Hulu Has Found The Perfect What We Do In The Shadows Replacement

Published Aug 30, 2026, 12:30 PM EDT Ben Sherlock is a Tomatometer-approved film and TV critic who runs the massively underrated YouTube channel I Got Touched at the Cinema. Before working at Screen Rant, Ben wrote for Game Rant, Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop. He's also an indie filmmaker, a standup comedian, and an alumnus of the School of Rock. Mel Brooks has been revisiting a lot of his classic comedies lately. He’s making a Spaceballs sequel, Spaceballs: The New One, set for a 2027 release. He made a streaming sequel to History of the World, Part I, appropriately titled History of the World, Part II (even though the original joke was that Sir Walter Raleigh’s History of the World never got a second volume due to his execution). And now, Brooks is turning Young Frankenstein into a TV show. A little under two years ago, FX ended one of its best original comedy series, What We Do in the Shadows, and left a gaping void in its wake. What We Do in the Shadows seemed like a bad idea when it was first announced — the vampire mockumentary gimmick felt stretched thin at feature-length; it didn’t need a whole series — but it ended up surpassing its cinematic counterpart to become one of the best sitcoms of the 21st century. Now, the network might have found the perfect replacement. What We Do in the Shadows writer Stefani Robinson is adapting Young Frankenstein into a series for FX, Very Young Frankenstein, and it’ll scratch the same self-aware horror itch. The premise of the Young Frankenstein series is being kept under wraps, but the tongue-in-cheek title suggests it’ll be about another Frankenstein descendant. Young Frankenstein was about Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, who came along a few generations after Victor Frankenstein, so Very Young Frankenstein could be about another Dr. Frankenstein who arrives another couple of generations after Frederick — it might even take us into a modern setting. Frederick was horribly embarrassed by his zany family history, but he ended up repeating that history and creating his own monster. How much do you want to bet that this Dr. Frankenstein will do the exact same thing? What We Know About Very Young Frankenstein So Far A TV spinoff of Young Frankenstein was first announced in mid-2025, with Brooks on board as an executive producer and Taika Waititi on board to direct the pilot. Waititi was one of the driving creative forces behind What We Do in the Shadows (not just the TV show, but the original movie, too), which bodes very well for my hopes that Very Young Frankenstein will basically be What We Do in the Shadows 2.0. In May 2026, the Very Young Frankenstein pilot was picked up to series, so, if nothing else, we’re getting at least one full season of Very Young Frankenstein. FX has announced a cast, but isn’t giving away any spoilers about who they’re playing. Zach Galifianakis, who previously led FX’s Baskets, and Kumail Nanjiani, who became iconic playing Dinesh on Silicon Valley, have been cast to star in the series, along Dolly Wells, Spencer House, and Nikki Crawford. We don’t have any firm details on the main characters, except that Cary Elwes will be playing the President of the United States (reuniting with Brooks more than three decades after playing the title character in Robin Hood: Men in Tights). Galifianakis will presumably play another member of the Frankenstein family, following in Gene Wilder’s eccentric footsteps. Now that Nanjiani is in Marvel shape, he might be playing “The Creature” as the perfect human specimen. Very Young Frankenstein might have a “swole” monster to poke fun at Jacob Elordi’s oddly sexy Frankenstein’s monster from the Guillermo del Toro movie. Right now, there’s not an awful lot we know about Very Young Frankenstein, but the mere existence of the project is exciting enough. Brooks and Waititi seem like a match made in heaven, bringing a modern What We Do in the Shadows edge to Young Frankenstein’s old-school horror satire, and Galifianakis and Nanjiani are never not hilarious. Very Young Frankenstein What We Do in the Shadows