Ghosts is an American television sitcom. It was adapted to American television for CBS by Joe Port and Joe Wiseman from the British series of the same name. Port & Wiseman serve as showrunners. The American series premiered on October 7, 2021.[1] In October 2021, the series was picked up for a full season.[2] In January 2022, the series was renewed for a second season[3] which premiered on September 29, 2022.[4] In January 2023, the series was renewed for a third season which began filming in Montreal on December 2, 2023.[5][6] The third season is scheduled to premiere on February 15, 2024.[7]
Premise
Married New Yorkers Samantha and Jay Arondekar believe that their dreams have come true when they inherit a beautiful country house from Sophie Woodstone, Sam's great aunt, only to find that it is falling apart and inhabited by ghosts who died on the property and are now bound to the area, appearing as they did at the times of their deaths, until they can reach the afterlife. Jay cannot see or hear the ghosts, but Sam can after a near-death experience.
Cast
Main
Living
Rose McIver as Samantha “Sam” Arondekar, a freelance journalist who, after an accident that leaves her clinically dead for three minutes, revives with the ability to see, hear, and interact with ghosts.[8] She is based on Alison Cooper from the original British series.
Utkarsh Ambudkar as Jay Arondekar, Samantha's husband and a chef with many typically "nerdy" interests such as comic books, sci-fi films, video games, and Dungeons & Dragons.[8] He is based on Mike Cooper from the original British series.
Ghosts
Brandon Scott Jones as Captain Isaac Higgintoot, an initially closeted gayContinental Army officer[9] who died of dysentery[10] two weeks after the siege of Fort Ticonderoga[11] and has been largely forgotten by history, making him immensely jealous of the more famous Alexander Hamilton.[11] The living can smell a foul odor if he passes through them. At the end of the first season, he begins a relationship with a British officer haunting a shed on the property, whom he accidentally killed with an invention that would become the sniper rifle. He is based mainly on the Captain in the original British series, while his ghost power is similar to that of Mary the witch trial victim.
Danielle Pinnock as Alberta Haynes, a flamboyant Prohibition-era Lounge singer[9] who was murdered by drinking strychnine-laced moonshine,[12] the solving of which is a key plot arc of the second season. Her humming can be heard by the living.[10] She can also be heard by Alexa devices.
Richie Moriarty as Pete Martino, a cheerful, friendly, and polite but socially awkward travel agent and Pinecone Trooper leader[9] of Italian descent who died in 1985 when one of his girlscouts accidentally shot him through the neck with an arrow.[10] He has an unrequited romantic interest in Alberta, and Jay considers him his best friend despite being unable to perceive his presence. Among his varied interests are improv, basketball, Dungeons & Dragons, and Star Wars films. He is based on Pat Butcher in the original British series.
Asher Grodman as Trevor Lefkowitz, the most recently deceased of the ghosts, a wealthy, womanizing, hard-partying stockbroker[9] of Jewish ancestry who died in 2000 from a heart attack, caused by an accidental drug overdose, while not wearing pants. Though he claims he lost his pants because he died during a sexual encounter, he simply lent his pants to a friend as a good deed. He can physically interact with the corporeal world to a limited degree if he concentrates hard enough, usually with only one index finger.[10] He is based on Julian Fawcett MP in the original British series.
Sheila Carrasco as Susan Montero/"Flower", a cheerful and sweet but naive and forgetful hippie[8] who lived in both a commune and a cult in the 1960s. She was mauled to death by a bear she tried to hug while under the influence of drugs.[11] She can put a living person into a hallucinogenic high if she passes through them and likes group sex.
Devan Chandler Long as Thorfinn/"Thor", an aggressive, often overly dramatic Viking from Norway and the oldest of the ghosts, who set out on an expedition to North America over 1,000 years ago but was abandoned by his shipmates and died from a lightning strike. He has the ability to manipulate electricity and enjoys combat, especially against Danes; watching TV; and talking about his favorite foods, particularly cod. He has a son named Bjorn, now a ghost on an adjacent property, who married a Danish woman. He is based on Robin the caveman in the original British series.[10]
Rebecca Wisocky as Henrietta "Hetty" Woodstone, the uptight lady of the manor, Sam's great-great-great-great-aunt, and wife of the original owner of the Woodstone country estate built during the New York Gilded Age. She takes pride in being wealthy, looks down her nose on the working class and anyone Irish, and experimented with illicit drugs throughout her life, including cocaine and morphine. Her husband cheated on her in life with many different women, while her son Thomas was responsible for Alberta's murder.[8] She is based on Lady Fanny Button in the original British series.
