Guillermo de la Cruz (2024)

Guillermo de la Cruz is the bodyguard and former familiar of Nandor the Relentless. He is a main character in the What We Do in the Shadows TV series.

Biography[]

Guillermo is Nandor’s human familiar and has wanted to be a vampire since he was a kid. He does chores around the house and keeps the vampires in human blood but this part of the job has started to wear on him since finding out that he is a distant relative of Van Helsing, the famous vampire hunter. He loves his master, but his impatience with waiting to be turned into a vampire has led him to take drastic steps, with unforeseen consequences.^[11]

Early life[]

Guillermo was born in 1992,^[10][9] and was raised as Catholic^[8] by his single mother Silvia in The Bronx.^[12] He spent much of his childhood looking after himself while his mother was at work.^[13]

Guillermo first became interested in vampires as a child after seeing Antonio Banderas portray the Hispanic vampire Armand in Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles. He keeps a framed picture of his younger self dressed as Armand in his room.^[14]

At around ten or eleven years old, Guillermo realized he was gay,^[15] but never came out to his family.

His cousins once took him to a DJ rave where he had a panic attack after he mistook a mint as drugs.^[16]

He worked at Panera Bread^[17] until 2009, when he became Nandor’s familiar with the promise of one day being turned into a vampire. He moved into the supply closet under the stairs at the Vampire Residence with his master, Nandor, Laszlo and Nadja as well as Colin Robinson, the energy vampire. Guillermo worked tirelessly serving the household, forced to stay awake at all hours of the day luring virgins to the house and disposing of their bodies once the vampires had finished with them, cleaning the house and papering over the windows to prevent sunlight from getting inside. During the night he would serve the vampires, leaving very little time for him to sleep.

What We Do in the Shadows (Season 1)[]

In preparation for The Baron's arrival, Guillermo is tasked with supplying fresh virgins for the occasion. He infiltrates the Staten Island Community College LARPing Club and invites two LARPers, Jenna and Jonathan, to the mansion. The Baron kills Laszlo and Nadja's familiar, June instead, which frightens Guillermo. Upon fetching Jenna and Jonathan, he finds them both drained by Colin - rendering them useless as a meal for the other vampires - and lets them go.

Later that night, Guillermo reminds Nandor that it is the tenth anniversary of his service as a familiar. Guillermo had initially believed that The Baron's presence indicated him finally being turned into a vampire, but it turns out that he had misinterpreted Nandor's comments about "making [him] a vampire", and is instead presented with a portrait of the two of them (with Guillermo as Armand) which Nandor had made out of glitter. Once Nandor retires to his coffin, Guillermo considers exposing his room to sunlight and killing him, but ultimately decides against it.^[14]

Once the LARPers have recovered from being drained by Colin, Guillermo brings the vampires directly to the college campus to watch them, but they quickly decide that they would make a poor meal. Guillermo expresses his concern over the Baron’s familiar lurking around the house, as she seems to be always listening in on conversations and popping up randomly. To alleviate some anxiety over this and follow through with The Baron's plans to take over the New World, Guillermo and the vampires take the bus to the Staten Island Borough Council meeting, with the others leaving Guillermo alone to be drained by Colin.^[18]

After Arjan the werewolf's leg is injured by Laszlo's trap, Guillermo bandages him up while he remains unconscious. Arjan wakes and jumps out the window, but quickly returns with his pack. Nandor faces off with Toby in accordance with the Staten Island Lycanthrope and Vampire Agreement of 1993, which Nandor wins by tossing a squeaky toy off the roof of a building, causing Toby to jump off after it. The vampires fly home and leave Guillermo alone with the werewolves, who simply ask his permission to keep the squeaky toy if they find it. Guillermo walks back to the Vampire Residence with two duffel bags full of weapons that were left behind.^[19]

Revisiting their plan to take over the New World, the vampires travel to Manhattan to see Simon the Devious, a former acquaintance and owner of The Sassy Cat Club. There, Guillermo meets with other familiars and realizes that they, like him, are poorly treated. He encounters a vampire intent on eating him, and Nandor halfheartedly protests this. Upset at the lack of appreciation Nandor has for him, Guillermo leaves the club alone, with Nandor following shortly after him. He attempts to make up with Guillermo, and takes him flying over Manhattan, but accidentally drops him onto the roof of a food truck. Guillermo is badly injured from the fall and ends up hospitalized in the room next to Simon, who had blown up his nightclub thanks to the curse on Laszlo's witch skin hat. Nandor tells Guillermo that he thinks of him as a friend, but decides that it doesn't sound right, and hypnotizes him to forget this. Laszlo takes the witch skin hat back from Simon and puts it on, only to discover that it causes Guillermo to flatline each time he does so.^[20]

As Guillermo and Nandor play a game of chess, Nandor witnesses Laszlo (in bat-form) being beaten unconscious with a broom by their new neighbor's girlfriend. Guillermo, Nandor and Colin hurry over to retrieve him, but discover that he was already taken away by Staten Island Animal Control. Nandor flies behind the van with Colin on his back, leaving Guillermo to visit three other animal shelters on his bicycle before eventually meeting back up with the others. Nandor accidentally frees a real bat from the shelter thinking that it was Laszlo, and it flies into Guillermo's face. He calls Nadja to come assist them after Nandor transforms into a dog and gets himself locked up in the cage beneath Laszlo's.^[21]

