Why What We Do In The Shadows Ended With Season 6 Explained By FX Boss (2025)

FX chairman John Landgraf explained why the network decided to bring What We Do In The Shadows to a close with season 6 of the supernatural comedy series. The FX series follows four vampires and their exhausted familiar sharing a home on Staten Island among other creatures of the night as they hide among everyday humans. Inspired by Taika Waititi's 2014 mockumentary comedy of the same name, FX's series was developed by the movie's co-director Jemaine Clement and stars Kayvan Novak, Harvey Guillen, Natasia Demetriou, Matt Berry, and Mark Proksch.

Despite the hilarious vampire comedy being a continued hit, What We Do In The Shadows season 6 brought the Staten Island vampire's story to a close. However, despite the decision confusing many fans, John Landgraf revealed why the network decided to end the comedy during FX's 2024 TCA panel, which was attended by Screen Rant. The chairman explained that the network had seen it as a good point to bring the stories of Nandor (Novak), Guillermo (Guillen), Nadja (Demetriou), Lazlo (Berry), and Colin Robertson (Proksch) to a close after six years of misadventures, murder, bitter rivalries, bloodsucking, and growth. Check out Landgraf's explanation below:

The show came to a natural conclusion. It was a great six year run.

What We Do In The Shadows Season 5 Set Up The Series' Endgame

Guillermo Finally Got To Experience Life As A Vampire

As Landgraf stated, What We Do In The Shadows season 6 was the right time to say farewell to the four Staten Island vampires due to the prior season resolving one of the larger story arcs that had persisted since the first episode aired. In What We Do In The Shadows season 5, Guillermo finally achieves his dream of becoming a vampire and gets a taste of what that life can offer, only to realize he doesn't have the stomach to feed on humans. As such, Nandor helps his familiar regain his humanity in the season 5 finale.

While What We Do In The Shadows is an ensemble comedy where each character has had their own arcs, it can be argued Guillermo is the closest thing the series has to a leading character. He is the first character audiences meet, and while other characters' stories have taken certain seasons' focus, Guillermo has been on the most explored journey, from Familiar to Hunter to Vampire to human once more. Guillermo's mortal life ensures he can never remain with the vampires forever, so season 6 may explore him deciding his future.

Looking at the journey audiences have been taken on across What We Do In The Shadows' five-season run, Landgraf's explanation is understandable. By season 6, many of the show's key narrative threads had been explored and brought to their conclusions, meaning season 6 had the choice of either starting a new multi-season arc or winding things down. As such, while it may be hard to let the Staten Island vampires go, FX and the What We Do In The Shadows team felt the best option was to wrap things up rather than begin new narratives that would take many more seasons to bring to a satisfactory conclusion.

How Season 6 Concluded What We Do In The Shadows

A Very Meta Conclusion Rounded Off The Supernatural Mockumentary

What We Do In The Shadows finally ended with season 6, episode 11, appropriately titled "The Finale". There was plenty of speculation over how FX would end the stories of Nandor, Laslo, Nadja, Colin Robinson, and Guillermo, especially since the long-running central arc of Guillermo finally becoming a vampire had been covered in the prior season. What's more, season 6 didn't set up any obvious threads that lead up to a finale for the series (even Jerry the Vampire's efforts to renew taking over the U.S. didn't amount to anything).

In the end, the final episode of What We Do In The Shadows opted to take a meta route that broke the fourth wall. After the documentary crew announced to the vampires that they were going to stop filming, Nadja decided to hypnotize the audience. She informed viewers that they would imagine the perfect ending for the show, and that whatever they saw following this moment would be the product of their imaginations. From here, the What We Do In The Shadows ending branched into four alternate choices (one which was broadcast, and three more which are available in the extras tab on Hulu).

The official ending saw Guillermo pretending to tell Nandor that he was leaving the vampires for good. While this upset Nandor, he accepted Guillermo's decision. However, a mid-credits scene then revealed that Guillermo had been lying. He only pretended to leave because he wanted the documentary to have a satisfying conclusion. The implication here was that things would continue for Guillermo and the vampires as they always had - though viewers were treated to a scene showing Nandor leading Guillermo down to a secret lair he'd been working on. This was a follow-on from the story arc of episode 10, "The Promotion", which saw Nandor and Guillermo planning to fight crime in New York.

The three alternate endings spoofed 1995's The Usual Suspects, the 1982-1990 sitcom Newhart, and the 1968 horror Rosemary's Baby. The ending parodying The Usual Suspects saw Colin Robinson playing the part of Kevin Spacey's Verbal Kimt while The Guide, as a police officer, interrogates him about the identity of 'Nandor the Relentless'. In a shot-for-shot reenactment of The Usual Suspects that mashed together plenty of flashbacks to earlier What We Do In The Shadows episodes, Colin Robinson is then revealed to be the suspect the police officer version of The Guide was looking for.

The Newhart satire ending found Nandor in bed with Guillermo. However, Nandor awakes and tells Guillermo, with an American accent, that he'd dreamt the events of the show, which the Newhart version of his familiar finds hilarious. The Rosemary's Baby parody was, like the first alternate What We Do In The Shadows ending, a shot-for-shot reenactment. In this version, Nadja takes the place of Rosemary, distraught over the sight of her baby. However, of all three endings, it's clear that the broadcast version was the official conclusion to What We Do In The Shadows.

Did What We Do In The Shadows Have A Satisfying Finale?

Critics And Viewers Were Divided

Whether the ending of What We Do In The Shadows was good or not is a question that draws many different answers. Many critics praised "Finale", citing it as the perfect way to end the show. There were certainly many inventive choices such as the alternate endings, and these creative decisions were seen as strengths and celebrated in the majority of reviews. However, many fans and viewers online expressed dissatisfaction at the ending of What We Do In The Shadows, and at season 6 as a whole.

The general consensus among many fans of What We Do In The Shadows was that the 6th season of the show felt tacked on, and that season 5's arc of Guillermo finally becoming a vampire was the natural conclusion of the story. Ultimately, of course, whether the final episode of What We Do In The Shadows was satisfying is subjective. Some felt that the hit vampire mockumentary wrapped things up incredibly well, while others - despite wishing there could be more - found the fourth wall breaking final moments underwhelming.

Success!

What We Do in the Shadows

TV-MA

Comedy

Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Horror

Supernatural

What We Do in the Shadows, released in 2019, is a mockumentary series exploring the nightly lives of a group of centuries-old vampires residing in Staten Island. The comedic show delves into their interactions with each other and the modern world, providing a humorous take on the vampire genre.

Release Date

March 27, 2019

Cast

Kayvan Novak, Matt Berry, Natasia Demetriou, Harvey Guillén, Mark Proksch, Kristen Schaal, Jamison Webb, Kate Comer, Warren Barrow, Casey Feigh, Chris Perfetti, Hayden Szeto, Marceline Hugot, Richie Moriarty, KhaRå Martin, Alison Niven, Faith Curnew, Mary Pitt, Jon Gabrus, Vanessa Bayer, Arj Barker, Michael Man, Viviana Zarrillo, Dominic Cuzzocrea, Rob Ramsay

Seasons

6

Writers

Chris Marcil, Lauren Wells, Tom Scharpling, Rajat Suresh, Jeremy Levick, Max Brockman, Duncan Sarkies, Iain Morris, Josh Lieb, Aasia LaShay Bullock

Network

FX

Streaming Service(s)

Hulu

Directors

Kyle Newacheck, Jason Woliner, Jackie van Beek

Showrunner

Paul Simms