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From moments into the pilot episode when both Nadja and Laszlo individually confess to having sexual affairs with Baron Afanas, What We Do in the Shadows has always been casually yet delightfully queer. As many fans of the show know by now, the vampires are clearly pansexual, although these labels are not used in the series. Nandor has his harem of 37 "girl wives” and “guy wives" brought back from the dead, Nadja's human lover Gregor was once reincarnated as a washerwoman among many other forms… and as for the extremely licentious Laszlo? "Anything gets me hard”, he nonchalantly announces to the cameras.

It’s not just the vampires that are LGBTQIA+. Long-suffering familiar/ bodyguard/ eventual badass Guillermo de la Cruz (played wonderfully by Harvey Guillén) came out as gay to his family in a very sweet and poignant scene in the show's fourth season, and viewers were properly introduced to his boyfriend Freddie in the season's penultimate episode. But throughout the show's run, there seem to be more layers to Guillermo's orientation and identity than meets the eye. On closer examination, it could be that Guillermo is demisexual/ homoromantic.

For context, demisexuality is when someone eventually experiences sexual attraction to a person through an emotional bond developed with them rather than instantly at first glance. It comes under the asexuality umbrella, a part of the LGBTQIA+ community which is already sorely underrepresented in mainstream culture (including the horror genre, where sexuality is a prominent trope. This may be thanks to its roots in gothic literature but that's another story.) Positive representation from the ace community (such as asexual activist and model Yasmin Benoit and the character Todd from BoJack Horseman) helps to show that asexual people can still fall in love and happily be either sex-favourable, indifferent or rather uncomfortable with the idea. This, of course, includes demisexuals, and with this in mind, demisexuality seems to fit Guillermo rather well.

Guillermo does show signs of asexuality throughout the show. Unlike the highly promiscuous vampires, he appears to have no sexual interest, needs or desire whatsoever. Yes, Guillermo has had a strict Catholic upbringing but that's not to say asexuality doesn't play a part in it either. As mentioned before, it is definitely possible to be sex-favourable without having the desire to engage in sexual activity directly, especially in asexuality. (And it’s difficult to imagine the average vampire’s familiar lasting very long in their career if they weren’t sex-favourable, or at least indifferent.)

A notable example of Guillermo’s asexuality is in Season 1’s episode “The Orgy”, in which the vampire residence has been selected to host the Bi-annual Vampire Orgy, a very important social event in vampire culture. Yet despite its significance to vampires, and considering how badly he wants to become one himself, Guillermo shows no excitement to be involved, something which he has shown to previous important vampire engagements (such as the Baron’s visit).

He becomes increasingly uncomfortable when faced with more and more of the vampires’ outrageous demands as they prepare for the orgy, such as describing the sexual activity going on due to the lack of mirrors. Guillermo even proceeds to tell the cameras in an interview at one stage "I don't kiss and tell… and I don't kiss." Another example of hinting that Guillermo could be asexual is in Season 3’s “The Casino” when Laszlo and Nadja tease Guillermo into revealing if he has a love life. This is followed by Laszlo’s notable and very open speech about “how everyone fucks and sucks” (which some asexuals can heartily disagree to).

Throughout this oration, Guillermo looks as if he would rather be anywhere but there.

This leads to Guillermo’s eventual relationship with Freddie (Al Roberts) in Season 4. Guillermo adores his British boyfriend, who he admits is the first person he has ever “dated dated”. There is a lot of romance between the two (until Nandor’s selfish meddling) but Guillermo doesn’t indicate any lust or sexual desire towards Freddie. As previously mentioned, unlike a number of false representations and assumptions, asexuals can still feel romantic attraction and needs as much as any allosexual and Guillermo, if he were on the asexual spectrum, is no exception.

So what could make Guillermo demisexual rather than ace? The answer to that can lie in his relationship with his master, Nandor the Relentless (Kayvan Novak). Dubbed “Nandermo” by many Shadows fans who ship the two, the relationship between Nandor and Guillermo has been perfectly described by Out Magazine as “the long-running, slow-burn will-they-won’t they couple queer fans have been waiting for”. Indeed, having served as Nandor’s servant for over ten years, the deep emotional bond between master and familiar is definitely there, which could be the key to whether Guillermo could be demisexual.

While Guillermo was besotted with Freddie, he did describe the relationship as a “whirlwind romance”, meaning that there possibly hasn’t been a strong-enough emotional bond established yet—the fact that Freddie promptly left Guillermo for his clone may also highlight this. When it comes to Nandor, however, Guillermo cares about the warlord greatly, knows him like the back of his hand and remains loyal to him, no matter how exasperated with his master he can be. In fact, in "The Cloak of Duplication", it's implied by Meg, an initial target of Nandor's affection, that Guillermo could be in love with Nandor. There were certainly some signs of jealousy when Nandor planned to propose to his on-off lover, Gail. Likewise, self-centred and slightly ignorant Nandor also seems to return the sentiments. He put his own afterlife on the line to save Guillermo in “The Trial”, and stands up for him during the third season’s premiere when Laszlo and Nadja want Guillermo killed, and in “The Wellness Centre”, Nandor openly admitted to developing “some affection” for Guillermo and that he cared for him too much to “burden” him with the “curse of being a vampire. And let’s not forget how overly affectionate Marwa was towards Guillermo after Nandor wished that his bride would like everything that he liked.

In regards to the sexual side of the relationship, Guillén, who identifies as queer himself, says in an interview with Advocate that Guillermo “always has borderline homoerotic moments with his master.” As well as touching emotional moments between the two, there have been some signs of sexual tension noted throughout. The clearest examples have been in the form of physical fights between the two - one took place in Nandor’s room in the Season 3 finale, which was apparently a test of Guillermo’s physical and character strength. The other was the unforgettable battle in “The Night Market” where the two are unexpectedly forced to fight, causing tensions to flare. Guillermo wins both duels, ultimately reflecting a challenge of power dynamics as well as sexual tension. In fact, the fluidity of their power dynamics could easily contribute to the sexual undertones of the relationship. With the aftermath of Season 4 and its cliffhanger finale, perhaps Season 5 may offer a chance to explore Guillermo’s sexual identity even further. It’s clear he falls for men but whether he wants to sleep with them is, of course, another matter.

Harvey Guillén and Guillermo are already wonderful healthy representatives across the board for the Latin, plus size, and LGBTQIA+ communities. So if Guillermo was also demisexual, it would be not only extra points for LGBTQIA+ but a positive and refreshing ace representation that is desperately needed from horror and mainstream culture. If he were demisexual and were to become a vampire in Season 5, this could be a massive trope-breaker.