Colin sensed angry energy from the attic and realized the Baron was finally awakening. Nandor sent Guillermo to bring him red roses. The Baron requested to have a ‘night on the town’ with Nandor, Laszlo and Nadja. The vampires became intoxicated from drinking the blood of drunken and drugged humans. They just about arrived back at the flat as dawn approached, only for the Baron to burn to death in the sunlight when Guillermo opened the front door with the flowers.^[22]

The following night, the vampires buried Afanas in the topiary garden, with no memory of how he was killed. A floating woman arrived and informed the group that they were to be put on trial under the Vampiric Council for their crimes. She led the group to the Temple of Blood-Devourers and made Guillermo wait in the familiars lounge until he was called to testify. The other familiars shared their experiences and admitted they knew very few familiars who became vampires. When Guillermo was called in to testify, he confessed to the murder and the vampires did not believe him as they thought he was either incapable of killing a vampire or lying to protect Nandor. As the council contemplated eating Guillermo, an idea which Nadja agreed with, Nandor confessed to the crime to keep Guillermo safe. The three vampires were sentenced to be killed by being locked in a well and slowly exposed to sunlight. Guillermo was left to escape the underground temple on his own and he accidentally impaled a vampire assistant, Ludwig, on an LED lamp holder after scaring him with his cross. When Guillermo reached the surface, he found Colin, who saved the vampires by shielding the well from the sunlight with a beach umbrella. Guillermo freed the vampires by smuggling them out in a box while they were in bat form.^[23]

When Nandor finally realized that his homeland of Al Quolanudar no longer existed, he felt lost and depressed. Guillermo suggested Nandor complete his application for American citizenship and tried to help him study for the test. While doing this, Guillermo discovered that Jenna was now a vampire and was infuriated that she was transformed before him. Nandor later failed the citizenship test and could not physically recite the word “God” in the Pledge of Allegiance. He bemoaned his failure, causing Guillermo to snap, telling him to stop complaining because he was a vampire. Upon hearing Guillermo's words, Nandor's spirits lifted, and he declared himself to be a proud vampire who didn’t need citizenship. Nandor failed to receive Guillermo’s hint that he wanted to be transformed.^[24]

The vampires were asked to host the Bi-Annual Vampire Orgy. Laszlo and Nadja ordered Guillermo to act as a ceiling mirror and organize their sex toys, causing him to become frustrated and storm to his room. Nandor tried to comfort him by pretending to listen to his problems. The two went shopping for supplies, and Guillermo bumped into Jeremy, his friend since high school. Nandor became attracted to Jeremy’s perceived virginity and chronic nosebleed problem, and he requested Jeremy come to the orgy. Desperate to become a vampire and having exhausted the town’s supply of virgins, Guillermo invited Jeremy to the “party.” Jeremy arrived, and Guillermo hid in his room. Guillermo began to have a panic attack out of guilt. He ran to save Jeremy as Nadja was about to unveil him to the vampires, only to witness Jeremy having sex with another vampire, Constantin. Disappointed, all the vampire guests left, leaving Jeremy safe.^[8]

Guillermo began to feel more lonely and more like a "Renfield" than an Armand. Guillermo sent the DNA of himself and the other vampires to be tested for their ancestry. Laszlo and Nadja refused to look at their results, while Colin discovered that he was 100% white. Guillermo’s test revealed that he was mostly Mestizo, but also 3.12% Dutch as a descendent of the legendary vampire hunter Van Helsing. Having killed two vampires already, Guillermo began to wonder if his destiny was really to be a vampire hunter and kept his test results a secret from the vampires. Laszlo asked Guillermo to get garden stakes to support his new topiary design and berated Guillermo for their resemblance to wooden stakes.^[17]

Nandor discovered he had 200,000 direct living descendants, one of which being a childless woman named Madelaine Darbish living on Staten Island. Despite being warned not to by Colin and Guillermo, Nandor flew up to her window to greet her, not realizing she was 94 years old. Madelaine screamed and dropped dead at the sight. The vampires attended her funeral in a church, and Nandor began to burn at the religious surroundings. Guillermo tried to extinguish the flames but accidentally threw holy water at him, worsening his injuries. An angry Nandor extended Guillermo’s servitude by a whole year. As Nandor slept, Guillermo contemplated using the wooden stakes and then threw them across the room in disgust. To Guillermo’s horror, the stakes pierced the nearby portraits of Nandor, Laszlo and Nadja.^[17]

What We Do in the Shadows (Season 2)[]

During the months leading up to the documentary crew returning, the Vampiric Council sent ten vampire assassins to the Staten Island residence to try to kill the residing vampires. Guillermo successfully killed all of them, sometimes effortlessly, and hid the killings from his roommates so that they would not suspect his vampire hunter heritage. However, the stress of constantly defending his master took its toll on Guillermo, which worsened when Laszlo and Nadja took on a lazy and unbothered new familiar named Topher. Topher’s charm made the vampires treat him more favourably than they did Guillermo.

