‘What We Do in the Shadows’ Season 4: Mark Proksch Misses Colin’s Tangents

Mark Proksch returned for What We Do in the Shadows Season 4, despite the “death” of his character Colin Robinson. At the end of season 3, Laszlo discovered that a baby creature had crawled from Colin’s chest cavity. Now Laszlo is determined to raise him as a fascinating human being. For Proksch, portraying a child in this season of the FX series has been pretty enjoyable. The one thing he misses? Colin’s rambling tangents.

Mark Proksch plays baby Colin Robinson in ‘What We Do in the Shadows’ Season 4

Season 3 of What We Do in the Shadows featured a surprising twist. Laszlo learned that energy vampires only live to 100 years old as Colin Robinson celebrated his 100th birthday. Colin “died,” but a creature crawled out of his dead body. Laszlo decides to raise the baby, hopefully as something other than an energy vampire.

Creating baby Colin Robinson for What We Do in the Shadows Season 4 was a pretty elaborate ordeal. “We really used every trick in the book. For the most part, there would be a stand-in child or a special effect of some sort, and then my head would be put on the child. A lot of it was green screen and such,” Mark Proksch said in an interview with Vanity Fair.  “I just had a lot of fun with a character that is supposed to be a very boring character.”

Proksch misses adult Colin’s rambling tangents

Although Proksch enjoyed playing baby Colin through various stages of development, there is one thing he missed about portraying the adult version. “The only thing I really missed was being able to go off on tangents. I like doing that because it’s a challenge to myself,” Proksch told Vanity Fair.

In previous seasons, energy vampire Colin Robinson would ramble off on topics from internet security to car detailing. By boring or frustrating those around him, Colin is able to drain their life force and feed. “At this point, they don’t write out word for word what my boring tangents are,” Proksch continued.

“They’ll just say, ‘Colin talks about this or that,’ and it’s up to me to kind of work what I know into those tangents. And that’s always fun for me, to see if I can come up with enough material to make it semi-interesting and factual, in case someone fact-checks it while they’re watching.”

Fans will learn more about baby Colin in season 4

Baby Colin is growing quickly in What We Do in the Shadows Season 4. Laszlo and the other vampire aren’t sure what to expect from this creature. However, showrunner Paul Simms has teased that fans will learn more about energy vampires this season.

“You’ll learn a lot more about Colin and baby Colin,” Simms told IndieWire of season 4. “Whether we’ll have the full answer finally of where they come from, I don’t think so, but look, we know they exist. Real vampires might not exist, but we do know that energy vampires exist.”

New episodes of What We Do in the Shadows air Tuesdays at 10 p.m. EST on FX.