Alice Manning as Young Hetty. She is seen looking at Thorfinn as at that time, she had the power to see ghosts.
Román Zaragoza as Sasappis/"Sass", a cynical Lenape man,[8] who often serves as the voice of reason for the other ghosts. He enjoys storytelling, stirring up drama, watching TV, and smelling all sorts of food, especially pizza, prepared by the living.
Recurring
Ghosts
Hudson Thames (Season 1) and Alex Boniello (Season 2) as the head of Crash, a smooth-talking 1950s-era greaser ghost who was decapitated.[13] He is based on Sir Humphrey Bone in the British version; however, unlike Humphrey, whose head is always present in each appearance, Crash's head goes missing in the pilot episode when Thorfinn accidentally knocks it off his neck. Only his body (played by Matt Keyes) appears until his head is recovered in "Ghost Father of the Bride."
The cholera victim ghosts: an indeterminate number of ghosts who died during a 19th-century cholera outbreak. Although they can go upstairs if they wish, their sickly appearances disturb the upstairs ghosts, so they spend all their time in the basement and are experts on the house's heating system. They are based on the Plague ghosts in the British version.
Betsy Sodaro as Cholera Victim Nancy, who becomes Pete's fake girlfriend and lives upstairs briefly.
Stuart Fink as Cholera Victim Stuart
Arthur Holden as Cholera Victim Creepy Dirk. When the ghosts decide to elect a representative to petition Sam rather than make requests individually, Creepy Dirk wins after Isaac's attempt to garner their support for his candidacy. He briefly holds the position after Sam rejects the arrangement.
The British Revolutionary ghosts: three ghosts who died in the Revolutionary War and occupy the shed on the property that used to be a barracks, as was agreed upon with Isaac after the war ended. They keep mostly to themselves and come up to the main house to redraw the borderlines every few years.
John Hartman as Nigel Chessum, the leader of the trio, whom Isaac accidentally shot. They have had secret romantic feelings for one another since they were alive, and they begin a relationship at the end of the first season.
Chad Andrews as Baxter, Nigel's subordinate who plays a fife.
Christian Daoust as Jenkins, Nigel's subordinate who possesses a musket. He and Nigel had a physical relationship before Nigel and Isaac started dating, and they "liaison" once more when Isaac and Nigel go "on a respite".
Odessa A'zion as Stephanie, a senior high school student who was murdered on her prom night by a chainsaw killer in 1987. She sleeps in the attic for months at a time, as extended sleep periods are common for ghosts who die in their teen years, and wakes up around the day of her prom night each year.
Crystle Lightning as Shiki, a Lenape woman on whom Sasappis had a crush in life. As a ghost, she is bound to the land occupied by the publishing office of the Ulster County Review magazine, so Sam and Jay help her establish a long-distance relationship with Sass.
Lindsey Broad as Judy, Henry Farnsby's deceased mother, who now haunts their home.
Christian Jadah as Bjorn, Thorfinn's son, who married a Danish woman and had three children, travelled to find his father, and now haunts the Farnsbys' property, having died at about the same age as Thor. Sam helps him reconnect with his father by having them shout to each other through the windows.
Louis Labonville as Young Bjorn.
Nichole Sakura as Jessica, a permanently drunk ghost who died in a car crash while driving under the influence of alcohol and is now bound to a small perimeter around her former car, enabling her to travel more freely than other ghosts can. She has a brief relationship with Sass when Freddy, who bought Jessica's car, begins working as an assistant at the manor.
Living
Tristan D. Lalla as Mark, a construction worker involved in renovating Woodstone Manor for Sam and Jay.
Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll as Todd Pearlman, an obsessive fan of Alberta's who operates a "museum" dedicated to her out of his mother's garage.
Punam Patel as Bela, Jay's sister who was lured on social media by Trevor. Sam tells her the truth about her talking to ghosts, and while Bela is at first skeptical, Sam is able to convince her with the help of the ghosts. She later returns in "The Christmas Spirit", trying to get Trevor to possess her friend Eric.
Mark Linn-Baker and Kathryn Greenwood as Henry and Margaret Farnsby, Sam and Jay's swinger neighbors and owners of a rival B&B, who promise to support their permit applications for their renovations. Their house is also haunted by a collection of ghosts from across history, including Henry's mother. They are based on Barclay Beg-Chetwynde and his wife Bunny in the British version.
Punkie Johnson and Carolyn Taylor as June and Ally, Sam and Jay's neighbors who run an organic farm called "Cover Crop Farms".
Mike Lane as Freddy (Season 2), a deliveryman hired as an assistant at the Arondekars' B&B.