One night, Topher allowed two vampire assassins to enter the home. After killing them, Guillermo scolded Topher in the yard and advised him to stay away from the nearby koi pond due to the electrical short from the heater. Topher attempted to reset the heater but was electrocuted and instantly killed. The vampires took Topher’s corpse to Wallace, a necromancer, who agreed to bring him back. Wallace carried out the ritual and brought him back to consciousness, but when Topher returned to the house it became increasingly clear that he was a zombie. Guillermo tried to warn the vampires, but they laughed off his concerns. Topher eventually attacked Guillermo and tried to drown him in the koi pond, but Nandor rescued him. Upon realizing Topher couldn’t die, Nandor finally realized he was a zombie, and Guillermo expressed gratitude for Nandor saving him.^[1]

When several objects became misplaced and vandalized around the house, Laszlo and Nandor initially blamed Guillermo until Nadja correctly asserted that they had a ghost infestation. Guillermo helped his roommates hold several séances to bring the ghosts of Nandor, Laszlo and Nadja’s human forms back. Nadja allowed her ghost to secretly stay in the house and possess a doll to remain hidden, although Guillermo eventually found out.^[25]

On the night of the 2020 Superbowl, Guillermo joined a meeting for the small Mosquito Collectors of the Tri-State Area club to look for virgins. The group turned out to be vampire hunters who were delighted to finally have a new member in their group. One member, Shanice, claimed to be the only one who has actually seen a vampire and sadly explained how she witnessed her college roommate turn into a vampire and disappear from her life. Guillermo realized she was talking about Jenna and tearfully admitted to the camera crew that he never thought about the loved ones of the vampire victims. The group then encouraged Guillermo to join them for crossbow practice, which he turned out to be exceptional at. A flustered Guillermo made his excuses and left the meeting early.^[26]

Guillermo decided to continue meeting the Mosquito Collectors in order to infiltrate the group. At the second meeting, the members discussed the house which Shanice believed to be one of the last known locations of Jenna and left in a van to slay the residents inside. Believing the house to be his residence, Guillermo called home in a hushed voice warning them that they will be killed. The vampires, under the impression that they were cursed from a chain email Nandor discovered that night, assumed Guillermo’s voice was that of Bloody Mary and panicked. The club arrived at the house, which turned out to be a completely different home, much to Guillermo’s relief. The group snuck in, split up, and discovered multiple sleeping residents, who suddenly awoke and revealed themselves to be vampires. Guillermo fought them off, killing several of them, and rescued Shanice, Claude and Tonya, but was unable to save Derek, who was taken by the vampires. The group drove away in the van in a state of shock. Upon returning home, his roommates were terrified when they heard him knock on the door and were relieved to see him again as it meant their "curse" had been lifted. Nandor blamed Guillermo for his ordeal since he supplied the laptop, but asked him to stay by his coffin for a while in case anyone tried to kill him.^[27]

Nadja finally discovered that Nandor destroyed her village when she found a painting of the scene in the house. She flew into a rage and tried to kill Nandor while Colin, already drunk on power from a recent promotion at his workplace, feasted on their energy. Colin used his powers to keep the vampires aggravated and Nandor, Nadja and Laszlo continued to argue with each other until they became too weak, also draining Guillermo in the process. Nandor contemplated eating Guillermo, but did not have the strength. The vampires aged rapidly and begged for mercy from Colin, but he rejected it, claiming that they never treated him as a friend. Colin then multiplied himself, creating two more copies, and declared them to be his new friends, but they became embedded in a boring discussion and fed off each other’s energy for sixty-three minutes until they all bored themselves to death. Colin’s roommates recovered and dragged the Colins’ bodies into the yard for a burial. After they gave a heartfelt eulogy, the original Colin suddenly awakened, admitting that he pretended to be dead in order to hear it. His clones remained dead, and Guillermo buried them.^[28]

Guillermo ended up burying so many human victims in the front yard that sinkholes started to emerge from the rotting cadavers. One night, while the residents tried to locate each one, a vampire named Jim suddenly appeared. Guillermo hid, and Nandor suggested Jim eat Guillermo, much to his chagrin. However, Jim was only interested in Laszlo, who had failed to pay the rent on Jim's beach house one hundred and sixty-seven years ago. Laszlo ran away and did not return for several weeks until the feud was resolved.^[29]

When Nadja discovered a poorly Simon living in the sewers of Staten Island with his only remaining companions, Carol and Count Rapula, she invited him to stay at her home. Carol was immediately hostile towards Guillermo, and all the vampires assumed she wanted to eat him. However, when the two were later alone, she finally spoke and correctly accused him of being a slayer of vampires. She attacked him, and Guillermo defended himself with a broken broom, impaling and killing her. Her body immediately turned into ash, and Nandor arrived at the scene to investigate the sounds. He saw the dust, and Guillermo broke down, admitting that he accidentally killed her, leaving Nandor shocked and suspicious. Nandor insisted they keep the incident a secret to protect them both, and Guillermo “dusted” Carol’s remains away. Simon assumed that she had simply ran away. Guillermo, along with his roommates, later refused to help Simon when he stole back Laszlo’s hat and began to drown in sewer water as a result of the hat’s curse.^[30]

