The Big Picture

Season 5 of What We Do in the Shadows takes the characters on wild adventures and explores new dynamics between them. Natasia Demetriou enjoyed the Pride episode and found the Nadja Doll storyline to be ingenious and classic. The cast loved the freedom to film outside and engage with the real world, while Mark Proksch’s character, Colin Robinson, has a love/hate relationship with feeding on average humans.

[Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for Season 5 of What We Do in the Shadows.]In Season 5 of the FX comedy series What We Do in the Shadows, Nandor (Kayvan Novak) is more lost than usual with his familiar Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) mysteriously spending more and more time with Laszlo (Matt Berry). At the same time, Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) is obsessed with removing a supernatural hex while Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) wonders whether politics would be a good way for him to feed on energy.

During this interview with Collider, co-stars Novak, Demetriou and Proksch talked about what they most enjoyed about Season 5, Nadja Doll, body-swapping, how this season’s wild sex scene got very physical, Colin Robinson’s contempt for average humans, Nandor riding the merry-go-round, and how long they hope the series will continue.

This interview was conducted prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike.

Collider: Every time I think this show can’t get any crazier than it’s already been, it somehow manages to. What did you guys most enjoy about Season 5 and what you got to do?

NATASIA DEMETRIOU: I loved the Pride episode because there were so many things I loved about it. I loved that script. There were too many things that were making me laugh. And also, Mark [Proksch] and I had to do that absolutely insane face thing with a rig that was probably one of the harder things we’ve had to do. I had Mark’s face hanging off of me, and Mark had my body attached to him. There was lots of drama with that. Mark fell over, wearing me.

MARK PROKSCH: I often fall over. That’s not the big part.

DEMETRIOU: But it was because you were wearing me. My face was on the back of your face, and you fell over while I was falling backwards.

PROKSCH: I was excited for people to see Vanessa Bayer back as Evie, my on and off again, mostly off again, girlfriend. My favorite moments in the show are when we’re just mingling out in the real world. There was a lot of that this season, and that was really fun to get to do. We were in the mall. We were out on the street quite a bit. I was running for Comptroller, and there were some real world aspects to that, even though it’s politics, which doesn’t really touch the real world. It was fun. This was definitely one of the craziest seasons we’ve tried, and it felt good while we were filming it.

KAYVAN NOVAK: It was exciting to get out and about, at restaurants, shops, and out on the street. We had more freedom to go and do that without too many regulations, so that felt really good. It felt more reverent, and less like we were serving a really big arc. We were just out, having fun again and doing random shit. You can quote me on that. I’m not just saying this because Mark is on the line, but I was actually genuinely excited to see Colin Robinson, Colin Robinson-ing, like he did in previous seasons, since we had that whole season where he was a kid, growing up.

PROKSCH: It was fun being back and getting to work with these guys again. I really missed it, more than I thought I’d miss it. I really had a lot of fun, being back and playing off the rest of the cast.

Image via FX Networks

Colin Robinson had to get back out in the workforce, and it’s always hard to tell if he’s disgruntled, or if he’s actually enjoying something. How did he feel about that?

PROKSCH: I think it’s a love/hate. That’s how he feeds. Sometimes he has to go out into the public and mingle, in order to get his sustenance, but it’s with contempt and hatred for the average person. That’s also part of his curse. He has to go out and feed on people.

Natasia, what was your reaction to learning what Nadja had done to Nadja Doll? How did you feel about that?

DEMETRIOU: I thought that was absolute genius. When we saw the doll on the rig, I was like, “Oh, my God, that’s incredible. Of course!” The doll doing the little dancy thing was just so good. It’s also really classic me. I don’t think there’s anything I love that I haven’t sat on.

PROKSCH: Yeah, that’s what the rumor is.

DEMETRIOU: Sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. It’s absolute classic me to sit on something and break it. Anything that comes out of my mouth now is gonna sound like a horrible innuendo. I sit on things and I break them. What are you gonna do? But it was genius. You wouldn’t just think about it, but of course you can do that because it’s a doll.

Image via FX Networks

What was it like to figure out all the body swapping stuff? That all seems like it would be so physical, and different layers of physical, especially because it isn’t just one person. How did you figure out the physicality for that?

DEMETRIOU: It sounds very pretentious, but I actually did a physical training day with this amazing choreographer, who helped me a little bit and tied ropes to my hands. Everything that’s coming out of my mouth sounds sexual now. But he tied ropes to my hands, so that I could have a point of reference for when I’m being pulled two different ways. That episode was so amazing. I really wanted to do a good job, so we actually had a couple of days rehearsal on that. We usually don’t have time to do something like that, but it was really so good to do that. It was such a fun episode.

PROKSCH: They offered me to work with a choreographer, because I’m also doing the same physical movements, but I answered with, “No, I’ll just act.” And that was enough, I guess.

NOVAK: Then, when you heard he was gonna tie you up, you were like, “Okay, I’m all in.”

Mark, what was it like to learn about Colin Robinson’s deep attraction to Nadja Doll?

PROKSCH: Colin Robinson would have sex with an envelope. He’s always up for whatever comes his way. I don’t know how we did this because it wasn’t written, but we established, early on, that Colin is attracted to the doll. It’s very disturbing to me, but it’s also very, very funny. It’s been written into the scripts, more and more. It’s just funny. And I was just teasing Tash. She had way more physical stuff to do than I did, which is why she went with the choreographer.

DEMETRIOU: Also, I don’t like to waste time and do a load of takes. I like to just nail it and be present and there, and not time. I wanna do my best and put in a bit of extra effort.

Image via FX Networks

Kayvan, how long did you have to ride around on that merry-go-round? That seems like something that could start out fun, but then could take a really bad turn, the longer you have to do it. Was that fun to do?

NOVAK: When I learned that Nandor was going on a merry-go-round, I was like, “How should I do that? Should I just sit on the horse?” So, I sat on the horse, but then I was like, “I’ll sit backwards on the horse.” And then, I was like, “I’ll stand up on the horse.” And then, I was like, “I can stand on two horses. Yes, that’s it! That’s what I need to do.” So, I stood on the two horses, as it went around, and I looked over, and the guy had stopped filming. I should have done my prep, like Natasia. I wouldn’t have wasted all those revolutions. But sometimes it takes me four guesses to get it right. I don’t know how to get around that.

Before the debut of Season 4, we learned the show had been picked up for Seasons 5 and 6. Have there been any conversations about how long the series could continue for, or are you game to do it for as long as possible?

DEMETRIOU: The chats are like, “God, this show could go on forever because they’ve been alive forever.” And then, they’re also like, “We need to wrap this up.”

NOVAK: Who said that we need to wrap this up?

DEMETRIOU: Mark.

NOVAK: He does that as soon as he gets to Canada.

DEMETRIOU: I feel like we’ve had every conversation possible about it. We’re just happy while it lasts.

PROKSCH: I think what Tash is saying, and I don’t mean to tell Tash what she’s getting at, is that when you start to think about how many shows make it to Season 5 or Season 6, that can get into your head and you can start to worry. But as long as we keep making a show that is unlike any other show on television and that’s so incredibly funny, I don’t see why it would end, any time soon. We all love being a part of it, and each year becomes more and more fun. At least for me, I would hate to see it leave, any time soon.

What We Do in the Shadows airs on Thursday nights on FX and is available to stream at Hulu.