, Guillermo wants to be a vampire. That hasn’t changed, no matter what. At the end of Season 4 he tells the camera crew, “Nothing is going to change unless I change it.” He tells the crew they can use his room for storage because he won’t be needing it anymore. We then see him go to a convenience store where his friend-turned-vampire Derek (Chris Sandiford) works. Guillermo plops down a huge suitcase full of money and tells Derek, “You’re going to make me a vampire.” Guillermo smiles at the camera, ready for what comes next.
It would admittedly be fun to see Guillermo as a vampire, with the possibilities that could open up for new storylines and hilarious moments. What would Guillermo do as a vampire? Would it be as glorious and satisfying as he thought it would be? How will his vampire friends react? But then what? It’s a bold commitment. If you turn Guillermo, there’s no undoing it. This isn’t like when a sitcom puts two people together knowing they can break them up if it doesn’t work. There’s no way out of this. More important than a twist to shake things up is the long-term direction of What We Do in the Shadows if Guillermo becomes a vampire. He, as the only lead human character, stands out from the rest for being so different.
To turn him because Guillermo wants to be like everyone else does just that: makes him like everyone else. Guillermo as a vampire loses his uniqueness. The showrunners may be aware of this as well, for the trailer for Season 5 of What We Do in the Shadows shows Guillermo having been bitten by Derek, but not able to successfully turn. One clip shows Guillermo telling the documentary crew, “I thought the transformation would be overnight, but it’s been sixteen days.” He then tries to turn into a bat by saying the word and spreading his arms, but nothing happens. Now this is an interesting direction to go.
Becoming a Vampire Would Betray Guillermo’s Growth
Hidden not so far under the surface of the silliness of What We Do in the Shadows are other, more realistic themes, like identity struggles, sexuality, and an overall feeling of isolation. Guillermo has come out on the show, though his sexuality has not always been a defining character detail. Nandor has been married to both men and women during his very long life, and Laszlo and Nadja have both been with the opposite sex as well. It was a powerful moment when Guillermo tells his vampire family that he’s gay. A cousin responds by telling him, “We don’t give a shit about you being gay. We’ve known that forever,” while the rest of his family expresses their love for him. In an interview with the Advocate last year, Guillén said, “That was interesting to think that you’d [Guillermo] be willing to risk a secret that could potentially disown you from a family, a very religious family with his upbringing – that he’d be willing to let that go just to save the chosen family that he was living with.”
Guillermo is growing. He’s a warrior. There is a man in his life. He’s come out to everyone he loves about who he truly is. To have him give that up to become a vampire betrays that growth. It would be akin to giving up or conforming rather instead of accepting who he is and living his best life. And that life might be leading him to Nandor, someone who is always on the prowl for true love. He even brought back one of his wives, Marwa (Parisa Fakhri), from the dead and married her again, but believe it or not, he still isn’t happy. Marwa even told Guillermo in Season 4 that Nandor has said he wants to hug and kiss Guillermo. Did he mean that as a friend, or something more?
There is intrigue and laughs to be found in Guillermo becoming a vampire, that’s for sure, but there’s more to be found in keeping Guillermo human. Yes, there’s the will-they-won’t-they between Guillermo and Nandor, but beyond that, it’s the continuing struggle of the only human among near immortals trying to find his place and meaning in his life. Much more interesting than a Guillermo with fangs who sleeps in a coffin is a Guillermo accepting who he is, master vampire hunter and all. And in the journey, maybe he can one day find more than just a little respect from the vampires who depend on him.
How casual is this? Sandals no less! Benedict Wong also dropped in. LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 26: Matt Berry attends the UK Premiere of “Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny” at Cineworld Leicester Square on June 26, 2023 in London, England.
It Took a “Huge Science Project” for What We Do in the Shadows to Bring Back Colin Robinson
BY WHITNEY FRIEDLANDER
JUNE 5, 2023
In this epic battle of nature versus nurture, nature has won.
The third season finale of FX’s vampire mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows saw the death of energy vampire Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) as well as his rebirth into a slimy, screaming, and time-consuming infant. The most recent fourth season saw him grow quickly from there, going from an energetic toddler to a tap-dancing tween to a sullen teen within a season.
All of this happened while his de facto parents, the more canonical blood-sucking vampire Laszlo (Matt Berry) and the vampires’ human bodyguard, Guillermo (Harvey Guillén), tried to keep this version of their roommate from becoming like his annoying and frustrating predecessor: a supernatural being who gains energy by draining you of yours.
But that season finale, titled—what else for an episode about vampire parenting?—“Sunrise, Sunset,” saw Colin Robinson complete his metamorphosis into the grating-voiced and flatulent creature whom his housemates already knew. (The character is always referred to by both his first and last names; co-showrunner Paul Simms, who wrote this episode, has said that the fifth season, which premieres July 13, will get into whether these are even actually his names). To make that transformation complete, the team needed a Styrofoam wall, some “turn off that racket” music, and as little dialogue as possible.
Room Rager
Shadows has already established that these aren’t just vampires; they’re vampire hoarders. The characters’ dilapidated Staten Island Tudor is overcrowded with animals dead and alive, musty furniture, candelabras, and dusty books.