Benjy, an elderly former familiar who was abandoned and had his memory wiped by Nandor, returned to the Staten Island household, saying his memories returned and he was ready to become a vampire. Guillermo discovered that Celeste, a familiar he knew who served the vampire Houston, had been turned into a vampire. She was recruiting multiple familiars and promising to turn them within eight months. Guillermo was so upset at Nandor’s treatment of Benjy that he left to serve Celeste. Guillermo moved into Celeste’s luxury apartment while Houston was away on a trip to Florida. Meanwhile, Benjy struggled to serve Nandor due to his old age. Nandor tried to convince Guillermo to return but was unsuccessful, as Guillermo's living conditions had greatly improved under Celeste's authority. When Houston returned home early from her trip, Celeste admitted she was only pretending to be a vampire. Houston and her vampire friends attacked the familiars, and Guillermo fled with Sam, a cat familiar. Nandor found Guillermo outside and took him back, agreeing to grant Guillermo more respect and more days off. Nandor secretly turned Benjy into a vampire and had Guillermo drop him off at a rest stop.^[3]

Guillermo began to receive one day a week off and contemplated getting a part-time job. One night, Nandor and Laszlo were both kidnapped by a coven of witches. Guillermo drove after them with Nadja and Colin to their hideout, an aromatherapy store in Brooklyn. The three were captured and locked in a strange room covered in doors, but Guillermo managed to find the one leading to the exit. They arrived in the room where Nandor and Laszlo were held, with the witches intending to take the vampires’ sem*n using dangerous surgical tools for their magic. Guillermo offered to sell the witches Nandor and Laszlo’s sem*n on a regular basis, so that the vampires would be unharmed and the witches would have an endless supply. The witches agreed to this and freed their captives.^[4]

Despite his recent fortunes, Guillermo was troubled by the conflict between his familiar responsibilities and vampire-slaying lineage. He left the house without warning and moved back to Silvia's apartment while the vampires struggled to manage without him. Silvia's fridge broke, so he snuck back into the Staten Island house to retrieve his mini fridge, previously owned by Topher. He returned to find the house empty save for Nadja’s ghost, who told him the others were at the Nouveau Théâtre des Vampires. Guillermo saw the invite and realized it was a trap laid by the Vampiric Council. He armed himself and headed to the theatre. He hid above the stage as his masters, who had been blamed for the murders of the vampires that Guillermo had killed, were about to be executed. He swung down and killed most of the attendees, saving the vampires and revealing his hunting skills.^[12]

What We Do in the Shadows (Season 3)[]

After Guillermo revealed his vampire slaying skills, his former roommates kept him prisoner in the basem*nt. However, due to their incompetence, Guillermo was able to sneak out of his cage every morning after Colin Robinson left for work so that he could continue to do his familiar duties. His roommates did not notice this due to their lack of appreciation for him. He revealed his ability to escape when he attempted to defend his roommates against the Guide, who arrived as a representative of the Supreme Worldwide Vampiric Council. A message from the Council revealed that Guillermo has killed 70% of the most powerful vampires in the tristate area. After Nandor, Nadja, Laszlo, and Colin were chosen to be the leaders of the Vampiric Council, they put Guillermo on trial for his murders. They ultimately chose not to kill him and appointed him as their bodyguard, promoting him from his familiar position.They then all simultaneously hypnotized him to ensure that he will never harm them, not realizing that Guillermo had actually become immune to hypnotism.^[31]

In a bid to seduce Meg, a gym receptionist, Nandor asked Laszlo to disguise himself as Nandor using the Cloak of Duplication in order to ask her out. Laszlo failed and passed the cloak to Guillermo, who ended up leading Meg to believe he and Nandor were in a romantic relationship. She told Guillermo to be more open about his feelings, leaving him overwhelmed and having to excuse himself.^[32]

When Nandor announced plans to propose to his on-and-off girlfriend Gail, Guillermo became worried that he wouldn't be able to protect him as closely. Gail turned out to be a werewolf and a member of the Staten Island Werewolf Support Group. When tensions rose between the vampires and werewolves, Guillermo suggested their resolve their differences “Twilight style” with a game of kickball. Nadja accidentally killed Gail with the ball and Nandor brought her back as a vampire-werewolf hybrid, with Guillermo clearly dismayed at Nandor's lack of hesitance to turn her into a vampire. Gail subsequently turned down Nandor's proposal.^[33]

The roommates went on their first vacation in decades when their neighbor Sean invited them to the Monaco Grand Hotel and Casino facility for his wedding vow renewal. After the first night, the vampires struggled to sleep in the hotel and realized that the soils of their homelands had been hoovered up by housekeeping. Guillermo flew to London, Antipaxos and Southern Iran to collect new soil. Laszlo borrowed money from Sean to pay for the tickets. Once Guillermo returned with the soil, he helped his roommates use their newly regained powers to fix a boxing match to earn enough money to pay Sean back. They rewarded Guillermo with a doily for his efforts.^[15]

