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• "We're the ones being chased all the time:" What We Do in the Shadows's Harvey Guillén on the intersection of Latino culture and Gothic storytelling

For a show about the undead, What We Do in the Shadows fans come from all walks of life. The Queer, neurodivergent, and communities of color are all represented at the cast's many convention appearances, plus many other communities besides. At LA Comic Con 2024, the Latino community got a particular shoutout, as member Harvey Guillén - who of course plays everyone's favorite vampire familiar (sorry, ex-familiar) Guillermo de la Cruz - spoke about the intersection of his culture and Gothic storytelling.

Some context: along with fellow What We Do in the Shadows star Kristen Schaal, Guillén was at LACC for a panel celebrating and promoting the series before its sixth and final season. During the panel, one vampire fan who identified as Latina asked Guillén, "What is it about our culture that lends itself to gothic storytelling?"

"It's a great question," Guillén began, "Just by origin story, Latino cultures are great storytellers, you know? I remember growing up and listening stories about La Llorona and Chupacabra. It's taught for, like, a lesson. It's this mythical storytelling that happens around a campfire but also to teach children discipline. It's like, 'You better not or El Cucuy's going to get you!' And you're like, 'I don't want to meet the Cucuy!'" 

"But I think we were led into it," the actor continued, "because, for so long, being Latino and also queer, we're always seen as outsiders. We're not welcome to the party. [...] So we've created this world where we can tell stories. We are storytellers ourselves, of our past and our heritage and our culture. Think of those monster movies where the people are chasing the monster, the person who doesn't belong or is the outsider, and for so long, Latino people have felt like an outsider and like they don't belong. So we're the ones being chased all the time, you know?" 

"You have to stop and think about even the Frankenstein scenario - when Frankenstein is being chased by the townspeople; who's the real monster? The person is chasing them or the person who is just living their life? [The townspeople] were so put off by like, 'Oh my God, I don't understand it. It's different. It scares me.'"

Interesting to note here: a B-plot in the latest season of What We Do in the Shadows actually does revolve around of Frankensteinian figure. Although whether he'll interact with Guillermo is yet to be seen.

"So we're scared by things that we don't understand," Guillén concludes, "but maybe if we just take the time to learn about someone's culture, we see that we have more in common. We have a love of horror and of goths and love of fear."

True that, Harvey. And maybe I'm speaking out of turn, but I'd say we also have a love for our favorite ex-familiar and mockumentary subject.

New episodes of What We Do in the Shadows season six come to FX every Monday, then stream next-day on Hulu.

In the immortal words of Danny Elfman, "Life's no fun without a good scare." We couldn't agree more, which is why we think you should check out horror aficionado Greg Silber's list of the best horror movies of all time. Or, if you've already seen those classics, check out our list of the most underrated horror movies from the past couple years. And if you've already seen all of those, Let us tell you what to look forward to (or dread) in Popverse's list of upcoming horror movies.