Guests
Caroline Aaron as Carol, Pete's wife who cheated on him when he was alive.
Rachael Harris as Sheryl, Sam's mother, who she sees as a ghost at the restaurant where she died. After she and Sam make peace with each other, she moves on to the afterlife. Her ghost power is shrimp breath.
Matt Walsh as Elias Woodstone, Hetty's husband, who was trapped in a ghost proof vault. He has the power to make people sexually aroused when he walks through them. After he rants about becoming a permanent nuisance and refusing to change himself, he becomes bound to Hell.
Gregory Zaragoza as Naxasi, Sass's father, who tried to convince him not to be a storyteller.[a]
Mercedes Morris as Clara Brown, a lounge singer and bootlegger whose illegal activities Alberta reported so she could steal a gig from her.
Drew Tarver as Micah, a charismatic cult leader who attempts to manipulate Jay into joining his group so they can move into the mansion.
Hannah Rose May as Molly, an Irish maid with whom Elias had an affair when they were alive. She is brought back from the afterlife briefly through a seance.
Dallas Goldtooth as Bob, a Lenape man from the Hudson Valley Lenape Culture Center. He corrects the information Sass has given the group about the ancient tree on their land and teaches them about land acknowledgements, and Sass admires his work.
Kelly Craig as Olga, Thorfinn's wife and Bjorn's mother.
Mathew Baynton as an actor starring in a reconstruction of Pete's death.[b]
Rose Abdoo as Paula, the producer of "Dumb Deaths".
Dana Gourrier as Jennifer, a woman who was one of Pete's scout troops that witnessed his death.
Hillary Anne Matthews as Beatrice, Isaac's wife, who knew about his sexuality but cared deeply for him regardless.
Tara Reid as herself attending Trevor's memorial at Woodstone Manor.
Chris Eckert as George, a Puritan ghost in the Farnsby estate who is now open about his homosexuality due to failing to reach the afterlife.
Ashley D. Kelley as Alicia, a lawyer and a descendant of Alberta, who is inspired by her ancestor's work to pursue singing.
David Baby as Jerry, Carol's current husband and Pete's former best friend.
Asia Martin as Theresa, Alberta's sister.
Brooks Brantly as Earl, Alberta's bootlegger boyfriend.
Daniel Rindress-Kay as Thomas Woodstone, Hetty's son and Earl's secret boyfriend, who planted a poisoned whiskey bottle for Alberta to drink when Earl left him for her.
Jeremy Luke as Al Capone, a famous Chicago crime boss, who almost committed suicide with the poisoned whiskey Alberta ultimately drank.
Jessie Ennis as a woman claiming to be Sam's cousin and David Woodstone's daughter.
Brian Cook as David Woodstone, Sam's uncle and Trevor's former coworker, who dumped Trevor's body into a lake before dying of an aneurysm in the depressing strip club that he now haunts with one other ghost who died from eating contaminated sushi.
Samantha and Jay Arondekar, a young married couple living in a cramped New York apartment, inherit an old mansion from Sophie Woodstone, Samantha's great aunt. However, the house is inhabited by a collection of ghosts who died on the property over a thousand-year period, are invisible and intangible to the living, can phase through walls but not floors or ceilings, and cannot eat or drink but require sleep. After learning that Samantha and Jay plan to open a bed and breakfast, the ghosts struggle to haunt them out of the house, fearing constant disturbance and risk of being walked through by the living, a deeply painful experience for ghosts. Trevor, the most recently deceased ghost who can interact with the corporeal world to a limited degree, accidentally causes Samantha to trip over a vase he moved, fall down the stairs, and almost die. She revives with the ability to see and hear them.
Samantha, now able to see, hear, and interact with the ghosts, tries to ignore them, believing them to be a symptom of her injuries and induced coma. However, after encountering more ghosts during a doctor's appointment and in the mansion's basement, she eventually accepts their existence and convinces her husband that they are real while offering to have them peacefully cohabitate as best they can.
After beginning the renovations at the mansion, the construction crews uncovers Thorfinn's remains, which poses a threat to the renovations, so Samantha and Jay attempt to dispose of the remains. Despite learning the value of Viking skeletons and being tempted to sell Thorfinn's remains to fund the renovations, Samantha and Jay ultimately hold a Viking funeral. Thorfinn appears to begin ascending into the afterlife, only to realize the light is coming from a police cruiser responding to the flames from the funeral boat.
Sam and Jay meet the Farnsbys, an older couple living on an adjacent property who attempts to sabotage their renovations, which leads them to invite them over for dinner. At the dinner party, the ghosts attempt to sabotage Sam until she points out they need her to maintain a connection to the world of the living. In the end, with the help of the ghosts, especially Pete's knowledge of 1980s television, the Farnsbys promise to support their permit applications for their renovations.
