If you're not watching What We Do in the Shadows, FX's pitch-perfect vampire mockumentary, it may surprise you to learn that the breakout star of this show about the undead is its only fully human character. But for those of us who've succumbed to fandom, you know that Guillermo de la Cruz is the heart, soul, and moral center of the series. For Harvey Guillén, the fantastically talented actor who elevated this vampire assistant-turned-vampire slayer to a cult favorite storyline, it's the role of a lifetime.
For more than a decade, Guillermo has served as the doting human familiar to Nandor the Relentless, a 758-year-old Ottoman Empire conquerer on the prowl for eternal love. In a drafty old mansion on Staten Island, Nandor and Guillermo live with three vampire roommates: Lazslo Cravensworth, a debauched vintage pornography enthusiast; Nadja, Laszlo's lusty and long-suffering wife; and Colin Robinson, a Dilbert-esque energy vampire who drains his prey's energy by boring them to near-death. Guillermo is criminally under-appreciated by this motley crew of dim-witted narcissists, who jeer at him, blame him at every turn, and think his last name must be "Buillermo." But hope springs eternal for Guillermo, who desperately wishes for Nandor to one day reward his devoted service by transforming him into a vampire.
Guillermo's transition from a nervous wallflower to a fearsome vampire slayer has been a slow burn throughout the series. In the Season One finale, Guillermo discovered that he was descended from the famous vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing, and wondered if he was destined to murder his roommates. Season Two wrapped up in dramatic fashion when Guillermo slaughtered 70% of the most powerful vampires in the tri-state area to save his roommates from execution. Now, Season Three is launching with a whole new Guillermo: after stepping into his destiny by saving the vampires' lives, he has major leverage over them—and may finally become one of their kind, at long last.
For Guillén, Guillermo's long and winding journey to newfound confidence is a journey everyone can relate to. The actor spoke with Esquire by Zoom to dish on Season Three, take us behind the scenes of the series' iconic moments, and celebrate how Guillermo represents "round, brown, and proud" kids everywhere.
Esquire: Over the years, how has Guillermo changed and evolved? How has the character surprised you?
Harvey Guillén: When they wrote the character, they had an idea of what they wanted, but they didn't even have a last name for him. I wanted him to feel complete and whole. I remember asking [creator] Jemaine Clement, "Can I give him a last name?" He said, "What do you want to call him?" Before I knew the trajectory of Guillermo and Van Helsing, I picked the last name De la Cruz. He said, "What does that mean?" I said, "It means ‘of the cross.’" He said, "That's perfect."
We usually get the script a week before we shoot. In the first season, we were on pins and needles. We shot out of order, so in one day, we could be shooting episode 102 in the morning, and by afternoon, we were shooting 106. As a human with an arc of emotion and aspiration, it’s a lot to remember. The director would say things like, "You’re super scared in this scene." I was like, "Why am I scared? What happened before this?" They’d say, "We can't tell you, but you're scared." For the most part, when you see Guillermo looking terrified in the first season, it's because he doesn't know what's happening next. Anything is possible, which makes it truly documentary style. It has to feel organic and grounded in that sense.
I love the way that Guillermo’s evolution is going. I love that we're peeling away these layers of him questioning the path he’s set for himself. The backstory they give Guillermo is that he wasn't happy as a kid because he was bullied. He was alone or he watched movies. He was teased. He liked things that weren't necessarily masculine by society. Interview with the Vampire is what he idolizes: to be young and beautiful and immortal. To have everything you want: lust, sex, power. Who doesn't want to live like that for a time? It's a perfect formula for a perfect life. But Guillermo is starting to realize that what he's been planning for himself isn’t what's meant for him. Sometimes you just have to let destiny take its course, and before you know it, the universe is tapping at you, saying, "Look over here. No, stop looking over there. Come this way." He’s at that crossroads right now.
ESQ: As the show has progressed, Guillermo has become more stylish. He's wearing brighter, bolder sweaters. In the Season Two finale, we see him in a badass Van Helsing trenchcoat. In the current season, he’s kitted out in black, looking very chic. Is Guillermo’s fashion transformation deliberate?
HG: In Season Two, we introduced subtle accents of teal in Guillermo’s sweaters. It’s slowly going toward more bright and bold colors where you might think, "Whoa, that's a choice." He's using stripes now, as opposed to before, when it was just sweaters that were bulky enough to make him blend into the wall. In Season One, you didn't even know he was there. He was always there, but he blended into the wall because he didn’t want to stand out. The braver he gets, and the more he comes into his own, the bolder his choices get. Now that he’s a bodyguard, he feels like a badass, so we see rolled-up sleeves, fitted shirts, and a fitted vest. Until now, Guillermo never had custom pants. He always got what he could at the nearby Ross or JCPenney—just no frills. But when your life starts to change, you pay attention to detail. He’s very chic and sleek this season, which I really like.