Nandor and Nadja were presented with the opportunity to act as head judge for several vampire tribunals. In a bid for power, Guillermo convinced them into having him disguise himself as a vampire and sit on the single throne in the Chamber of Judgement. Under Guillermo's suggestion, they sentenced Iorek the Knavish to imprisonment for multiple vampicide. Guillermo was shocked, however, to realize that the next defendant was Derek. Despite his crimes being significantly lighter, Nandor and Nadja sentenced him to death in order to not look soft. Guillermo rescued Derek from the well and had him put on trial again, with a drunken Laszlo defending him. Guillermo convinced the judges that Derek's petty crimes occurred because he was left without a mentor, and Laszlo “offered” to fill that role as an alternative to execution.^[34]

Nandor and Nadja's negligence caused the Sire, the progenitor of all vampires in the world, to escape his cell in the Temple of Blood-Devourers. This caused panic among the Council due to the superstition that when a vampire dies, any vampires they created will also expire. Laszlo suddenly realized that if the Baron was dead, Nadja should have also died too. He, Colin and Guillermo raced home to exhume Afanas. The Baron, in surprisingly good spirits, agreed to help the team find the Sire. The group tracked the Sire to a supermarket, where Nandor initially tried to use Guillermo as bait before accepting responsibility for the escape. The Sire was eventually calmed when Afanas spoke to him in their ancient language and became his roommate.^[6]

In a single night, Guillermo had to help Nadja find her ghost after she ran away, and help Colin escape capture from a siren. Guillermo, Nadja and Nandor followed the ghost into a toy store, where she kept moving from host to host before running outside. As they chased after her, Laszlo arrived to have Guillermo assist him in buying noise-cancelling headphones to protect himself from the siren song and rescue Colin.^[35]

When Nandor fell into a depression, he was sent to confront Jan, a vampire who had not been paying her union fees. Nandor ended up getting lured into her Post-Chiropteran Wellness Center cult, a group of vampires who were trying to become human again. He left the house and refused to turn Guillermo as he went. Guillermo eventually became concerned and snuck into the cult's wellness center. He was soon caught and he kidnapped Nandor, fighting off several cult members in the process. He trapped Nandor in a car using silver-lined seatbelts and locked him in the basem*nt cage.^[36]

Nandor's roommates were horrified to find him under the belief that he was a human, and began trying to deprogram him. Their efforts made him even less happy and he decided to take a “super slumber”. His roommates were deeply saddened by this but respected his wishes, and he attempted to go to sleep his own coffin. The guide then arrived to announce that the household would be hosting a feast in honour of the Supreme Worldwide Vampiric Council. During the feast, Laszlo privately broke the news to Guillermo and Nadja that Colin was going to die that night, having reached the end of his natural lifespan. Colin announced that he would go to bed as he had a stomach-ache, and roommates realised his death was soon to come. As Colin lay in his bed, Guillermo, Nadja and Laszlo discussed their friendship. As Guillermo left to fetch Nandor, Colin passed away.^[10]

Guillermo posed for a portrait in Colin's honor. During the painting, tensions rose, and Nandor stormed off and told the camera crew that he was planning to leave Staten Island on his own. Guillermo insisted that he needed to go with him as his bodyguard. He finally revealed that the “hypnosis” Nandor carried out on him didn’t work, and the two had a fight, with Guillermo gaining the upper hand. Nandor told Guillermo that he had passed his “test” and proved that he can take care of them both. Nandor invited Guillermo to accompany him on his journey, promising that he would turn him into a vampire once they reach the River Tigris.

Meanwhile, Laszlo and Nadja decided they would return to the UK for Nadja's new senior role within the council. However as they packed, Laszlo discovered that Colin had been reborn as an infant, and secretly realized he needed to take care of him. As Laszlo and Nadja went to the port of New York and New Jersey, Guillermo accompanied them to say goodbye, with the intention of returning to take Nandor to the train station for his travels. After Nadja and her doll settled into her coffin in a box, Laszlo pushed Guillermo into his coffin and nailed the box shut. Laszlo wrote a letter to Nadja explaining that he could not accompany her to the UK and had shipped Guillermo instead to look after her. Nandor sadly boarded his train alone, leaving Guillermo's luggage at the station, while Guillermo was trapped in Laszlo's coffin with only Oreo cookies and Pedialyte to survive on.^[37]

What We Do in the Shadows (Season 4)[]

At some point after arriving in London with Nadja, Guillermo began dating Freddie. When Nadja quit her job at the Supreme Worldwide Vampiric Council, she shipped Guillermo back to the Vampire Residence in a crate, again with a supply of Oreos and Pedialyte to sustain him. Guillermo live-streamed the first 3 hours of his week-long journey, during which he attempts to come out to his mother, but fails to do so before his cellphone runs out of battery.^[38]

He arrives at the Vampire Residence before Nadja, and spends a week banging on the lid of the crate, but Laszlo mistakenly believes that the noise is coming from the pipes. Nadja opens the crate and lets Guillermo out, who is angry at the vampires for his mistreatment. He tries to leave, but falls through the floor into the flooded basem*nt, with Nandor jumping after Guillermo to rescue him. The two discuss their forced separation at the train station, with Nandor accusing Guillermo of abandoning him, though he states that he forgives him, as it's in the past. Nandor informs Guillermo that he is getting married, though he does not yet know who to, and Guillermo agrees to be the best man at his wedding.

