Over the first and second seasons of FX’s vampire comedy What We Do in the Shadows, fans have learned more and more about vampire enthusiasts and familiar Guillermo de la Cruz.
Deadline reports that at the end of season one, we learn that he is a descendant of famed vampire slayer Van Helsing. What does this mean for him as a Mexican American? Does this mean that Helsing is Latino in the Shadow’s universe? “I think he should be,” Harvey Guillén, who plays Guillermo, said during FX’s TCA panel. “I think we can trace the family tree to how it came to be.” Season two expands on this by introducing his mother, Silvia (Myrna Cabell0), and they will show even more of his family as the show goes on.
“These are questions that are going to be answered in a big way but not this season,” says the show’s executive producer Paul Simms. “In Season 4, Episode 4, you’re going to meet all of Guillermo’s family in a way that makes him very anxious. We’ll learn that if he has Van Helsing DNA, then so does the rest of his family, even though they might not realise it themselves. But we haven’t even shot that yet.”
He continues, “We’ll also learn in Season 4 that Guillermo is feeling the effects of having dedicated ten years of his life to these vampires and neglecting his family and his responsibilities to them and how he tries to make amends for that.”
Guillén says he’s received a ton of positive feedback from Latino fans of the series. “Guillermo has been such a positive character that has resonated with the Latinx community even with the smallest scene, like when he was with his mum,” the Mexican American actor shared.
“We got so much feedback from people who felt like they were watching their mums. They even noticed the buñuelos that were in the background, little details like that. We can say it until we’re blue in the face, but representation matters, and I think we’ve done a good job representing. I look forward to continuing that.”
Season 3 of What We Do In The Shadows premieres September 2 on FX. It’ll air on Binge in Australia, although an exact release date is yet to be confirmed.