The ghosts are unable to get into the Halloween spirit, being unable to participate and believing it to be insulting to ghosts. Taking advantage of Sam's ability to see and hear them, Isaac, Hetty, Sasappis and Thorfinn guard the mansion against trick-or-treating vandals. Meanwhile, Alberta, Pete and Trevor are horrified by media depictions of ghosts as they watch Ghostbusters. After Thorfinn uses his powers to accidentally set the front yard gazebo on fire and Isaac blames one of the young vandals, the ghosts argue over whether to tell Sam the truth.
As Sam introduces the ghosts to the Internet and social media, Trevor believes that he fathered a child from one of his one-night stands in 2000. After Sam locates Pete's wife Carol online, she invites her to the mansion at Pete's insistence, using his old Trooper's manual as an excuse. Pete finds that his wife and best friend were not only involved before his death, but are now married and he is furious until Sam reads one of his notes from his manual on forgiveness. Pete's daughter, Laura, then reveals his grandson has been named after him in his honor. Meanwhile, Thorfinn and Sasappis become obsessed with a reality show, which the former binge-watches without the latter.
To land a permanent job at a local magazine, Sam decides to write a human interest article about a 'Robin Hood-esque' bank robbery carried out by Flower during her time in a 'commune', but Flower refuses to be interviewed as she swore to secrecy. Having heard about the incident ad nauseam since Flower's death, Isaac and Alberta decide to learn about the robbery on Sam's behalf. Meanwhile, Sam encounters Shiki: the ghost of a Lenape woman on whom Sasappis had a crush, and she and Jay try to establish long-distance communication between them.
Absent: Rebecca Wisocky as Hetty Woodstone & Devan Chandler Long as Thorfinn
Sam volunteers to help Jay and the ghosts play Dungeons & Dragons together when Jay's D&D group abandons him. Also, Sam discovers that an old shed on the mansion's grounds was a British barracks during the Revolutionary War, now occupied by three ghosts of British soldiers, one of whom, Nigel, learns that Isaac, who has secretly requited feelings for him, accidentally shot and killed him.
Absent: Rebecca Wisocky as Hetty Woodstone & Devan Chandler Long as Thorfinn
Todd Pearlman, an obsessive fan of Alberta's, visits the mansion to do research for a biography he is writing about her and discovers that her briefcase contains vintage moonshine. He nearly dies from drinking it, as it was poisoned, confirming Alberta's suspicions that she was murdered. Elsewhere, Thorfinn tries reconnecting with Hetty during walks outside the mansion, as he remembers that she could see and hear ghosts as a child, which is a rare gift among living human children.
Absent: Sheila Carrasco as Flower & Román Zaragoza as Sasappis
While trying to repair a sconce, Jay accidentally falls on top of Hetty, who possesses him and takes on-and-off control of his body. Sam struggles to keep this a secret from a wedding planner who is difficult to impress and visits the mansion to sample Jay's cooking. Refusing to be exorcised, Hetty attempts to escape the mansion in Jay's car, only to be separated from him because she cannot leave the mansion's grounds.
Sam and Jay travel to the restaurant where Sam's mother died to find out if she became a ghost. On arrival, they find her. After some tense moments with her daughter, Sam's mother admits that she loves and admires her and ascends to the afterlife. Meanwhile, Sasappis reveals that he overheard that Pete has feelings for Alberta. When it appears that she doesn't reciprocate those feelings, Pete denies it, and convinces Cholera Victim Nancy to pretend to be his girlfriend in exchange for getting to move upstairs.
Jay's sister, Bela, comes to visit after a break up, but reveals that she's been having great conversations with someone online. Sam and Jay are shocked when they realize that it's Trevor. Trevor reveals that he used their iPad to make a dating account. When Bela discovers the account on the iPad, she assumes that Jay created the profile and is furious. Sam tells her the truth about her talking to ghosts, and while Bela is as first skeptical, Sam is able to convince her with the help of the ghosts. Meanwhile, Nancy, still pretending to be Pete's girlfriend, threatens to tell Alberta the truth if Pete doesn't start to be more assertive. While Pete initially listens to her, he becomes upset when it leads to the other ghosts fighting. When Pete assertively tells Nancy that he enjoys being the one who keeps the peace, Nancy is proud of him for standing up for himself and pretends to break up with him and goes back to the cholera pit.
