What We Do in the Shadows (franchise)

What We Do in the Shadows
What We Do in the Shadows
Created by	Jemaine Clement; Taika Waititi
Original work	What We Do in the Shadows
Owner	New Zealand Film Commission
Years	2014–present
Films and television
Film(s)	What We Do in the Shadows (2014); We're Wolves (TBA);
Television series	Wellington Paranormal (2018–present); What We Do in the Shadows (2019–present);
Audio
Soundtrack(s)	What We Do in the Shadows

What We Do in the Shadows is a series of mockumentary horror comedy films and television series created by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi. The series' plot concerns several vampires who live together in shared accommodation, followed by a film documentary crew.

Films

Film	N.Z. release date	U.S. release date	Director(s)	Screenplay by	Story by	Producer(s)	Status
What We Do in the Shadows	January 9, 2014 (2014-01-09)	February 13, 2015 (2015-02-13)	Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi			Taika Waititi, Chelsea Winstanley and Emanuel Michael	Released
We're Wolves	TBA		Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi			TBA	In development

What We Do in the Shadows (2014)

Vampire housemates (Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi, Jonathan Brugh) try to cope with the complexities of modern life and show a newly turned hipster (Cori Gonzalez-Macuer) some of the perks of being undead.

We're Wolves (TBA)

A sequel to the What We Do in the Shadows, focused on the werewolves depicted in the film, originally rumoured to be titled What We Do in the Moonlight, was announced as being in development in August 2015.^[1]^[2] In May 2019 Taika Waititi said "We're Wolves is the film that Jemaine and I keep pretending that we’re making. Every couple of years we say, we’re making this new film called We're Wolves which follows the werewolves from the film,” said Waititi. “I feel bad to even mention it now because we keep saying it, [but] it’s like a dad saying, ‘Yeah, I’ll be home for Christmas.’ I suppose we’re just two dads out on the road enjoying our lives and going, ‘We’re not coming home for Christmas.’ We'll send a postcard. It's not like we don't want to come home for Christmas. We would like nothing more but we have a lot of shit going on. When are you going to die? Do you have a ... deadline before your death? I guarantee it before then. Five years, 10 years? It took us seven years to write the [first] film, so you do the math. That was a sad thing to say."^[3]

Short films

Interviews with some Vampires (2005)

“What we do in the Shadows: Interviews with some Vampires” (2005) is the original 29-minute short film by Taika Waititi & Jemaine Clement, which inspired their 2014 film. In the short, three vampires—Deacon Brugh (Jonny Brugh), Count Viago (Waititi), and Vulvus the Abhorrent (Clement)—who share an apartment are interviewed by a TV crew.^[4]^[5]

Vampire's Guide to Vellington (2014)

Vampire's Guide to Vellington is a short film and advertisement campaign by Wellington NZ to promote the city of Wellington as a vampire-friendly place to visit. The film follows vampire Viago promoting the nightlife, cinemas and clothes shops of the city alongside his flatmates Vladislav and Deacon. As part of the campaign, the 'W' in the Wellington Blown Away sign on Miramar hill was temporarily changed to a blood-red 'V'.^[6]

Dating 101 with Viago (2014)

Dating 101 with Viago is a short film and advertisement campaign by Wellington NZ to promote the online dating services FindSomeone and Dating for Shoes. The film follows Dating for Shoes founder Angela Meyer giving Viago a tutorial on creating his very own FindSomeone profile: from creating a username, to describing his hobbies and interests.^[7]

Television

Wellington Paranormal (2018–present)

The series follows Officers Minogue and O'Leary as they act as officers of the Wellington Police Department's Paranormal division under Sergeant Maaka.

What We Do in the Shadows (2019–present)

The series follows four vampire roommates and one vampire familiar living on Staten Island.

Digital series

Important COVID-19 Messages from Wellington Paranormal (2020)

Important COVID-19 Messages from Wellington Paranormal is a sixteen-episode digital web series and public service campaign by New Zealand Police to inform the public on health, safety, and best practices during the COVID-19 pandemic. The series follows Officers Minogue and O'Leary in home isolation, and features several guests, including Sergeant Maaka and Officer Parker, as well as Andrew Coster and Clarke Gayford as themselves.^[8]

