School Spirits Cast Tease Darker Horrors, Vulnerability, and Another Jaw-Dropping Finale In Season 3
With Maddie (Peyton List) struggling to deal with life after death and Simon (Kristian Ventura) stuck in the afterlife, secrets are lurking beneath the surface of School Spirits. Speaking with Pop Culture Planet’s Kristen Maldonado, we got the scoop from the cast on all of the horrors awaiting us in season 3.
Mr. Martin has been teasing since the beginning that there are darker forces at play at Split River High and, this season, the veil is officially thinning. “I can tell you that everything that came before is very important. Even things you might not think are that important, little details, they all come out to play in the third season and in a really satisfying way. As much as I think a lot of people said that in the second season, the show broke open the world a little bit more with the scars and understanding what those meant, it's broken open even more in a way that feels earned,” said Josh Zuckerman who plays the shady teacher, sharing we’re going to go even beyond Mr. Martin’s knowledge. “It feels like a natural progression, like, ‘Oh yes, it was always supposed to be this way and now I'm even more fascinated.’ It's very exciting.”
This season also adds several new characters including horror megastar Jennifer Tilly as the menacing school superintendent Dr. Deborah Hunter-Price. “I was a little intimidated because I was a huge fan of the show. All the actors are so amazing, like so good, and also a tightly knit group,” shared Tilly about joining the cast of School Spirits. “In my imagination, I thought that I would come in and be the pinball in the pinball machine that’s being rebuffed. Everybody was so welcoming. I mean, really the greatest cast in the world.”
“Phenomenal” and “legend” were just two words the cast used to describe having the icon on set with them. “Just the way she uses her voice and how confident she is when she walks into a scene,” said Rainbow Wedell about what she learned having Tilly on set, with Kiara Pichardo adding: “She takes her work seriously, but, the way she does each take differently, she makes it seem so fluid. There's effort, but it's like she doesn't even have to think about it. She just comes up with new things in every single take and it's really great to watch.”
Tilly hints at the darker energy that her characters adds to the series. “I thought there's something so sinister about this woman and how she approaches the world. When she comes out of the auditorium the first time you see her, she's coming on so strong. She's pushing that nice Principal Hartman out of the way. She's shushing up all the students in a way they've never been shushed before. She has tremendous power and she enjoys it. She enjoys making other people feel less than,” she told me. “You also see in the first episode, she's really a terrible mom. She's not present for her daughter. My relationship with my daughter Olivia, played by the wonderful Erika Swayze, it changes throughout the season and you see it progress. Then you also see her changing and getting more and more awful. I don't want to give away too much, but a dark force attaches itself to her because like recognizes like. I think the fans are going to be very pleased.”
This season leans into that horror with a new eerie location that ties back to the bigger mysteries at Split River High. “We had so much fun this season because there are some really cool horror elements that we all get to do. There's this brand new location that gets introduced and our crew built this whole set for it. It was creepy and it was scary,” shared Miles Elliot. “So honestly, what you're watching, we were experiencing for the first time and there's some really, really cool heightened horror things this season.”
The stakes are even higher this season as we learn Simon is still alive, but stuck in the ghostly realm of Split River High. Each character uses their skillset and character development to come together to help. “It's really cool because Xavier has gone from someone that was rather selfish and lost in the first season and, through the course of his near-death experience, [become] someone that's rather selfless,” explained Spencer Macpherson. “He's found a purpose with this ability at the hospital. He uses it, not only to help Maddie and commune with her father and sort out that and rebuild their relationship, but also to try and get some answers to help her boy Simon get out of the high school.” Wedell shared that her character Claire has “uncomfortable conversations with her parents" that ultimately lead to “figuring out who she is,” while Pichardo’s Nicole is pushed into “taking risks and making bold choices.”
The introduction of the ghost scars in season 2 also level up this season, allowing the characters to get even more vulnerable. “You see a lot of it between Charley and Yuri in this season. There's some tension between the fact that Yuri has been inside of Charley's scar. Yuri has not even gone into his,” said Nick Pugliese about their fan-favorite relationship. “There's this expectation that Charley has to share everything, but Yuri can't even share with himself what he's going through, which feels ironic.”
“That's exactly Yuri's whole arc, really, is what you said, letting other people in. His relationship gets tested with Charley and the solution to it is he has to let him in. In order to do that, he has to be honest with himself and I think that honesty comes from going into his scar and addressing those fears and unpacking them with this person he loves,” explained Elliot. “Yuri gets to do all of that this season and I think it's a lot of growth for him as a character.”
There is even a beautiful parallel between Quinn's journey to discovering their truest self paired with the lived experience of actor Ci Hang Ma. “You're absolutely right. It was totally reflective of my own experience. It was really fulfilling as an actor to be able to express myself. This is why I came into acting. To use my own experiences and express myself and connect with other people through a character, so that was really cool,” they enthused about Quinn’s story. “I'm really proud of the representation on the show. I'm proud of Quinn for being able to be brave and be true to themselves, even at great risk of possibly losing the people in their lives. I'm proud of it. I'm proud of the show for it.”
This also allows us to see Rhonda in a new light as someone people can lean on. “Rhonda's growth is so huge over these seasons and [she’s] really trying to break down her walls and work through this trauma that she hasn't been able to. In season 3, she really tries to connect and be vulnerable and then, in turn, does that for someone else with Quinn and the other ghost,” explained Sarah Yarkin. “She's talking to people in ways that I don't think she would have years ago. She can be there to help other people. [It’s] this beautiful thing that I don't think she would have ever thought would be her role.”
In the final season of Chucky, the characters dove into a ghostly realm not too dissimilar from the one at Split River High. “Chucky Classic is covered with scars. I think it would probably be something Chucky related,” said Tilly about what her iconic character Tiffany Valentine’s scar key might be if she was thrust into the world of School Spirits. “Maybe the little amulet with it. It says ‘Ade due Damballa.’ That might get her into the scar, I'm sure.”
Each season ends with a a jaw-dropping, mic-dropping season finale. So, what was the cast reaction to this finale? “I was like, ‘What?’ The last four episodes, every time we got them, I was like, ‘I don't know. Can someone explain to me?’ I was so lost. [It] took a couple re-reads,” shared Yarkin, with Elliot agreeing: “It happened last season too because there's so much that happens. It's hard to read and make sense of it so I read it. I was like ‘Hold on… what?’ Then I went back five pages and I read it again and I was like, ‘Oh.’ I was like, ‘Whoa.’ I think our writers do a really good job though of, like you said. doing mic drop cliffhangers and I don't think it shies away from that this season.”
“It is like every season finale our jaw is on the floor and we're all texting each other,” said Pugliese. “I remember second season was like, ‘This is crazy,’ and then this season I was like, ‘Okay how is this even bigger wow.’
“My reaction was, ‘I feel full,’” said Ma.
Macpherson added: “There's a couple mic drops throughout the whole season, but it's a really good finale. Once against we are left completely puzzled where they’re going to take it, though ,we are positive, wherever that is, it will be spectacular.”
New episodes of School Spirits season 3 air Wednesdays on Paramount+.
