‘Thor: Ragnarok’ Director Taika Waititi Confirms ‘What We Do in the Shadows’ Sequel

Before becoming one of Hollywood’s hottest directors by injecting comedy and color into Marvel’s third “Thor” movie — opening in theaters tomorrow — Taika Waititi was first known for bringing the same brand of irreverent humor to horror films with the much beloved “What We Do in the Shadows.” Waititi co-directed, co-wrote, and co-starred with Jemaine Clement (“Flight of the Conchords”) in the faux-documentary, horror-comedy about a group of vampires who live together in suburban New Zealand. The film premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and went on to become an indie box office success ($7 million).

In an hour-long interview with the BUILD series while out promoting “Thor: Ragnarok,” Waititi confirmed the rumors that not only would there be a sequel, but that he would reunite with Clement to co-write and co-direct the film. “The rumor is true,” said Waititi. “[Jemaine’s] been hounding me to do this [sequel].”

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This time around the fake documentary crew will follow a pack of werewolves. “The movie is called ‘We’re Wolves,'” said Waititi, repeating the title to make sure the audience got the pun. “It’s a word play. Americans love word plays. You guys love puns.”

While committed to the project, Waititi — who has his tongue firmly planted in his cheek in most on-camera interviews — warned fans not to expect the sequel any time in the immediate future. “You aren’t going to see it for seven years,” said Waititi. “We are notoriously terrible at writing together, Jemaine and I. Usually takes place over emails. So we’ll email each other one line of dialogue once a month. ‘What We Do in the Shadows’ took six years to write.”

In talking about the differences between low-budget and blockbuster filmmaking, Waititi indicated he would be taking a “one for them, one for me” type approach to his directing career.

The “Thor: Ragnarok” director has been in development with Fox Searchlight on “Jojo Rabbit,” based on the 2012 Black List script about a ten-year old boy — fresh out of Hitler Youth Camp in Nazi Germany — who discovers his mother is hiding a fifteen-year-old Jewish girl in their house. He’s also signed up to direct an animated feature (“Bubbles”) for Netflix and a live-action remake of “Akira” for Warner Bros.

You can watch the full interview below.

“Thor: Ragnarok’ opens on Friday, November 3.