Guillermo expresses concern over the treatment of baby Colin after witnessing Laszlo feed him cereal out of a dog bowl, and works to improve the safety of the house by patching holes in the floor. He pledges to put himself first, but only after ensuring that Colin is safe and Nandor's wedding goes well.^[13]

Nandor begins his search for a wife, and Guillermo stumbles upon his secret treasure room housing the dowry which he brought back with him from Al Qolnidar. Among the treasure is a djinn lamp, which Guillermo suggests rubbing counter-clockwise, rather than clockwise as Nandor has always done before. This summons the Djinn, who grants Nandor's wish to reanimate his 37 dead wives. Guillermo is instructed to install bunk beds for each of the wives in the attic, which he does, along with buying clothing and food for them.

On his way back from Target, Guillermo speaks with Freddie on the phone, but quickly hangs up once he realizes the camera crew is filming him. He states that he feels no jealousy toward Nandor's wives because he only wishes for Nandor to be happy, and is "in a very good place right now" with regards to his romantic life.

Colin makes his way down to the basem*nt to smash the walls of his bedroom, and Guillermo and Nandor go downstairs to fetch him. Guillermo chastises Nandor for letting him wander off alone, and adds that he is exhausted, and hasn't slept in weeks. With much of his time spent looking after Nandor's wives and Colin, he's neglected his own family, and has missed his mother's birthday three years in a row.

Laszlo and Nadja approach Guillermo to try and get him to sleep with The Guide in an attempt to convince her to allow Nadja to open a vampire nightclub in the Temple of Blood-Devourers. He initially declines, but upon Guillermo's own request, Nadja promises to make him the nightclub's accountant, and he agrees to it. When he meets with her, The Guide states that she no longer opposes the nightclub, and suggests that she and Guillermo remain friends instead.^[39]

With Colin growing rapidly, Guillermo is kept busy by ensuring he has clothes that fit him. Laszlo sees Colin filming a YouTube video and accuses Guillermo of encouraging him to be boring, but he insists that Colin is simply enjoying normal hobbies a child his age should. He accidentally lets slip that Colin likes musical theatre, which prompts a disagreement between the two where Guillermo argues that Laszlo should learn to accept Colin for who he is, rather than trying to change him.

Nandor tells Guillermo that he plans on wishing for the world's biggest penis, but Guillermo stops him last-minute to ensure the Djinn is unable to intentionally misinterpret the wish. Together they write a list of specifics for Nandor's wish, which the Djinn admits has bested him, and compliments Guillermo's thoroughness. Nandor thanks him sarcastically, adding that every time he uses his "new big dick" he'll think of Guillermo and everything he's done for him. Djinn asks if this is Nandor's wish, and grants it. Later, Nandor informs Guillermo that he thought of him while he was having sex with Marwa.

While at Nadja's nightclub with the others, Richie Suck's performance goes over poorly with the audience and Nadja ends up being pushed off of the stage. Guillermo rushes forward to get to Nadja, wielding a stake in one hand, but Colin begins performing and quickly calms the crowd. Guillermo enthusiastically cheers him on through his performance.^[9]

Before leaving for the Night Market along with the vampires, Guillermo abruptly ends a phone call with Freddie, informing him that he has to take care of a "work thing". He questions how safe it is for him to attend as a human, and is told that he could pass as an orc.

At the Night Market, Nandor excitedly brings Guillermo to watch the familiar fights, a concept which Guillermo voices his disapproval over. Nandor accidentally volunteers Guillermo to compete, and he manages to get through several fights without injuring his opponents. Once he defeats the final familiar, he is pitted against the champion vampire, Gorgo the Murderer. Nandor takes Guillermo aside to tell him he shouldn't fight Gorgo for fear of his safety, but Guillermo reminds Nandor that he is a vampire-killer. Despite this, Guillermo believes it would be a bad idea to kill a vampire in front of everyone, and Nandor steps in to fight Guillermo in Gorgo's stead. The two face off, and Guillermo accidentally kills Gorgo with a stake thrown at Nandor. Eventually Guillermo gains the upper hand and holds a stake to Nandor's chest, who concedes and tells Guillermo to kill him, ashamed that he cannot best his familiar. Guillermo instead suggests that Nandor pretend to kill him so that they can both leave the arena, and he jumps over Guillermo to fake snapping his neck. Guillermo falls to the ground, supposedly dead, and Nandor carries him away.^[5]

As Colin reaches school-age, he becomes increasingly destructive, continuing to hammer holes in his bedroom walls in addition to setting things on fire, disturbing the other vampires while they slumber, and chasing Guillermo with weapons. Guillermo suggests enrolling him in public school so that he may burn off his excess energy, but Laszlo pushes back against this until Sean mentions that he went to Helen Country Day School when he was young. With Sean's help arranging a meeting with the headmaster of the school, the vampires attempt to explain their unusual family structure and how they have raised Colin. Guillermo, knowing the most about Colin, offers assistance with questions such as his age and hobbies. After several different attempts to present Laszlo and Nadja, Nadja and Nandor, and Nandor and Laszlo as Colin's parents fail, Guillermo's knowledge has him to pose as Colin's singular parent. The headmaster requests school transcripts, and Guillermo bribes his former guidance counselor to forge documents for him.

