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Jemaine Clement Confirms ‘Flight of the Conchords’ HBO Special and U.S. Version of ‘What We Do In The Shadows’—Exclusive

TCA: The special will likely be filmed as the Conchords embark on a U.K. tour this spring.
Jemaine Clement and Jean SmartFX ?Legion? TV show panel, TCA Winter Press Tour, Los Angeles, USA - 05 Jan 2018
Jemaine Clement
Buchan/Variety/REX/Shutterstock

It’s business time: “Flight of the Conchords” may be returning to your TV screen. Jemaine Clement, one half of the comedy music duo, told IndieWire on Friday that he and Bret McKenzie will indeed be filming a special this year for HBO.

Clement was light on the details, but it appears that the duo will be shooting the special for HBO timed to their upcoming U.K. concert tour. Clement and McKenzie, who previously did a series of American festival tour dates in 2016, will hit the U.K. and Ireland this March and April. Clement said the Conchords are now prepping for their return to the stage.

No Merchandising. Editorial Use Only. No Book Cover UsageMandatory Credit: Photo by Michelle Faye Fox TV/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock (8624677g)Jemaine Clement"Legion" TV series - 2017
Jemaine Clement in “Legion”Fox TV/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock

“It should be fun,” said Clement, who was at FX’s portion of the Television Critics Association press tour on Friday as part of the cast of “Legion.” “We’ve done some of it before, some of it will be new. Some of it we’ll be working on in the next few months.” HBO was not available for an immediate response to the news.

As for how the Conchords have evolved, “We’ve grown up,” he said. “We’re not the characters from the TV show, in real life we’re dads now and listen to different kinds of music. The trickiest thing about touring again is getting used to your instrument again. Usually, I take my guitar in the van on the way to work to get used to it.”

On TV, the critically loved “Flight of the Conchords” series had a way-too-brief run of two seasons, consisting of 12 episodes in 2008 and 10 episodes in 2009.

Meanwhile, Clement also confirmed that a U.S. television adaptation of the film “What We Do In the Shadows,” the 2014 film he and Taika Waititi wrote, directed, and starred in, is now in the works — with plans to shoot a pilot later this year. Clement said he wouldn’t appear in the U.S. show, but is writing it.

“It’s pretty close, we’re going to film a pilot,” said Clement, who declined to identify the outlet. “This is about a documentary crew in America.”

what-we-do-in-the-shadows1
“What We Do in the Shadows”

Separately, Clement just wrapped “Wellington Paranormal,” the New Zealand TV spinoff of “What We Do In The Shadows.” The show is expected to premiere later this year.

“It’s a small show, just six episodes so far, about two cops in Wellington who go and investigate ghosts and werewolves and that kind of thing,” he said. “We finished filming about two weeks ago. It was really fun but tiring, we’d start at 2 or 3 in the afternoon and then finish 12 hours later.”

“What We Do In the Shadows” began as a short film by Waititi and Clement, and was later reimagined as the film, a comedy that centered on a documentary crew that followed four vampire roommates — Viago, Vladislav, Deacon, and Petyr — and their relationship dynamics. Waititi also recently confirmed that the “Shadows” film sequel “We’re Wolves” is in the works.

As for a “Conchords” movie, Clement had nothing new to report on that front. He told IndieWire in 2015 that “we have actually started writing one. But who knows if it will ever be made, we’ve written some notes for some different film ideas. We’re not down to the stage where we’re going, ‘The film is going to be like this,’ it could be this, this, this, this, this.”

It looks like “Conchord” fans don’t have a film to look forward to yet, but can at least anticipate the new special soon.

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