Taika Waititi’s “5 Minute Idea” Which Led to Emmy Winning TV Show With Six Seasons and a Movie of the Same Name

After Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi’s 2014 movie What We Do in the Shadows received positive response from the audience and critics, they created a TV series of the same name.

The sci-fi mockumentary drama that revolves around a vampire universe debuted on the FX network in 2019. The series, which was executive-produced by Paul Simms finally concluded with season six on December 16, 2024.

Over the years, the show became massively popular among the fans, so much so, that the creators threw in an extra episode in the last season instead of their regular 10-episode-a-season rule for their loyal fandom.

A snippet from What We Do in the Shadows | Credits: FX Network

The storyline of the plot follows a group of bloodsucking roommates living in Staten Island who are exploring their semi-normal lives. The series had a good run for six seasons with 61 hilarious episodes.

As the show ended, Waititi in an interview revealed that he never thought that the show would become this huge and stretch for so long. Did you know this series was made from a ‘5-minute idea’? Well, read ahead to know some more details about the series.

How What We Do in the Shadows came to be

A snap from What We Do in the Shadows | Credits: FX Network

What started off just as a feature film became a six-season-long television series. Talking about the journey of What We Do in the Shadows, Taika Waititi shared in an interview with Entertainment Weekly,

This went on for far too long, but I’m proud of it. I thought that the movie, when we were making the movie, I said to Jemaine [Clement], ‘This feels like this is like a five-minute idea that we’re stretching out into a movie.’ Next thing, we made six seasons of the same idea.

Debuted in 2019, the series starred Harvey Guillén, Kayvan Novak, Matt Berry, Natasia Demetriou, and Mark Proksch. The film had a similar storyline with a different cast which means different group of vamps.

Moreover, Waititi also made a cameo in several episodes of Jemaine Clement’s created series. In the same conversation, the director of Thor: Ragnarok shared his favorite memory from filming this project. He said,

My favorite memory was not having to put vampire teeth in, and making other people do it. That was probably my favorite thing. And also, just these guys were possibly funnier than us.

The final season centers around Guillermo (Guillén) who struggles once again after leaving his vampire house to become a normal human.

Is What We Do in the Shadows going to return for season 7?

Despite receiving positive responses from the audience over the last few years, sadly, What We Do in the Shadows won’t be returning for a seventh season. FX chairman, John Landgraf explained why the network decided to end the series with season six during the TCA Panel. He said, “The show came to a natural conclusion. It was a great six year run,” that left the fans disheartened.

A snippet from What We Do in the Shadows | Credits: FX Network

Although it was rather a simple explanation, the viewership numbers might be a key reason behind the discontinuity of the show.

Earlier this year, talking to The Playlist, Harvey Guillén revealed that before learning about the show’s end, the cast members thought they would return for season 7. He shared,

And we were pretty sure that in our gut we had a feeling that we’d go to seven because we were asked, ‘How do you feel about continuing?’ And at first, we were like, ‘Well, after five, where do we go with that storyline?’ But hearing what six would look like, we were like, ‘Oh, you know what? Maybe there’s a possibility to continue. And if everyone’s O.K. and everyone’s happy with it…’ but everything happens for a reason and the way that we ended things, I think it’s going to be great. It’s going to be perfect.

Since its launch, the series received 29 Emmy nominations including Outstanding Comedy Series. In 2022, What We Do in the Shadows won in the fantasy/sci-fi costumes category.

Taika Waititi recalls the difficulties they faced while filming What We Do in the Shadows movie

A snippet from What We Do in the Shadows series | Credits: FX Network

As they celebrate their six-season-long series completion of What We Do in the Shadows, Taika Waititi revealed in an interview via EW that when they were making the OG movie, they couldn’t get a green signal from any production house. Going down the lane, he recalled those days and said,

This movie was rejected by every studio that Jemaine and I pitched it to, because we said, ‘It’s going to cost $1 million,’ and every studio said, ‘We don’t even know how to make a movie for that low.’

Thank goodness for the movie, or we might have never gotten the TV show! If you haven’t seen it yet, you can stream Seasons 1 through 6 on Hulu.