Believing that he is no longer being filmed by the documentary crew, Guillermo visits his mother at her new apartment she is in the process of moving into. He gives her some cash, and after spotting the cameras, runs over to attempt to bribe the crew in exchange for cutting the incriminating footage, though they refuse it. It is revealed that Guillermo has been taking a cut of the money from the nightclub without telling Nadja, and has been using it to take care of his mother (as well as buying expensive clothing, watches and a new vehicle for himself).^[40]

With Nandor's wedding rapidly approaching, Guillermo works around the clock to get things ready. He foregoes sleep and keeps himself awake by drinking energy drinks. Fed up with Nandor's insistence that everyone is trying to sabotage the wedding while not using any of his wishes to help with the impossible tasks he's assigned, Guillermo storms off and destroys the fancy room. Nadja and The Guide overhear this and offer their help. Guillermo visits a convenience store to buy more energy drinks for himself and runs into Derek, who now works as a cashier. Noticing that Derek is lonely and seems to hold some animosity toward him and the others for not keeping in touch, Guillermo invites him to the wedding.

At the wedding, Nandor continues to worry that others are against his marriage to Marwa, and Guillermo suggests that he may be projecting his own objections onto others because he is the one unsure about the marriage. Nandor admits that he is afraid, and Guillermo reassures him that things will turn out okay because he'll be by Nandor's side. Nandor thanks him for being his best man, and the wedding proceeds.

After the ceremony, Guillermo is visited by Marwa, who enthusiastically thanks him for his hard work with several kisses. He then leaves the reception to sleep on a bench, and Nandor later finds baby Colin and Doll Nadja drawing a penis on his forehead.^[41]

Believing that he is alone at the Vampire Residence while Laszlo, Nandor, and baby Colin are away at Sean's hunting cabin, Guillermo invites his family over to celebrate his grandmother's birthday. He tells everyone that the mansion is his own, and that he now works at the railroad, having gotten a promotion from Panera Bread. His mother, grandmother and aunt seemingly believe his story, but his cousin Miguel becomes suspicious, poking holes in Guillermo's lies about there being a Panera Bread located at Penn Station for him to have been promoted from.

Nadja, who up until this point has been in the attic with Marwa, Doll Nadja and The Guide, heads downstairs for a refill of blood to drink, and interrupts Guillermo and his family's dinner. Guillermo attempts to explain Nadja's appearance to his family as her being the maid, but his mother recognizes her as Guillermo's "girlfriend", Daphne, as he had previously used an image of Nadja to stop his mother from setting him up with her church friend's niece.

Guillermo's grandmother asks him to show her to the bathroom, and as soon as they are away from the rest of the family, she warns him that Nadja is a vampire. He returns to dinner, where Nadja seems to be hitting it off with his family, but quickly realizes that she is in danger when a minor misunderstanding turns heated.

They chase Nadja out of the room and down the hallway, each with a makeshift stake in hand, until Guillermo gets in between them and pleads for them not to hurt her. He explains that he knew all along that Nadja was a vampire, that he works for her, and not the other way around, because he wishes to eventually become a vampire himself. Among other confessions, he admits that Nadja isn't his girlfriend, because he's gay. His family tells him they've known for quite a while, and are more concerned about his desire to become a vampire, and the five of them hug.

Nadja then hypnotizes the group, intending to drain them of their blood, but Guillermo asks her to instead send them away after selective hypnosis to make them forget everything aside from his coming out. She complies, as she doesn't want him to have to watch his entire family die in front of him like she did, but in exchange asks that he keep the others away for at least one night a month so that she can have the house to herself, as well as a copy of Mamma Mia! 2: Here We Go Again.^[42]

With the mansion having been selected for an episode of Go Flip Yourself, Bran and Toby Daltry arrive at the Vampire Residence unannounced, prompting Nadja to drain and kill Toby immediately. Guillermo buries him in the front yard, not realizing he's on camera until Nandor runs to tell him.

Once the plans for renovation are revealed, Guillermo pushes back against it, pointing out how the proposed changes - such as how the large windows to let in natural light would be dangerous, and that a golden toilet is useless to them - will be worse than the current state of the house. Despite this, Nandor, Laszlo, and Nadja decide to proceed with renovations. Bran mentions re-sodding the lawn, and Guillermo runs off to dig up and move all of the dead bodies that have been buried around the property.

Guillermo then poses as the City Building Inspector's office over the phone to try and prevent the renovations from proceeding, citing a need for proper permits. Bran informs the vampires that the budget will need to be reallocated into getting Guillermo's room up to code, which Nadja and Nandor object to, but eventually agree to.

After the big reveal, Guillermo revisits his bedroom to find that nothing has changed aside from a single poster hung on the wall, with the floor still flooded with sewage from the septic tank.^[43]

Guillermo plans to pick up his boyfriend, Freddie from the airport so they can spend the weekend together, but Freddie surprises him by showing up at the Vampire Residence instead. He is introduced to Nandor and told that Nandor is a dementia patient Guillermo looks after in an attempt to explain away Nandor's strange behavior. Nandor quickly develops a crush on him, and - not wanting to cheat on Marwa or steal Freddie from Guillermo - he uses a Djinn wish to replace Marwa with an exact copy of Freddie. Guillermo takes Freddie out on a date, and unbeknownst to him, Nandor does the same with his own Freddie, narrowly avoiding running into each other.

