Since premiering in 2019 on FX, Jemaine Clement’s series What We Do In The Shadows has received critical and audience acclaim for continuing the narrative started in the 2014 mockumentary of the same name starring Clement and directed by Taika Waititi (who also serves as an executive producer on the series).
The series, which is up for Best Comedy Series at this year’s Emmys, has kept in the spirit of the mockumentary, introducing us to an expanded WWDITS universe of vampires, familiars and other creatures of the ilk – including the character of Guillermo played by Harvey Guillén.
The most recent episode titled “Pine Barrens” was a big moment for the fan favorite familiar as he came out as gay to his family. In a recent interview with GLAAD’s Anthony Allen Ramos, Guillén said that hints of Guillermo’s sexuality were sprinkled in episodes. In the show, Guillermo would be talking to someone who was overseas but we never heard their voice. Even Guillén was wondering who he was supposed to be talking to and he was told it was someone he had been dating – but we didn’t know that person’s gender identity! Now that it’s been revealed Guillermo does in fact has a boyfriend overseas and is about to live his authentic life, Guillén says it’s “safe to say that we have to meet them.” Perhaps he’ll be introduced in season 5…
Guillén wasn’t aware that Guillermo was going to come out. In fact, he did not find out about it until the table read for the episode. Guillén said Guillermo’s coming out to his family was “therapeutic and nostalgic” because it reminded him of his own coming out experience.
“It was so like a mirror,” admitted Guillén.
The actor recently wrote an article for Esquire saying, “It was important to me that I handled Guillermo’s coming out story authentically and with fragile hands”. In the episode, Guillermo invites his family over and he tries to convince them that Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) is his girlfriend. As the episode unravels and the lies pile up, the family eventually finds out that Nadja is a vampire and attempts to kill her. During all the commotion, Guillén ends up coming out and in turn, saves Nadja’s life. At the end of the episode, Nadja erases the evening from his family’s memories – except the moment when Guillermo comes out to them.
Guillén learned that the character’s coming-out story not only reflected his own experience, but the experience of other Latinx people as well. As soon as the episode aired, Guillén’s DMs were filled with Latinx people who had a fear of coming out to their families because they were scared that they wouldn’t be accepted.
He said that he never hid who he was until people told him he was bad for being his authentic self. “I just remember being six years old and going to Mexico with my mom to visit my grandma and I brought my Tonka trucks – I loved Tonka trunks, but I also loved dolls,” he remembered. “So I had both worlds and I liked playing with both.”
He continued, “I went over to the neighbor’s house. These kids were playing on the dirt road and I wanted to play with them and I said, ‘wanna play?’ and they were like, ‘no, we can’t play with you. Because our brother said that you’re a mariposa’ which translates to ‘butterfly’, which is a negative derogatory word for someone who might be gay. I didn’t understand that at the time, I was six years old and these kids are older, and they’re saying words and I was like, ‘what does that mean? I don’t care. Butterflies are cool.’”
He didn’t know what they meant until the inflection they put on it. “I knew that I was different,” said Guillén. “I got my truck and I said, ‘I don’t wanna play with you anyway’. I started walking away and then I felt something graze my ear. When I turned around, it was a rock.” It hit him and he began gushing blood.
“I picked myself up crying and I ran all the way home and I told my mom, ’they called me mariposa’ – Why did they call me mariposa?’” he said. “I could see in her eyes she was taking control of the situation. She knew what they meant. She didn’t want her son to feel different and less than so she said, ‘Que importa? Who cares that they called you mariposa, butterflies are beautiful.’ I knew that we were in it together.”
Guillén said his mom knew something was different about him but he said he could sense she was protecting him. He added that all he “needed in that moment was that love.”
Years later, Guillén formally but casually told his mom that he was queer after she tried to persaude him to date one of his girlfriends – who is also queer. After he came out to her, she responded: “I don’t care as long as you’re happy.”
Coming from Mexican and Catholic descent, Guillén says he knows that he is lucky because there are many people in his position where it wouldn’t be as easy because in the culture, it’s not the norm. Guillén was happy that this was not the case for Guillermo. His coming out wasn’t the demise of the character.
“Coming out was only the beginning and the opening of a future,” said Guillén. “That’s really what it should be – coming out should be at your own pace at your own time. There’s no ticking time bomb. When the time is right, it’s right. Also, never fear that you’ll lose people, because if you lose people for being your authentic self, then they never loved you for being who you are. You deserve a family – your chosen family that you get to be surrounded with; that loves you authentically unconditionally for who you are.”
The show may be a silly comedy about vampires, but Guillermo’s coming-out moment is important. “It’s comedy… everyone drops their guard,” Guillén said. ”It becomes an educational moment where there might be someone watching the show and dropping their guard and [say] ‘I love these characters.’”
So we know that there is a mystery man from overseas that we may be introduced to, but what about the rest of season 4? We asked Guillén if we could expect any other surprises to which he answered, “The final episode of season four is going to change everything.”
What We Do In the Shadows airs Tuesdays at 10pm on FX and is available to stream on Hulu.