Matt Berry Fanboying Over Mark Hamill Is Extremely Relatable
It's not every day that you get into a bar fight with Luke Skywalker, but actor Matt Berry got to participate in this scenario when Mark Hamill guest-starred on an episode of "What We Do in the Shadows." This FX comedy series follows vampires Nandor, Laszlo, Nadja, and Colin Robinson in their daily (or nightly) lives in Staten Island with their human familiar, Guillermo. The show quickly became a hit amongst fans, and it now has a fourth season scheduled to premiere in 2022.
Fans particularly loved the Season 2 episode "On the Run," in which Laszlo Cravensworth (played by Berry) encounters Jim the Vampire (played by Hamill), who seeks vengeance on him for not paying rent at his motel 167 years prior. Instead of paying Jim the money or facing him in battle, Laszlo flees to Pennsylvania (because it sounds like Transylvania) and assumes the identity of a human bartender named Jackie Daytona.
At the end of the episode, Jim discovers Laszlo's secret identity, and the two of them get into a bar fight intensified by their vampiric powers. What really stood out in this scene was when they held pool cues like lightsabers before turning them into makeshift crucifixes and burning each other with them. This was enough to make fans and Berry himself geek out, and who could blame them?
The Force was strong with this vampire
According to SyFy, when discussing Hamill's episode at Comic-Con a couple of years ago, show producer/writer Stefani Robinson said, "This specific instance we knew somewhat ahead of time that he was gonna be there, and had enough time to write the part specifically geared toward him, I think." Executive producer Paul Simms added that Hamill picking up the pool cue was a real "oh my god" moment for everyone involved, as it was improvised by the actor himself. Simms also claimed that he had never seen Matt Berry "so giggly" as he was around that scene. Here's how Berry described it:
"Well, you've got to understand what that was like. I was stood in front of Luke Skywalker, and he held something like that right in front of me, and yeah, it doesn't matter how cool you like think you are or how in-character you are, you're not. You're seven years old with Luke Skywalker right in front of you."
But Berry hid his boyish excitement well during his hilarious and intense duel with Hamill. The latter also succeeded in flexing his comedic chops during this scene and the episode as a whole, especially when he orders a "human alcohol beer" and secretly throws it away.
A rematch for the ages
In the end, Hamill's episode set a new standard for the show, which has taken different directions in the episodes that followed with new formats and settings. For instance, in Season 3, audiences saw the vampires spend more time at the Vampiric Council Headquarters and travel outside of Staten Island more often (similar to Laszlo as he escaped to Pennsylvania), going to places like Atlantic City, Queens, and Plum Island.
However, fans are hoping they'll get to see Laszlo face off against Jim again, and the ending to their first episode together leaves the door open for a rematch. Their episode ended with Laszlo making a truce with Jim by giving him a Big Mouth Billy Bass. But after breaking his new treasure and realizing it wasn't as priceless as he was led to believe, Jim shouts the name "Cravensworth" in anger, implying that he will seek retribution from his immortal enemy once more. Perhaps audiences will get to see them have a volleyball fight, as Jim had taken up the role as a coach for the team he and Laszlo loved so much.