Out of the Shadows

TAIKA WAITITI

and Jemaine Clement unveiled their TV show this week at New York Comic Con.

The audience saw the first episode of the Kiwi pair’s highly anticipated spin-off series of their 2014 film What We Do In The Shadows, but we here in New Zealand will have to wait until next year to set our eyeballs on it.

So, until then, here’s everything we know so far about the show.

What is it?

It’s a spin-off set in the same universe as the film but with a new cast of characters living their best afterlives in Staten Island, New York. It follows Laszlo, Nandor and Nadja — a trio of European vampires who are navigating life in modern America. They’re also joined by their devoted human assistant — known as a “familiar” — Guillermo , and their American roommate Colin Robinson, a vampire who, instead of sucking blood, sucks the energy out of his victims by boring them to death.

Who’s doing what?

Waititi directed the series, Clement wrote it and they both served as executive producers, along with Emmy-nominated writer and producer Paul Simms, (Atlanta, The Larry Sanders Show), who also collaborated on Flight of the Conchords.

What’s it about?

According to Simms, the whole premise is that vampires had been sent to conquer America, but had “lost their way and forgotten”. “They’d got to New York, that’s where the boat dropped them off, and they never went any further, and before they knew it, a lot of time had passed,” Simms told the Comic Con audience.

So things kick off when our trio receive notice that an ancient vampire leader named the Baron is coming to check on their progress.

What else can we expect?

Simms teased the vampires will venture out into Manhattan where we’ll meet more characters, and there will be other supernatural beings involved too.

FX has reportedly ordered a 10-episode series, and Waititi and Clement have taken inspiration not only from their own film but genre classics like This Is Spinal Tap and vampire fare like The Lost Boys.

Where can we see it?

The What We Do In The Shadows TV series will screen on SoHo next year.