Do the writers for your favorite TV show pay attention to online ships and fan cams? Paul Simms surely does not. The What We Do in the Shadows executive producer and writer, by his own admission, is not amused by the common fan practice. In fact, the intense fandom got so wild that it forced him to get offline. “I had to stop looking at ships because they were getting too crazy and aggressive and actually actively hostile toward the show,” he told Vulture on the Writers Guild Awards red carpet on March 5. “So for my mental health, I had to stop. Uh, I had to get off Twitter.”
That’s fair, but, also, I couldn’t help myself: What’s going to happen with the tension between mortal Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) and his vampire master, Nandor (Kayvan Novak)? Do they belong together? “They’re already shipped,” Simms explained, a bit exasperated. “Guillermo and Nandor is the greatest love story in modern television,” he stressed. “It’s just different than the way some people want it to be.”
The evidence is there: Last season had a bit where the former Ottoman general thinks of his human familiar while having sex with others and, in a fit of jealousy, tries to sabotage Guillermo’s date with his boyfriend in a later episode. Plus Nandor’s refusal to turn Guillermo into a vampire looks more and more like an excuse to keep him close — like he just can’t, uh, live without him. Despite Guillermo’s frustration with Nandor over his continuously kicking the can about the whole turning-him-into-a-vampire question, the familiar just keeps on running back to him.
Their relationship might be complicated by Guillermo’s choices in the next season. “As with every cliffhanger we’ve done, we’ve paid it off,” he said, referring to question of whether Guillermo will use someone else to fulfill his lifelong wish of turning into a creature of the night. “You don’t come back and have Guillermo go, Oh, I changed my mind. Or, Oh it was all a dream. A lot of the next season is exploring Guillermo making a very big decision.” Makes sense. What’s a good love story without the trials and temptations?