When Guillermo returns to the Vampire Residence to get his insoles, he sees Nandor and the Freddie clone naked in the fancy room. Guillermo is confused at first, and Nandor explains the situation just before the real Freddie enters the house to spot his clone, and the two start screaming. Nandor hypnotizes both Freddies to prevent them from freaking out about the situation, and they begin playing charades while Nandor and Guillermo time them. Nandor mistakenly believes things are going exceptionally well between the four of them, but Guillermo is upset that Nandor didn't consider how he would feel, rather than simply being happy for Guillermo in his first long-term relationship, he's made it all about himself. He attempts to leave with Freddie, but Nandor informs him he's taken the Freddie clone rather than the real one, and Guillermo angrily pulls the other Freddie away while instructing him not to speak to the clone.

The real Freddie returns home, but the two continue to keep in contact over the internet. Being around Nandor and his Freddie clone proves difficult for Guillermo, who has to deal with the couple being affectionate around him, as well as with the clone frequently inserting himself between Guillermo and the real Freddie.

Nandor reflects on his actions and realizes that what he did was wrong, and sends the Freddie clone off to travel the world. Guillermo flies to London to surprise his Freddie, only to find the real and clone Freddies have begun dating each other, and he turns and leaves without confronting either of them.^[2]

With Colin's growth spurt suddenly putting him at a difficult age, Guillermo focuses his attention on helping Laszlo co-parent him. When Colin steals and crashes Sean's car, Guillermo attempts to calm Laszlo down and stop the two from arguing, and deduces that Colin now feeds by infuriating rather than boring people.

Guillermo realizes that with Colin nearly grown up and Marwa gone, there's not much to do around the house anymore aside from the usual cleaning, which has become boring and repetitive to him, and once Nadja burns down the night club, his job as its accountant also falls through. Rethinking his life and role at the Vampire Residence, Guillermo goes to see Derek, offering him the funds he embezzled from the night club in exchange for turning him into a vampire.^[44]

What We Do in the Shadows (Season 5)[]

Personality[]

Relationships[]

Powers & Abilities[]

Being a descendant of Van Helsing, Guillermo's vampire hunter blood gives him special powers:

• Enhanced Reflexes: Guillermo's natural human reflexes are enhanced to a point where he can fight and even kill vampires.
• Enhanced Accuracy: Guillermo has a high degree of accuracy with throwing and ranged weapons.
• Natural Fighting Talent: Guillermo is naturally a very talented hand-to-hand fighter. He was able to fight Nandor to a draw.
• Natural Weapon Proficiency: Guillermo is naturally a very talented weapon fighter. He was able to fight Nandor to a draw.
• Hypnosis Immunity: Due to being hypnotized repeatedly by others Guillermo is now Immune to vampire Hypnosis.
• Vampire conversion resistance: As revealed in season 4 episode 9 because of his Van Helsing genes it is harder to convert him into a vampire.

Trivia[]

• Guillermo has chosen the title “Guillermo the Great” for himself, if he is ever to become a vampire.^[17]
• Guillermo is a talented baker.^[26]
• He and Jeremy were bullied at school.^[8]
• Guillermo is fluent in Spanish.
• According to his mother, Guillermo went through a goth phase.

Behind the Scenes[]

• Guillermo's first name is a reference to Guillermo del Toro, a fellow Mexican and the director of vampire films Blade II and Cronos.
• Guillermo’s surname, "de la Cruz", is first seen in “Ancestry” when he checks his DNA results. His full name translates to “Protector of The Cross”, a nod to his Van Helsing DNA and inherited talents as a vampire hunter.
  • Harvey Guillén chose the surname by asking, “Can I give him a last name? I feel like he’s not whole if he doesn’t have a last name.”^[45]
  • Harvey Guillén's character in Blue Beetle, Dr. Sanchez, shares the same last name, "de la Cruz."
• When asked about Guillermo's sexuality, Harvey Guillén stated, "I can certainly say that identify him as queer because he always has borderline hom*oerotic moments with his master".^[46] This has also been alluded to in the show in the Season 3 episode, The Casino, in which he is asked about his preference for romantic relationships. Guillermo grows flustered when Nadja inquires about a possible boyfriend, in response, Guillermo says that his family keeps their "private life" private and comes close to confirming his sexuality before he's cut off by the wedding party. Guillermo's sexuality is later confirmed in the Season 4 episode, Pine Barrens, when he comes out as gay to his family and Nadja.
• The character of Guillermo was originally intended to be middle-aged, but the producers changed this when casting Harvey Guillén.^[47]

Gallery[]

Other Appearances[]

• A Shadows Short (Web series)
  • The Dangers of Fighting Werewolves
• What We Do in the Shadows Promotional Trailers
  • Season 1: "Birthday",^[48]
  • Season 2: "Turning Him",^[49] "Coming to America",^[50] "Roommates",^[51] "Guillermo Tells All"^[52]
  • Season 3: "Kickball",^[53] "Friend"^[54]
  • Season 4: "Party",^[55] "Guillermo's Journey of a Lifetime"^[56]
• Guillermo's Stakeout

References[]