Every film and TV show is made exponentially funnier and just plain better with Matt Berry in it, even if only his unmistakable voice is heard. (See: his dual roles in Fallout.) While it’s a shame he won’t be in every single upcoming Fall TV premiere, he will return as one of Staten Island’s undead elite in What We Do in the Shadows’ final season. It doesn’t sound like he gets many fans asking for spoilers, but they do apparently yell his character’s signature exclamation at him pretty regularly.
While fans would be well within the realm of canonical references to go up to Berry and ask him to take part in supernatural orgies, that’s not very polite here in the real world. Instead, the IT Crowd vet told Deadline that gleeful viewers most often bring up Laszlo’s transformation mammal, and aren’t exactly quiet or clandestine about it. In his words:
It’s not just things from Shadows, it’s things from all kinds of shows. But if it’s Shadows, then I’ll hear someone shout, ‘Bat!’ And people don’t do it within a meter of you, they’ll make sure that they’re at least 50 meters away. It’s weird, because it can happen any time of the day, day or night, I could have been out somewhere and be walking home in the early hours, and someone will shout, ‘Bat!’ in the distance. Or I can be up first thing at five in the morning and I can hear someone shouting ‘Bat!’ in the distance. So, it really doesn’t make any difference what time of day, I’ve found out.
I love the idea of someone realizing that they’re about to cross paths with Matt Berry, and then hightailing it in the other direction for a few seconds, just to make sure they’re at least 50 feet away before hollering “Bat!” at him. What would really sell it is if they’d actually turn into bats afterward, but that probably goes against science or something.
That said, I can easily see how life might become a bit unnerving for the Toast of London co-creator, with the thought that at any time of day or night, anywhere in the world, he might be seconds away from someone randomly yelling “Bat!” It’s basically a Far Side comic. We can only hope this doesn’t lead to a “Boy Who Cried Bat” situation, where someone is suffering from bites from a rabid bat, but Matt Berry just thinks someone is calling out to him.
Berry did thankfully offer up quite the intriguing teaser for fans to gnaw on while waiting for new episodes, saying this when asked about the sixth season.
I’m excited about the last season coming out because there’s some pretty cool stuff in the finale, things that I’ve never seen anyone else do. So, I’m quite excited to see what people’s reaction to that will be. There are lots of special guests, but it contains what I think is a pretty cool finale. I mean, they can go one way or the other, can’t they? People can spend days and days talking about how much they hated a finale or how much they loved it. So, who knows? But I think it’s cool.
Coincidentally enough, Matt Berry guest-starred in the final season of Curb Your Enthusiasm earlier this year, which enjoyably paid meta-tribute to Seinfeld’s infamous final episode. I can’t imagine Shadows will do any similar pop culture mirroring, but it sounds like it’ll be an unforgettable finale all the same.
After his vampire arc is through, Berry will pop up in a couple of upcoming sci-fi movies, namely the DreamWorks’ The Wild Robot and Duncan Jones’ animated comic adaptation Rogue Trooper, and he’ll also be lending his dulcet tones to The Cat in the Hat with Bill Hader.
What We Do in the Shadows is one of many series ending in 2024, but I’m saving my mourning for after the season is over. Join me in sinking some teeth into Season 6 when it arrives on FX on Monday, October 21, and stay tuned for all the other upcoming horror TV shows!