It’s hard to put a value on specific things when time has no meaning. And Colin Robinson’s quest will only reinforce this notion.
It begins as he’s banging holes in his bedroom wall whilst blasting death metal, a music choice that serves the dual purpose of covering up the first action and really irritating his roommates, (or, as episode director Kyle Newacheck puts it, is an example of how the character was “starting to learn how to feed in that state”).
The look of bewilderment when one of his holes uncovers a film canister suggests Colin Robinson is operating out of instinct rather than with a known purpose. As the show’s score quickens, he rushes through the house’s tight hallways to find a projector and lug it downstairs.
The found footage has more clues, pointing out where else Colin Robinson should hit and in what order. It’s then that he discovers energy vampire nirvana: a long hallway lit like a fluorescent-hued forgotten side room of a public library. There are meticulously hung beige and brown sweaters and slacks (some Proksch had actually worn on the show), and detailed diary entries that, among other things, suggest one of the character’s boring rants was the impetus for the events in the movie Se7en.
As he makes himself at home in an uncomfortable chair for innumerable hours of reading, teen Colin Robinson’s hair falls out and his posture changes. Behold: The energy vampire’s metaphorical butterfly wings begin to flap.
“The Color Within the Darkness”
Newacheck says he and the production team had about two weeks to build “the huge science project,” which was a wall of Styrofoam blocks that could smash open, plus the secret room, which had to be constructed so that it connected to the bedroom set. Audiences had already seen Colin Robinson’s room, which is tiny and sparse, with only two pieces of art that hang on separate walls. Newacheck decided that those paintings could be what he calls “visual coding” for the character to learn where to line up the projector. Music supervisor Nora Felder chose “Forbidden Lies” by A Creatures Cage and “Killing Engine” by Andy James, Jan Cyrka, and Christopher Clancy to play during the hammering, both of which exude a “turn off that racket” vibe.
Newacheck was inspired by the last scenes of Darren Aronofsky’s film Requiem for a Dream, which uses a soaring score amidst stark lighting and shadows to create what he calls a “big, revelatory feeling.” He says he worked with director of photography D.J. Stipsen, who was also the cinematographer on the 2014 film that inspired this series, to find “the color within the darkness” of a purposefully bleak interior.
The mockumentary format helped too, Newachek says. “Sometimes, when you’re trying to figure out what’s important in a scene, it’s kind of nice to have less choices in terms of shot coverage or shot selection,” he says. “It makes you realize what’s very important about the scene and focus on that.”
Silence Is Golden
Shadows tends to be a very loud and chatty show (Who knew hundreds-year-old vampires could be so needy? Guillermo did). Juxtaposed with this scene is a storyline involving one of Colin Robinson’s other roommates, the vampire Nadja (Natasia Demetriou), and a lot of flailing and hissing. But Proksch embraced the lack of dialogue in this transformation scene.
“There was a moment where we talked about throwing in some ad libs,” he says. “And we just came to the conclusion that it should just exist how it was written. It should be a bit of a heightened moment.”
He adds that it’s even debatable how cognizant Colin Robinson was that he was being filmed, both because “he was so in the zone that he was not paying attention to anything other than his quest” and because he’s now, technically, the youngest vampire in the house. Much like actual children, “since he was reborn, he has been on camera,” Proksch says. “I think he also considers them to be commonplace and not as much of a novelty as the rest of the characters do.”
Learning and Relearning
Colin Robinson’s final moments of transformation might solidify that Laszlo and Guillermo’s efforts were always going to be in vain. Proksch speculates that, even if his character hadn’t wanted to read those journals, “he would have then been compelled” to do so because “it’s in his DNA to relearn the process of becoming an energy vampire.”
They also help him hone in on what kind of energy vampire he is destined to be; leaving behind the days of teen angst and moving full-on into trapping his prey with mind-numbing conversations.
“I think it’s something like when you’re in school,” Proksch explains. “Up until college, you’re in school and you learn a bunch of different things…. When you get to college, you specialize.”
Proksch doesn’t know how many times Colin Robinson has been reborn, although the show has established that this happens to energy vampires every hundred years, and some images from the opening credits suggest he might have been alive in the 1700s. But he does think it’s interesting that he never looks any older than Proksch himself, who is in his 40s.
Are humans the most boring when we’re middle-aged? “I think middle age is particularly boring,” he acknowledges.
Matt Berry promises more blood, sex and bad language in What We Do In Th…
Matt Berry ‘might be getting a bit old’ for What We Do in the Shadows. Radio Times interview on the red carpet at the 2023 BAFTAs
Matt on the red carpet for the 2023 BAFTAs with Michelle Visage
Matt Berry at the 2023 BAFTAs
May 2, 1974 Nothing much changed, he’s just older…
I have this problem where Matt Berry looks almost exactly like how I always pictured Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre, especially when he’s dressed as Laszlo Cravensworth, but unfortunately now I can’t stop hearing Rochester’s lines in Laszlo’s weird plummy theatrical voice. Or worse, translating Rochester’s dialogue into Laszlo-ese: “My lady wife is as mad as a wax banana.”
In August of 2010, I initially created this blog as a way to "follow" particular blogger(s) that share my enthusiasm for the Man, the Myth, the Legend that is Matt Berry, but then I decided to create my own.
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