This week’s episode of FX’s “What We Do in the Shadows” was a real treat for horror fans, loaded with fun, deep cut cameos from several stars of beloved vampire movies. The episode introduced the Vampiric Council, a group of vampires who gather together to determine whether or not fellow vampires are guilty of the crimes they’ve been accused of.
As it turns out, the members of the Vampiric Council are all actors who have played vampires in movies and TV shows, suggesting that every actor who’s ever played a vampire on film is, well, an actual vampire! Tilda Swinton reprised her role from Only Lovers Left Alive, along with Paul Reubens from Buffy, Danny Trejo from From Dusk Till Dawn, Evan Rachel Wood from “True Blood” and even Wesley Snipes from Blade. The episode noted that Kiefer Sutherland, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and Robert Pattinson are part of the council, but couldn’t make it.
In other words, the show has cleverly created a full-on Vampire Cinematic Universe!
So did Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement (who both reprised their roles from the movie for the very first time in the TV series this week!) actually reach out to Kiefer, Tom, Brad and Robert to appear in the episode or was that just a joke? An in-depth interview piece published over on EW digs into the star-studded episode… and teases what may come next.
Executive producer Paul Simms told the site, “I remember Kiefer Sutherland passed. Brad [Pitt], we talked to his people and they were very open to it, but by then we were so full up with vampires, we never really followed up. Which is kind of rude of us, and maybe a mistake. But that’s saved something for season 2. And Tom, I don’t even think we tried.”
“It was one of those things where we went out to a lot of people, and once we got the people that we had, we were very happy with it,” he continued. “There were a few people who did want to do it, and then scheduling-wise it just didn’t work out. I can’t remember if [Pattinson] was one of them. I do remember Alexander Skarsgård was really very open to doing it, but he was in Australia at the time. We almost sent someone to Australia to try to shoot him, but the schedule didn’t work out. As it is, I wish we had more time with each one of those, so if we got more, it would have been even less time for everyone. But we’re open for anyone for season 2!”
Waititi teased later in the interview piece, “There were people who couldn’t [appear in this week’s episode], but now we’re going for a second season — I’m not going to say their names, but there are lots of other people who will be in the next season.”
