‘What We Do In the Shadows’ Co-Star Harvey Guillén On Guillermo’s Changes, Looking To the Final Season - Awardsdaily (2024)

For six seasons, Harvey Guillén played the familiar Guillermo de la Cruz on FX’s What We Do In the Shadows. The critical acclaimed, Emmy-nominated mockumentary revolves around a group of traditional vampires living in modern day Staten Island. Guillén’s Guillermo proved a fan-favorite early in the series, and his character growth provided many laughs over the past several seasons.

Here, in an interview with Awards Daily, Guillén details how Guillermo underwent so many different reiterations throughout the show from weak familiar to intense vampire hunter to being something in between a vampire and a human, which opened him up to a lot of different emotional beats within the show. He also talks about the complexity of the connection his character and the vampires have with an undercurrent of real affection.

As we approach the final season with Guillermo’s goal of being a vampire no longer something he wants, he thinks it’s leading up to something still really special.

Awards Daily: Guillermo goes through a lot this season emotionally. While the show is still very much a comedy, the fear about Nandor killing him or his family is very intense. Guillermo also goes through a lot of sadness that he might be losing his family by becoming a vampire. What was it like playing this character that way?

Harvey Guillén: I’ve been lucky that the writers have made this character so complex and there’s always a new surprise every season. The idea of having to choose between your blood family and your chosen family is never easy. It’s an emotional roller coaster, especially for Guillermo who has to weigh why he still stays with his chosen family, as horrible as they might be to him at some times, at the end of the day there is a weird love for each other that they have. Sometimes it doesn’t come across as a traditional formula for love, but he does love them.

He sticks by them and, when push comes to shove, the housemates have shown that they love him in their way by defending him or standing up for him. Like when Nadja defends him in the veterinarian office, there have been all these moments that have proven in the show that they do care for each other. It was really heartbreaking to see him say goodbye to his biological family to start this new adventure.

Awards Daily: Guillermo has decided not to become a vampire but he still has this emotional attachment to the vampires of the house. I know you guys have filmed the final season, but do you think he would seek another way to be immortal just to be with them?

Harvey Guillén: We always say in Shadows, anything is possible. No one really dies or goes away. We are always surprised with how the writers can get creative and make everything make sense. As abstract and ridiculous as this comedy can get, it does make sense. Going into season 6 we definitely start a new chapter and go with it because that’s just life, and we can look back over our shoulder but you can’t stay too long because you’ll miss what’s in front of you.

Awards Daily: One thing I love about this show is who is hanging out with who each season changes, and with this season you and Matt Berry’s Laszlo hang out more than I think you’ve done in the whole show so far. What was that like for you?

Harvey Guillén: Yeah, I didn’t get to work with Matt in the first couple of seasons as much as I did this past season. I think the writers try to put us into different dynamics and for the first couple of seasons I was attached to the hip with Kayvan Novak’s Nandor, and we’ve had great chemistry so it was a little scary to move away from what was, for lack of a better word, familiar. Because everyone’s approach to their craft is different, so is the way you do a scene or rehearse with someone. But the way we bounced off each other worked really well, and Matt is a master of what he does, and it ended up being a nice change of pace.

Awards Daily: Speaking of Guillermo’s bond with Nandor, which has been going on pretty much since the show began, I loved in the finale that he knew why Guillermo had not fully transformed into a vampire and also how to fix it. He even knew that Guillermo really wouldn’t want to be a vampire. So what has it been like exploring the dynamic between the two of them for so many seasons?

Harvey Guillén: It has been interesting to see Nandor’s affection towards Guillermo in his way. I do believe these two characters love each other. Even when they frustrate each other, they have stood by each other, cheered them on. Like Guillermo throwing a wedding together and ending up being the best man. Then Nandor duplicates his wife into being their best friend’s current boyfriend. There are lines that are crossed that you can never come back from, and what they have proven is there are lines they can cross and they have definitely been able to forgive but not forget. Which makes it difficult to go forward but there is love there. It is always great to just see them together and we hope that they always work it out.

Awards Daily: On a technical level this season you had a lot of bat prosthetics put on you and you finally got to be a vampire like everyone else even if it was just for a few minutes. What were those experiences like?

Harvey Guillén: It was great working with our special effects people having the mini bat wings for my back. They had to mold my face to get all the creatures: bulldog, sheep, pig, a fish, a rat, and a group of frogs. I have to report that Kayvan asked for one as his wrap party gift. He said he wanted to show it to his kids. He was so enamored with them and so was I. It was weird to walk into a room where they had all the prosthetic characters and my face is on a fish and there is a body double of you. There were a lot of special effects, and I don’t usually get to do that with the show because I’m a human character. I finally got to wear fangs for the first time last season but I only got a limited time with them before I had to retire them.

