SPOILER ALERT! This post contains details from the Season 3 premiere of CBS‘ Ghosts.
It’s been a while since we’ve caught up with the inhabitants of Woodstone Mansion.
When Season 2 of CBS’ Ghosts ended, audiences were left with quite the cliffhanger, as one of the ghosts finally moved on. Or, as the other ghosts call it, “got sucked off.” Just like the audience, Jay [Utkarsh Ambudkar] and Sam [Rose McIver] also aren’t privy to whose departed the manor, since they only saw a flash of light from their car to indicate that someone was gone.
The Season 3 premiere doesn’t waste any time solving that mystery. After a quick headcount, Jay and Sam discover that it was Flower who finally crossed over to the other side. Bad news for Thor, who was madly in love with Flower. Meanwhile, some of the others have complicated feelings about her departure because, while they may miss their friend, they’re also waiting for their turn.
The rest of the episode grapples with the fallout of Flower’s disappearance, as they all try to figure out their own ways of grieving.
Executive producers and showrunners Joe Port and Joe Wiseman spoke with Deadline about the consequences of Flower’s departure as well as what else to expect from this short season of Ghosts.
DEADLINE: When did the idea come about for one of the ghosts to be sucked off?
JOE PORT: Toward the end of the season last year, we just came up with that idea and thought it would be a really cool, fun way to end the season, as a throw forward to next year.
DEADLINE: So then how did you settle on the idea that it would be Flower?
JOE WISEMAN: I mean, we had a lot of talks after we got picked up. Before the room started, we didn’t know exactly who it was gonna be, but we definitely had candidates in mind. And then just through talking it out, we wanted to be someone who was consequential, someone that was impactful. We landed on Flower, [who we thought] would be an interesting ghost to disappear. because it would create a lot of storylines. A lot of people would have different reactions. Thor, obviously, is in love with Flower and would be super devastated. Other ghosts would be jealous of her because hasn’t been there as long. So it just seemed like we’d create a lot of stories.
DEADLINE: There was a moment where I thought maybe she wasn’t really gone. Did you toy with the idea of the ghosts just thinking she’d been sucked off, but really she was just out doing something, like as a comedy bit?
PORT: Once we landed on it being Flower who would be the one that left, I think we wanted to reveal it early in the episode so that we could spend the episode dealing with the fallout of that and really examine how it affected everybody in the house in the premiere.
DEADLINE: So does this mean Flower is not coming back? Or is there the possibility that she can return?
WISEMAN: Sure. It’s interesting, when a ghost gets sucked off on the show, they’re not dead. They’re all already dead. So we’ve had ways in previous episodes to bring in ghosts who have been sucked off [come] back for stories and whatnot. And we tell stories with flashbacks, etc. So, yeah, in theory, there would be ways of still seeing a ghost who has moved on.
DEADLINE: One of the longer running bits, which never gets old, is Jay being so unaware of the ghosts. There are multiple moments this episode where that happens. How do you keep that bit running without it feeling tired?
PORT: It’s a challenge not having Jay be able to talk to 80% of the cast, but it’s also definitely an opportunity because it lends to a certain style [of comedy]. Sam does a lot of play-by-play for Jay in scenes, and she only gives him sort of the highlights. So sometimes, it turns out that he’s missed quite a lot. I think Joe and I both…we read where people are like, ‘Oh, he should get these powers and he should be able to see the ghosts.’ First of all, we think that would take away a lot of humor, like you’re pointing to, and we also just think that seems very, as weird as it sounds to say, not real. I’ve never met anyone that can see ghosts. So it seems weird that there would be two people in the same household that would randomly develop this gift.
DEADLINE: I recently read an interview where Asher Grodman teased that Jay might be able to see ghosts this season. Can you expand on that, given what you just said?
WISEMAN: I think what he’s talking about is a version of that, but not the same. Without getting into spoilers, it’s not the same as how Sam does it.
DEADLINE: This is a shortened season, mostly due to the strikes. How did that impact your creative choices, since you only have 10 20-minute episodes to work with?
PORT: The first season, we did 18. Then we did 22 last year and hope to do 22 going forward. I think the way we look at it is we usually break the season into two halves. So this year, we just followed the trajectory of what the first half of a season would be. We always end the first half of the season with some big developments. This is no different.
DEADLINE: Can you talk a bit more about the production timeline and how it evolved after the strikes?
WISEMAN: Well, first of all, everyone was just so happy to be back at work. Everyone loves working, and also, this is a fun place to work. It’s a fun show to think of ideas for and to write. So everyone was just excited to be back in the room…it’s been the same on set. No one’s lost a step. Everyone’s so excited and happy to be working again. There are certain challenges. We shoot the show up in Montreal, and usually we try to start in July. So most of the time we’re there is good weather, but we didn’t have that opportunity. So we’re dealing with a little bit more winter weather than we normally would. We’re still going outside the house, but we’re having to be sort of creative with where we go and or how we shoot it. But the crew up there is incredible. Our production designer is incredible, and they’ve just been coming up with very creative ways to help us shoot.
DEADLINE: What else can you tease from Season 3?
PORT: I think Flower’s disappearance is going to be an ongoing story that unfolds and has a lot of ramifications throughout the house. We’re going to learn a couple of our ghosts’ powers that we haven’t learned yet, and we’re going to learn how a ghost died in what’s going to be a very moving episode, I think.
WISEMAN: There’s a couple of arcs that we’re following. Isaac and Nigel recently got engaged, so we’re gonna follow them as they wedding plan, bachelor parties, etc, etc. And in the meantime, Jay and Sam have started to break ground on the restaurant. They’re continuing to convert that barn and into a restaurant. So that’s also an ongoing storyline that we hang some stories on.
PORT: We’re doing another Halloween episode this season, even though we’re not airing during Halloween. We love doing them, and we use this one to launch a big story arc.
DEADLINE: What about new ghosts?
WISEMAN: Part of the fun of the show is trying to think of ways to introduce new ghosts. We have a couple of fun ways of doing that. We’re going to see a love interest for Alberta this year, which we’re super excited about.
DEADLINE: Do you find that you introduce new ghosts out of necessity to the story, or do you also sometimes just think of a fun character you want to write?
PORT: It’s both of those things. We did think of a particularly clever way, in our opinion, to have a ghost visit the property that season. And once we figured out that we had that character, we thought he would make an interesting love interest for Alberta. That became the story of his visit.
Ghosts airs Thursdays on CBS at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT.
