‘What We Do In The Shadows’ Once Again Ends On A Cliffhanger That Could! Change! EVERYTHING!

FX’s What We Do In The Shadows, a sitcom sequel to the 2014 film of the same name, portrays the lives of housemates who are also vampires; whereas the film was set in Wellington, New Zealand, the sitcom introduces us to a vampiric shared-house living situation on Staten Island, New York’s least glamorous borough. (A previous spinoff series, Wellington Paranormal, follows the exploits of two cop characters from the film as they are recruited into a unit investigating unexplained phenomena; in the U.S., it airs on The CW and streams on HBO Max.) The Staten Island vampires have, over the years, dealt with zombies, werewolves, witches, amateur vampire hunters, cooler vampires who live in the city, and dangerously friendly human neighbors. But this third season has found the crew dealing with some of their toughest challenges yet — and once again leaves us on a cliffhanger that could! change! EVERYTHING! Let’s assess the Shadows TV characters’ journey to this point, and ponder what could be next.

When the Staten Islanders are, in the Season 2 finale, lured to a theatre and ambushed with accusations of having killed dozens of vampires, we know the actual killer is Guillermo (Harvey Guillén), devoted familiar to his vampire master, Nandor The Relentless (Kayvan Novak). Having briefly gone home to sort through his feelings, Guillermo comes out of retirement to slaughter everyone in the theatre. Guillermo eventually gets a promotion, of sorts, to bodyguard — but not so promoted that he doesn’t still also have to do housework.

Most of the vampires of the region having been killed in the theatre, The Guide (Kristen Schaal) approaches the few survivors about taking over leadership of the Vampiric Council. When Nandor and his housemate Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) decide to share the post, the viewer learns that vampiric government agencies have just as much pointless bureaucracy as human ones; they just also come with impossibly vast libraries and cages full of ghouls.

Unlike Nadja and her husband Laszlo (Matt Berry), who’ve been together since she turned him centuries ago, Nandor has really grappled with loneliness this season. Hell, even energy vampire Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) found a real connection with Sheila the siren (Catherine Cohen), remaining ensorcelled when she shat on his shoes. As Nandor confronts the reality of eternal life as a singleton, and the ethics of imposing such an existence on another, the possibility of his turning Guillermo grows ever more remote.

The last two episodes function as a two-parter, as the true arc of the season becomes visible. Colin Robinson is excited to celebrate his hundredth birthday…and he’s pretty much the only one, since Nandor and Nadja have been tasked to put on a blood feast for a group of visiting vampire dignitaries. The only one of Colin’s housemates who wants to center his birthday is Laszlo, for reasons he only belatedly tells Nadja: while Colin has been trying to understand where he came from and how energy vampires work, Laszlo was the one to find a book in the Vampiric Council’s library indicating that energy vampires expire at their centennials. Nandor is frustrated to be roused from his “super slumber” to say goodbye, not even believing Colin is going to die until he punches straight through Colin’s newly brittle head. 

In the finale, Guillermo unsuccessfully tries to get everyone to talk through their grieving, but they all have their own ideas. Nandor, for one, wants to leave Staten Island. When Guillermo confronts him about his plans, the ease with which Guillermo defends himself in the physical fight that ensues convinces Nandor that Guillermo is finally ready to be a vampire; he will bring Guillermo with him on his trip and turn Guillermo when they return to Nandor’s ancestral land. Nadja’s going to take a huge promotion at the Council headquarters in England, bringing Laszlo with her. Except: his knowledge of Colin’s imminent death wasn’t the only secret Laszlo’s been keeping. A baby with Colin’s head has burrowed its way out of Colin’s corpse, so Laszlo’s going to stay and look after him, tricking Guillermo into a coffin to make the passage to England and be her familiar there; meanwhile, a bereft Nandor stops waiting for Guillermo at the station and boards a train, alone, to who knows where.

This sets up so many thrilling possibilities for the show’s fourth season!

• The Guillermo/Nadja relationship is one that hasn’t been explored much to date. How will they get along? Can she bond with him the way she has with the doll possessed by the ghost of human Nadja’s spirit? Will Nadja finally turn Guillermo, since Nandor isn’t there to keep his promise?
• I didn’t always think the workplace comedy surrounding the Vampiric Council was successful this season, perhaps because it mostly still involved only Nadja and Nandor (and The Guide). But transporting Nadja to a higher-pressure workplace environment in England, and introducing new characters who also work there, could help better define the Council plotlines, and also clarify what Nadja’s career advancement would entail.
• We already got to see a little of Laszlo’s loving care for Colin Robinson when they were both adults. Recontextualizing Laszlo as, essentially, Colin’s father seems like it will necessarily change their relationship forever. Even if Colin grows up quickly — and there is precedent for this in pop culture vampire lore! — will Laszlo continue to think of Colin as his quasi-son?
• On his own, will Nandor find love? Or will he figure out that he always had it right in front of him, in Guillermo?

The producers of What We Do In The Shadows have, in each season, written themselves into a seemingly impossible situation and then written themselves out in a completely unpredictable manner. The Season 3 finale may have set up the most traps for all the characters in the cast, and I am not sure how we’ll all wait until next year to see how they free themselves.

Television Without Pity, Fametracker, and Previously.TV co-founder Tara Ariano has had bylines in The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Vulture, Slate, Salon, Mel Magazine, Collider, and The Awl, among others. She co-hosts the podcasts Extra Hot Great, Again With This (a compulsively detailed episode-by-episode breakdown of Beverly Hills, 90210 and Melrose Place), Listen To Sassy, and The Sweet Smell Of Succession. She’s also the co-author, with Sarah D. Bunting, of A Very Special 90210 Book: 93 Absolutely Essential Episodes From TV’s Most Notorious Zip Code (Abrams 2020). She lives in Austin.

Watch What We Do In The Shadows on Hulu