Awards Daily: With the reveal that Guillermo doesn’t want to be a vampire now and turns back into a human, I’m curious what you thought of that whole arc?

Harvey Guillén: Yeah, when I read the script for the season I was, like, okay, I didn’t see that coming. I for sure thought this guy’s been put through the ringer for over a decade of service to get what he wants and he finally gets what he wants and it is not in him to be a vampire. It’s just not meant for him. Sometimes what the universe has in store for you is different, and it might be more wonderful than you can imagine but you are stuck in the idea of what you think your perfect outcome is and what your perfect life could be. So when you stop and let the universe take over a little bit you might be surprised how much happier you could be.

Awards Daily: Looking over your filmography you do a lot of voice work as well and I’m curious, what about that work appeals to you so much?

Harvey Guillén: It’s funny I didn’t start doing voice work until the pandemic. I had no credits in voice work before that. So the fact that it’s now grown into what it is has just been an amazing opportunity that I’ve gotten. Now I do love doing voice work because you get to change your voice and become a different character just using your vocal cords. You can hide behind the idea that an animator will make this character a certain way. You can camouflage yourself as so many people, just with your voice. It also is just fun! I always loved cartoons, and I got the opportunity during the pandemic. The thing is it’s actually really hard to get into. You think about it’s always hard to get into Hollywood and television to begin with, but then you think about the people who want to perform and act but are shy in front of the camera or being on stage in front of an audience.

So the next best thing is being in a recording booth with yourself and a microphone and a director behind plexiglass that tells you what to do. That is the perfect way to have a creative outlet without the stress of being in front of people. I think it is harder to get into voice over because it might be more appealing to a person who might have qualms with the Hollywood concept of how you look and present yourself, or how you have to socialize and network. It is easier to get into a booth and do your craft and then walk away.

Awards Daily: I looked over another interview you just did and you talked about how the final season is going to end with a bang and building to something expensive. Is there anything else you can tell us, or something that’s interested you with the finale?

Harvey Guillén: The way that it all ends I think we’ll be pleasing depending on what narrative you are looking at. I think you’ll be satisfied, content, saddened all at once. Which I think is a good thing for an ending. To have emotion drawn for you is a good thing, and we want every show to end that way. The shows that end abruptly you’re just like, that’s it? That’s how it ends?! You hear about everyone being upset about it. I think that people will be really pleased and intrigued and I think it’s going out with a bang. I am curious what everyone else is going to think about it.

Awards Daily: What is it like for you coming to the end after being with this character for so long?

Harvey Guillén: Yeah, I was just talking to my friend last night about that. They pointed out that you are the only person on the show to go on a roller coaster because you were the human character. You got to be part of this amazing cast and your character got to evolve every year. There is a different version of Guillermo every season that has surfaced. From the pilot episode when he opens the door to the documentary crew we see a shy, timid, loyal worker to his master, and then you see the confidence he gets when he finds out that he’s a Van Helsing. He gets courageous and stops playing by the rules. He becomes a bodyguard and a Slayer, getting to be a badass and do all those stunts. Then later he’s an embezzler from a nightclub because he sees how the books are being run and asks why doesn’t he get ahead and take what’s rightfully his after years of service without getting paid. He then takes the money and gives it to his loved ones, getting his mother a refrigerator and putting her in a nicer place.

So Guillermo goes through all these transformations over these last six seasons and I’m, like wow, he has never been the person we last saw. I’m so excited looking back at the work we did with Guillermo and what I was able to accomplish with him. When he was first introduced he didn’t even have a last name. I talked to Jemaine (Clement) asking if I could give him a last name. He asked what I was thinking. I said, I don’t know, Guillermo de la Cruz? He asked what that meant and I told him it means “of the cross.” Is that bad? He said no, that is perfect. I didn’t know at the time that I chose that name but they had plotted out the backstory of Guillermo being a Van Helsing. It ended up being the perfect name for this character. I’m so proud of him and I’m so proud of the work that I’ve been able to do. And talk about versatility, every season they throw a curveball at me. Then I’m just like, yep, let’s do it!

Awards Daily: Final thoughts?

Harvey Guillén: I’m just excited for everyone to see how we wrap it up, and who knows what the future holds for them all!