Surprise fifth season for NZ mockumentary

New Zealand mockumentary Wellington Paranormal is to return after a five-year absence, Chortle can reveal.

The comedy-horror is a spin-off from the 2014 film What We Do in the Shadows and has aired on Sky in the UK.

It stars Mike Minogue and Karen O'Leary as police officers working for a paranormal unit investigating the likes of demonic possession, alien invasion, werewolves and more.

The fourth season aired in 2022 and was billed as the final run. But funding body NZ On Air has just released a report into projects it has recently backed – including a $1.86million (£800,000) investment into six new 23-minute episodes from production company The Kitchen Table Productions.

The series was created in 2018 by Hollywood director Taika Waititi and Flight Of The Conchords star Jermaine Clement – both of whom wrote and directed the 2014 movie – alongside writer Paul Yates.

Officers Minogue and O'Leary – the characters share the actors’ surnames – appeared in the film as minor characters showing little curiosity about the activities of the vampires’ and the centre of the pot.

The characters proved popular enough for the real  New Zealand Police to use them to front a series of public information films during the Covid-19 pandemic

Comedians Melanie Bracewell and Tom Sainsbury have also worked as writers on the series.

Published: 5 Aug 2026