ESQ: At the end of Season Two, we see Guillermo killing people right and left in a massacre at the vampire theater. How stunt intensive was that scene?
HG: It's like a ballet. You have to step on the right beat or someone gets hurt. Tig, our stunt director, knows how the camera will capture the sequence and what angles are great for the movement. He knows how to choreograph for the camera. As a result, it looks really cool and badass.
It actually didn't take that long to learn the choreography—we learned it in just 45 minutes and shot it over three days. At first, they tested me. “Are you comfortable with some small stunts? Are you comfortable with holding the sword? Are you comfortable with falling down backwards? Can you jump out of a third-story window?" It escalated quickly, but I did all my own stunts that season, except for one for insurance reasons they said, "Absolutely not." It’s the one where I fall down the stairs and roll on my back. When I'm in that vibe as Guillermo the slayer, I feel so much confidence. Then I look at playback, and as Harvey, I think, "That looks dangerous. Is that me? What was I thinking? I could have broken my neck."
ESQ: In that same episode, we see Guillermo go home to live with his mother. It’s truly sweet to see that peek into his home life and heritage, with him speaking Spanish at home with his mother. What did that mean to you, to go home with him and perceive him outside of work for the first time?
HG: It was really nice. That was actually an episode where I helped with the writing, just to have the right dialogue and chemistry in the household. It was very important for me to cast a Mexican actress as Guillermo’s mother, because we've learned from the DNA that he's Mestizo. It was important that she spoke Spanish, and that all the trinkets in the household felt very much like, "I've been to this house. I lived in this house. I grew up in this house." From the giant painting of the Virgin Mary to the dialogue, it was important that it feel natural.
With the buñuelos in the kitchen, things got interesting. We had an amazing set decorator and prop-master, but they got Salvadorian buñuelos instead of Mexican buñuelos, which are totally different. They shipped them overnight and didn’t have time to get the right ones. I said, "It's okay. We're going to fix this." I was like, "Can you get me a packet of flour, cinnamon, sugar, and some canola oil?" I made the buñuelos in that kitchen on set, right up to the last minute. To this day, people still comment on the buñuelos. They're like, "Man, when I saw the buñuelos in the background, I was like, 'That's my mom.'" Little things like this matter to someone and make someone feel represented.
ESQ: In Season Three, for the first time ever, Guillermo experiences what it's like to feel powerful, and what it's like to have power over the vampires. How will power change Guillermo?
HG: I think it’s coming through in his new sense of confidence. If you look at the way Guillermo talks to the vampires in Season One and Season Two, he's very submissive. His tone and inflections are almost a whisper. If I'm not wearing a microphone, you'll barely hear me talk. When I'm rehearsing the lines and we're not mic'd, people will be like, "What did you say?" He's afraid of making a mistake and he's not confident enough to be full-voiced.
The vampires mistreat him and call him names. They don't even know his last name and he's been working there for eleven years now. That does something to your psyche. You're a product of your environment, and he lives and works with these people. If people keep telling you that you’re terrible, you start believing it, even though deep down inside, he knows that he’s not terrible. But can't speak up, because if he speaks up, guess what they do? When he makes the vampires look dumb or when he corrects them for being wrong, they demote him. Remember the movie Matilda, where she loves to read and the parents are like, "No, use your looks”? That's the environment Guillermo is in. Guillermo is Matilda.
ESQ: I think this is why he’s such a fan favorite character. Who among us hasn’t been under-appreciated at work or struggled to summon the courage to ask for more respect?
HG: We're all Guillermos. You've been a Guillermo at one point. You might be a Guillermo right now. You might be a Guillermo tomorrow. But we've all been a Guillermo at one point in our lives. Who hasn't been overlooked for a promotion? Who hasn't been infatuated with someone from afar? Who doesn't sometimes lack the nerve to say how they really feel in the moment?
ESQ: Do you think Guillermo is infatuated with Nandor?
HG: I think Guillermo and Nandor are on a tightrope, and the balancing act is very crucial. One day, you're like, "What's going on with you two?" And the next, you're like, "They’re just really good friends." Other times, you’re like, "Nandor is such a dick to Guillermo. That's a toxic relationship." Like any kind of relationship, whether it be romantic or platonic, there are different layers to it. Different people mean different things to you for different reasons. Because they spend so much time with each other, all those different layers start to blend, and they start to get murky.
ESQ: Something I love about this show is how all the characters are queer. Laszlo's having an orgy, Nadja is inviting a third person into their bedroom, and it’s all casually, beautifully handled. But we know next to nothing about Guillermo’s sexuality. Will we go there in the future?
HG: I think we will. I think it's part of his trajectory, as it is for all of us. There's no right time to come out, and there's no right time to ask yourself about your sexuality. There’s no deadline or timeline for being queer. Being queer isn’t what defines the characters; it’s just natural, as it should be. For so long, queer characters on television have been the token best friend or the sassy hairstylist. People can be queer and live their everyday lives just like heterosexual people. They happen to have sex with people of the same sex, or they're bisexual, or they're pansexual, but their sexuality is just part of their life.