Cast and crew

Cast

Character	Films	Short films			Television series
	What We Do in the Shadows	What We Do in the Shadows: Interviews with Some Vampires	Vampire's Guide to Vellington	Dating 101 with Viago	Wellington Paranormal			What We Do in the Shadows
	What We Do in the Shadows	What We Do in the Shadows: Interviews with Some Vampires	Vampire's Guide to Vellington	Dating 101 with Viago	Series 1	Series 2	Important COVID-19 Messages from Wellington Paranormal	Season 1	Season 2
	2014	2005	2014		2018	2019	2020	2019	2020
Viago Von Dorna Schmarten Scheden Heimburg (né von Blitzenberg)	Taika Waititi							Taika Waititi	Taika Waititi
Vladislav the Poker	Jemaine Clement							Jemaine Clement
Deacon Brücke	Jonathan Brugh							Jonathan Brugh	Jonathan Brugh
Nick	Cori Gonzalez-Macuer				Cori Gonzalez-Macuer
Stu	Stu Rutherford
Officer O'Leary	Karen O'Leary				Karen O'Leary
Officer Kyle Minogue	Mike Minogue				Mike Minogue
Dion	Simon Vincent				Simon Vincent
Petyr	Ben Fransham
Wesley the Daywalker	Wesley Snipes (photograph)							Wesley Snipes
Jackie	Jackie van Beek
Anton	Rhys Darby
Julian	Jason Hoyte
Katherine Heimburg	Ethel Robinson
Pauline "The Beast"	Elena Stejko
Angela Meyer, Founder of Dating for Shoes				Herself
Sergeant Ruawai Maaka					Maaka Pohatu
Constable/Officer Parker					Thomas Sainsbury
O'Leary alien					Karen O'Leary
Kyle Minogue alien					Mike Minogue
Clarke Gayford						Himself
Mrs. O'Leary						Lynda Topp
Andrew Coster, Commissioner of Police							Himself
Nandor the Relentless								Kayvan Novak
Laszlo Cravensworth								Matt Berry
Nadja								Natasia Demetriou
Guillermo De la Cruz								Harvey Guillén
Colin Robinson								Mark Proksch
Jenna								Beanie Feldstein	Beanie Feldstein
Gregor / Jeff Suckler								Jake McDorman
Simon the Devious								Nick Kroll
Shanice								Veronika Slowikowska
Baron Afanas								Doug Jones	Doug Jones
Tilda, Leader of the Vampiric Council								Tilda Swinton	Tilda Swinton
Evan the Immortal Princess of the Undead								Evan Rachel Wood
Topher									Haley Joel Osment
Wallace, the Necromancer									Benedict Wong
Nadja's Ghost									Natasia Demetriou
Claude, Leader of the Mosquito Collectors of the Tri-State Area									Craig Robinson
Jim the Vampire									Mark Hamill
Lilith									Lucy Punch / Helena Garcia

Additional crew and production details

Reception

Box office and financial performance

Critical and public response

References

^ Chavez, Danette (17 August 2015). "What We Do in the Shadows Is Getting a Sequel." AVClub.com. Retrieved 2016-01-04.
^ Saathoff, Evan (25 January 2016). "What We Do in the Shadows Follow-up Gets A Snappy Title".
^ "27". Indie Wire. May 24, 2019.
^ Waititi, Taika; Clement, Jemaine (2005). “What we do in the Shadows: Interviews with some Vampires” (short film). Wellington, New Zealand: Defender Films. Runtime 28:53 – via Pop Culture Pandora on YouTube (Jan 30, 2016).
^ "What we do in the Shadows: Interviews with some Vampires" (2005) at IMDb
^ APNZ (2014-06-10). "Vampires take over 'Vellington'". The New Zealand Herald.
^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqQLNV6gGLc
^ "Important COVID-19 messages from Wellington Paranormal".

[1] Chavez, Danette (17 August 2015). "What We Do in the Shadows Is Getting a Sequel." AVClub.com. Retrieved 2016-01-04.

[2] Saathoff, Evan (25 January 2016). "What We Do in the Shadows Follow-up Gets A Snappy Title".

[3] "27". Indie Wire. May 24, 2019.

[4] Waititi, Taika; Clement, Jemaine (2005). “What we do in the Shadows: Interviews with some Vampires” (short film). Wellington, New Zealand: Defender Films. Runtime 28:53 – via Pop Culture Pandora on YouTube (Jan 30, 2016).

[5] "What we do in the Shadows: Interviews with some Vampires" (2005) at IMDb

[6] APNZ (2014-06-10). "Vampires take over 'Vellington'". The New Zealand Herald.

[7] ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqQLNV6gGLc

[8] "Important COVID-19 messages from Wellington Paranormal".

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