For the sixth and  final season of FX’s vampire comedy, the network reached out to woman-owned animation studio Awesome Inc to design a 2D animated promotional and packaging campaign.

‍After running through several concepts, Awesome Inc came back with an epic swarm of bats in which sharp-eyed viewers can occasionally see cameos of vampire roomies Nadja (Natasia Demetriou), Laszlo (Matt Berry) and Nandor (Kayvan Novak). The bats – in a palette of black, purple, teal and magenta – swarm through familiar Staten Island landmarks, including a taxi cab, a hot-dog cart and a subway car. 

To bring the bats to life, Awesome combined 3D modeling with traditional 2D animation techniques, the studio wrote on its website. “Our process began with extensive 3D testing to explore how the swarm could organically move and eventually coalesce into the giant, spectral hands above the city skyline. These 3D simulations served as a crucial pre-visualization tool, guiding our animators as they meticulously hand-drew each frame. This blend of modern and classic methods allowed us to capture the fluid, eerie essence of the swarm with a dynamic sense of depth and motion.” 

Season six of What We Do in the Shadows premiered Monday, October 21 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on FX, with new episodes streaming the next day on Hulu.