I love the way the writers make it seem like it's just natural. We never focus on Laszlo and Nandor going into the bedroom together because they were like, "Well, I didn't get off. Do you want to help me out?" It's not like, "Oh my god, are they...?" It happened that time. It might happen again. It’s two consenting adults—[er,] two consenting vampires—and it’s no big deal.
ESQ: This conversation comes on the heels of you becoming the first queer Latinx person to be nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy at the Critics Choice Awards. How did you feel when you got that call?
HG: I was so happy about it. Then we found out that this was a history-making moment, which blew my mind. I was like, "Wait, that can't be right. All these years?” It's a good thing, but it's also a bad thing, because it’s 2021 and this is the first time. But let’s do it—let's open that door. When a role opens the door or leaves it ajar for someone who feels that they're not represented, for another round, brown, and proud kid coming up behind me—if it leaves the door ajar for them, then come on in.
ESQ: When you go to conventions or meet fans on the street, do you meet people with whom Guillermo resonates in this way?
HG: They just love him. One of my first conventions was Dragon Con; I went a couple of years ago for the first season. The most touching moment was when a group of people in their late teens or early twenties came up to me dressed as Guillermo and other characters from the show. They were all Latinx. One of the girls who was dressed as Guillermo was crying, and she said, "It fills my heart to know that I see myself on television now."
That really broke my heart, because I can relate. When I was little, I didn't see myself represented on television. It didn’t look like an avenue I could take because there was no one like me on that road. Who was the leader of the caravan? I wasn't compared to other actors coming up in the business, like, "You're like a young Jack Black." Or, "You're like a young John Belushi." I thought, "Where's the Latinx actor that I can be compared to? Where's the Latinx film star that I can be idolizing?” If you don't see yourself represented on television and film, you have to become the first.
ESQ: Speaking of fans and conventions, one episode that’s really taken on cult classic status is “On the Run,” which introduced us to Jackie Daytona. Why do you think that episode has become so iconic?
HG: I think that episode is brilliant. It’s written by Stefani Robinson, one of our executive producers, who’s a brilliant writer. She's a talent and a force to be reckoned with. All the episodes can stand on their own, but "Jackie Daytona" is so great because of the formula. It put Laszlo in a different environment. The idea that no one could tell it was a vampire behind the bar just because he had a toothpick and jeans… that’s hysterical. Matt Berry is comic gold, so it was going to be a hit, whatever disguise he took.
"Jackie Daytona" could have been an iconic episode by itself, but then you add Mark Hamill, and the rest is history. He became such a fan of the show after his kids got him into it. The first day on set with him, we lined up outside the house like it was Downtown Abbey, where everyone lines up to greet the car pulling around.
The boys on the show love, love, love Star Wars. Mark got out of the car, and instantly we could tell what a lovely person he is. He came up to me and exclaimed, “Harvey!” He gave me a huge hug. He hugged all of us, but I remember he hugged me first, which was huge.
ESQ: Do you think Jackie Daytona might come back?
HG: I think he might, although it may be too soon to bring back a favorite like that. We always sprinkle in some things that are fan favorites, or things we can come back to later. If you look at our guest stars, there are always opportunities for a lot of them to come back, even if they seem like they've ended. No one really dies or goes away in the world of the undead. The possibilities are endless, so Jackie Daytona can come back, absolutely, if his services are needed. But Stefani said it best. She said they thought about it and determined that it likely wouldn’t happen this season, because we already had a full slate of ideas and new characters. Why not bring in new characters and keep that on the back burner for the future?
ESQ: What can you tell us about Season Three?
HG: I'm super excited for this season because there are so many storylines happening. We’re with the vampiric council, as well as past partners that might make certain ex-lovers or old familiars a little bit jealous. We're dealing with self-growth. We're dealing with a lot of realizations. I think it's going to be a great season for all the characters. I'm excited for people to see where this will-they-or-won’t-they storyline with Nandor and Guillermo is going. I'm really excited for this scene that Kayvan Novak and I got to do this year, which is at once hilarious, exciting, and maybe even a little frightening.
ESQ: Something special about the show is how great it is for rewatching. Every time I revisit the episodes, I see Guillermo doing something new and strange in the background, or I discover something else I never noticed before.
HG: I’m on the show and I still find those things! I've been on that set for four years now, and every day we’ll discover something new. We find little trinkets and oddities because that set is amazing. I was on set this year looking through the papers we have in the library when I discovered a map for Disneyland from 1973. There are first edition books there, too. I was like, "Should this be in a museum? Should we have these?"
ESQ: This would suggest that the vampires have been to Disneyland, right? Now I want an episode where they make a glorious return to Disneyland.
HG: FX is under 20th Century and Disney, so technically, anything could happen. Look for that in Season Four, maybe. The vampires head to Disneyland.
