What We Do in the Shadows Star Breaks Down Epic Vampire Council Scene

FX’s TV adaptation of What We Do in the Shadows became an instant hit with fans of Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement’s original 2014 feature film. All of the humor and vampiric goodness that made the comedy an instant classic translated seamlessly into the ongoing series, but the creators seem to have even bigger plans for this second go-round. The series took things to even new heights towards the end of the first season with a scene that dropped the jaws of vampire fiction fans around the world. The cast of the series met with the vampire council, which was comprised of the original What We Do in the Shadows cast, as well as popular vampire actors Tilda Swinton, Evan Rachel Wood, Danny Trejo, and Wesley Snipes.

This scene was totally unexpected to say the least. Getting all of those stars to participate in one bit on a cable sitcom seemed so far out of the realm of possibility that no one even considered it was an option. Well no one but Waititi, Clement, and the show’s creative team.

However, while it looked as though all of the characters were in the same room for the filming of the scene that’s not exactly how it worked. Many of the prominent guest actors, not counting the original Shadows stars, were filmed separately and added into the council room in post-production. During a recent interview with ComicBook.com, What We Do in the Shadows star Kayvan Novak, who plays Nandor on the show, explained how the massive scene came together.

“I mean reading the script and going, ‘Wow, they’re gonna get all these people in one room,’ and then getting into the room and none of the people were there in the head space, you filmed them all separately and make it look like they’re all in the same room,” Novak told us. “So I mean what was awesome about that day was the fact that Taika [Waititi], Jemaine [Clement], and Jonny [Brught] all reprise their roles from the original movie. So for me it didn’t get much better than that. Meeting those guys, because I remember watching that film just randomly one evening and thinking, why is this hilarious? This is brilliant. I love this. And then meeting them. And I kept getting Jemaine to do quotes from the movie. I just, and he was like, I have to keep reminding him of the lines that he said in the movie and then he’d say them and I’d just giggle like a little fanboy, because I was one.”

No matter how it came together, the council scene provided fans with easily the best scene of What We Do in the Shadows to date, and there’s no telling what the team has in store for Season 2.