The Boulet Brothers on ‘Dragula: Titans’ Season 2 and Hopes of Earning a Best Reality Competition Series Emmy Nomination: “It Would Be Important”

Is Emmys recognition a goal with Dragula, or is that just a perk that comes along with the show’s growth?

DRACMORDA It’s something that I didn’t expect, but now that it’s happened, I really appreciate it and I value it. I would love to see us snag an Emmy. I think it would be important for what we do, but also it would be important for queer people in general, right? That a project that is so itself and unapologetically queer is recognized and respected, I think says a lot to society as a whole.

SWANTHULA Yeah, I think that goes for the fans, the competitors and even the crew. And to get that recognition, I think they would kind of be filled with just as much pride as maybe we would.

For Emmys voters [and the general public’s] wider knowledge of drag competition shows, that brings up RuPaul’s Drag Race. If a fan of Drag Race who had never seen Dragula came to you and said, “How does Dragula differ from Drag Race?” What would you say to them?

DRACMORDA Well, before we answer that, I want to throw some respect out to them. Because I do believe that if it wasn’t for Drag Race, I don’t know that we would be at the Emmys. I think they were really masterful at working the system and having the TV industry look at them as serious contenders versus camp or unserious creators. So I want to give them some respect, first of all. 

And as far as what’s different between Dragula and Drag Race, I think Drag Race is more of a “TV program.” I think our show is more raw and gritty. It’s a little more Fear Factor. Drag Race is sort of produced for mass appeal. Our show is not, and I think that’s the big difference.

Dragula casts a wide array of drag artists. [Dragula features] trans artists, “traditional” assigned male at birth [queens], AFAB queens [and more]. Why is it important to cast a broad spectrum of drag artists that are not represented in wide stream reality shows?

SWANTHULA Well, part of it is because they aren’t represented, right? And they can be, but it’s a choice that they’re not. And for us, AFAB performers and trans performers, that’s part of the real world. If you go into a green room or back room at a drag show, you’re going to see across the board a huge variety of people, and all of them are worthy of a spot and a chance to shine in the light and not in the shadow. And we take that opportunity because we can.

DRACMORDA Yeah, and again, Drag Race is trying to market to the broadest person and I think they thought, It would confuse people if we put on a drag king or an AFAB performer. And that’s where we differ, because we don’t care. Like, this is what it actually is like in the drag community to perform, and this is what we’re going to present unapologetically. And I think that’s the difference, right there.

You both have highlighted how reality TV can be damaging for those who go on these shows. Why is it important for you both to bring light to that issue, whereas some reality TV shows don’t shed light on that issue?

DRACMORDA I think that by saying that, if you’re a production company or a network, you’re sort of admitting that you’re part of the problem. And I don’t think people are comfortable with doing that. You know, we create reality TV: we control the edit, we ask the questions, we’re producing the show, so there’s a certain amount of responsibility I think some people maybe feel uncomfortable with. We’re not, because we don’t manipulate people’s stories. I mean, it’s kind of that simple. Do we want there to be juicy moments? Yes, but most the time when people display bad behavior, that’s what they do at home. I mean, if you’re not that kind of person, you’re not going to be that kind of person on camera, no matter what we do. 

SWANTHULA And it’s just like the conscientious thing to do, right? I remember learning those difficult lessons having been on television [for] only one or two years, and just how assaulting it can be to have your persona out there in the public eye and have anybody with a keyboard and the will to do it be commenting on you, attacking you, criticizing you, and it’s a hard lesson to learn. So, yes, we want to make juicy TV. But we don’t want these oftentimes young artists to come out traumatized by television. So we do everything we can to kind of prepare them for that.

DRACMORDA And at the same time, it’s the real world we live in. I mean, society is so polarizing now. You’re either left or right, you’re bad or you’re good — there’s no in between. There’s no space for people to make mistakes or to be shades of grey. You’re either black or white, and that’s it. And I feel like that’s really dangerous, and unfortunately, that’s what politics are like now. That’s what being in the entertainment industry is like now, and it just comes with the territory.

Dragula is about to head into its seventh season and you’re now in the second season of Titans. Do you have any ideas for more potential spinoffs? Where do you see the future of this growing franchise going?

DRACMORDA I think the limit is within Shudder and AMCs hands, because we have a million ideas. It’s just how much Dragula do they want on their network a year? And maybe the fans can encourage them and influence them on their decision (Laughs). 

SWANTHULA I think as long as the appetite is there, as long as the fans are as passionate and as excited about Dragula as they have been, we have so many ideas. Drac and I, I like to say this, we’ve been in a creative conversation for 20 years, and we have lists upon lists about ways to tweak the experience and make it more interesting. But we really also are excited about potentially getting into the scripted world. We have a lot of ideas about what a Boulet Brothers horror movie would look like, and hopefully that is in the pipeline soon.

What else can you tease about the rest of Dragula: Titans season two? How is it going to differ from the first season?

DRACMORDA Oh my god, it’s so different. It’s like night and day. I think the first iteration of Titans was almost like us sticking our toes in the water to explore what an All Stars format would feel like. And we learned a lot from it, partially from how vocal the fans were. You know, it’s weird. The fans never say, “Hey, we love the cold opens,” or, “We love the exterminations.” But when they’re not there, they certainly let you know. But it’s weird because I don’t know what they’re attached to. Like, the whole [tradition of] dumping a bucket of blood on the winner — I didn’t know that they cared about that until the first season of Titans and they were like, “That has to be there!” Like, okay, message received.

SWANTHULA We literally got death threats because we didn’t dump blood on Victoria [Elizabeth Black, the winner of The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Titans season one].

We did learn a lot from the first season of Titans. And this year, we looked at each other and said to ourselves, “We are going to deliver in spades everything that people love about the show.” The best extermination challenges, the Fright Feats, the Ghostly Gallows, twists and turns, betrayals — like we loaded it, and I can’t wait for people to see it.

What is next for Dragula and The Boulet Brothers? 

DRACMORDA We’re really excited about hosting Knott’s Scary Farms. We’re in love with that place, and there’s been such an illustrious line of horror hosts there before us, with Elvira, Wolfman Jack and Sinister Seymour. We’re very proud of that. We’re focusing on that and looking forward to the development of a full show there next year. Definitely scripted projects from us. We’re working on a holiday horror anthology special that’s coming out around Christmas, so you’ll see some scripted stuff from us that is more aligned with the work we would create that people probably wouldn’t expect. As far as Dragula the brand, Dragula is a monster with its own willpower and its own luck factors. So I think you’re going to be seeing a lot more of Dragula in the future. 

If both of you had to enter a horror film franchise, what film would you want to be in?

SWANTHULA Hellraiser. 

DRACMORDA Halloween. For me, 100 percent, and that’s exactly what should happen, because I know how to pull it all together. I have a master plan.

SWANTHULA I don’t doubt Drac’s power, but I just love the darkness. I love the creativity of Clive Barker, I love the twisted world, the pain and pleasure. Like, it’s Hellraiser for me.

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The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Titans airs Tuesdays at midnight on Shudder and AMC+.