Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement’s Procedural ‘What We Do in the Shadows’ Spinoff Ordered as Series

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New Zealand continues to have some difficulties with beings who do things in the shadows — namely, killing lots of people, albeit with astonishingly charming grins and an endearing flair for antiquated mannerisms. In the mockumentary film by Taika Waititi (director of the remarkably lovely Hunt for the Wilderpeople, who’s now directing Thor: Ragnarok) and Jemaine Clement (of Flight of the Conchords, of course), two ineffectual police officers (Mike and Karen, played by Mike Minogue and Karen O’Leary) serve das supporting characters. But they’ll be the central figures in the series, which sounds a bit like a more deadpan Ghostbusters, especially in its title —Paranormal Event Response Unit.

The series, which has been picked up for six 30-minute episodes, will be screened on New Zealand’s TVNZ 2, though presumably at some point US viewers will get a chance to see it. It’s been given $1 million by NZ On Air, whose head Jane Wrightson said of the series, “Comedy is serious business and notoriously hard to get right. We are delighted that Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi are bringing their talents to smaller screens.” As /Film points out, this news is both exciting and surprising, as when Clement had first hinted at the idea for the series, it didn’t seem likely that it’d actually get made, as he’d indicated that they’d been told there was “no money for comedy.”

As you may recall, there’s also a sequel film to What We Do in the Shadows in the works — the werewolf comedy titled, with trademark dryness, We’re Wolves.