What We Do in the Shadows (2019-) is a vampire mockumentary series that originally aired on FX. This half-hour supernatural comedy follows a group of vampires — Laszlo (Matt Berry), his wife Nadja (Natasia Demetriou), Nandor the Relentless (Kayvan Novak), and energy vampire Colin Robinson (Mark Proksh) — as they hunt and spend their eternity in Staten Island, followed closely by Guillermo (Harvey Guillén), Nandor’s familiar and vampire hopeful, who cleans up their messes and keeps their identities a secret.
Most of the vampires in WWDITS are open about their bisexuality. In one of the earlier seasons, a major plot involving Nadja and Laszlo was them keeping a secret from each other — that in the past they had both had sex with the elder vampire, the Baron (Doug Jones) — and would be happy to have another encounter with him. There is also an episode where the couple are the hosts of an annual vampire ball, which is a supernatural orgy where they are both hoping to get their freak on with vampires of different genders as well as each other.
In the first season, one storyline follows along as Nadja works on converting a college girl (Beanie Feldstein) into a vampire, which features a coffin’s worth of sexual tension; when Nadja goes to bite her neck, the girl notes this is “her first time with a girl”. In later seasons, Nandor casually reveals that in his previous life as a warrior and ruler, he had “boy wives” as well as girl wives — who reappear from his request from a djinn (Anoop Desai) when he wants all of his past wives to have a second chance at love with him. Later, in a spurt of jealousy, Nandor commands that the djinn morph his chosen wife Marwa into the form of Freddie (Alistair “Al” Roberts), the exact form of Harvey’s new boyfriend whom he has taken a shine to.
The characters are undeniably funny, but they don’t operate by human morality, which makes sense given their undead nature. After living for centuries and experiencing multiple lifetimes, it’s natural that they would explore everything imaginable and grow bored with modern moral rules, choosing to follow their own selfish paths. While their behavior might initially seem off-putting, it’s important to remember that this is a comedy. Any moments that touch on bi stereotypes shouldn’t be taken too seriously.
On one side of the vampire genre, we have serious gothic tales like Interview with the Vampire. In contrast, What We Do in the Shadows acknowledges vampires’ bisexuality, though it doesn’t always take center stage. While some storylines touch on this aspect, the characters embark on many other wild adventures unrelated to their sexuality, making them well-rounded individuals with hopes, dreams, and fears. This depth turns them into fully-dimensional characters — and makes for a bloody good watch.