Absent: Sheila Carrasco as Flower & Román Zaragoza as Sasappis
On the eve of hosting a wedding of a major online influencer, a worker discovers a passageway and vault under the house containing the ghost and corpse of Hetty's amoral husband Elias (Matt Walsh), a robber baron. Shocked at how modern Hetty has become, he uses his power (making living people sexually aroused by passing through them) to destroy the wedding, hoping to force Sam and Jay into bankruptcy and out of the house. Sam and Jay plan to sell his corpse's gold pocket watch to temporarily thwart his plan. When Elias threatens to become a permanent nuisance, Hetty tells him to "Go to hell", at which point ominous unseen forces drag him through the floor. Despite it being unclear if Hetty caused this to happen, she uses the threat of this power to intimidate the other ghosts.
Sasappis wants to help Sam write a creative piece for her planned inn's Website, although she dismisses his unusual manner of writing. After Trevor accidentally deletes the site while trying to open it for editing, Sass admits the truth and explains that his father believed he had a gift for storytelling, but was worried his son would fail at it the same way he did. After symbolically giving his storyteller's feather to Sam, Sass tells a meaningful Lenape legend that moves her, Jay, and the other ghosts. Meanwhile, Pete feels lonely with no one else around who wants to watch basketball with him until he learns Flower has an extensive knowledge of the sport.
As pairs of ghosts begin bunking with each other in various bedrooms to accommodate future living guests, Sam and Jay learn that Thorfinn has been experiencing night terrors for the past 500 years. Jay arranges for a therapist to visit the mansion with Sam pretending to have Thor's problems so she can interpret them for the therapist. Sam discovers Thor killed a friend named Oskar after being abandoned by his shipmates and assumes Oskar was human until Thor explains he was a squirrel that he ate for survival. Meanwhile, feeling nervous about his secret attraction to Nigel, Isaac feigns romantic interest in Hetty, his bunkmate, but hearing Thorfinn's story inspires him to come out to her in private.
Trevor recognizes a man seeking to purchase the timepiece found on Elias's corpse as Ari, one of his former friends and fellow stockbrokers. He then recounts the story of his death and how he lost his pants. When Pinkus, another former coworker, was promoted to Trevor's group at their company in New York City, they celebrated at Woodstone Manor, as David, another friend, was a nephew of the late Sophie Woodstone. Although Trevor claims he died of a drug and alcohol overdose after having sex with a limousine driver, Sasappis reveals he actually died after giving his wallet, pants, and boxer shorts to Pinkus, who was to make his way back to the city wearing nothing but a white T-shirt in a ritualistic haze as part of the friends' "bro code". Sam helps Trevor exact revenge on Ari by playing a prank that would force him to follow the same haze, and Ari agrees to pay twice his original price for the timepiece. Meanwhile, Thorfinn tells Flower about his romantic feelings for her, although she would prefer to have a three-way with one other ghost. After going through several candidates, they agree to take their relationship more slowly.
Stephanie, a teenage ghost who was murdered by a chainsaw killer on her prom night in 1987, comes down from the attic after sleeping there for a year. For her one day of being awake, she invites the ghosts to a ghost-only prom. Alberta discovers she can communicate with Sam and Jay's new Alexa. Sam opens up to Jay about how she was catfished by high school classmates into thinking she had a romantic French penpal who wanted to come to her prom night. Pete overhears only part of the story and shares it with the other ghosts, inspiring Stephanie to play a mean prank on Sam by having Alberta order a bag of baguettes via Alexa. Feeling betrayed after learning the whole story, the main ghosts abandon Stephanie, but Sam convinces them to help her organize a prom anyway.
When Sam and Jay refuse the Farnsbys' offer to buy their bed and breakfast, the Farnsbys open a rival B&B to drive the younger couple out of business. Thorfinn reveals that he placed a Norse curse on the mansion to prevent a B&B from ever being opened; and he claims the curse, which may or may not have been real, has caused every misfortune over the past season, including Sam's accident that gave her the ability to see the ghosts. Sam almost reverses the alleged curse by mixing cinnamon and sugar in hot water but decides not to do so, as she does not want to take the very small chance of losing her ability. She tells Jay that, no matter how many obstacles they encounter, they should continue working to get their business started. Meanwhile, Isaac sets out to tell Nigel that he likes him but is heartbroken when Jenkins, a subordinate, informs him that Nigel has ascended into the afterlife. Nigel later confronts Isaac, believing he was having an affair with Thorfinn, and the Revolutionary-era ghosts clear up their confusion and admit that they like each other. The Arondekars keep their business after they win by forfeit in a match against the Farnsbys, but, as they welcome their first guests, they fall through a weakened floor into the basement.
Sam and Jay welcome Tom and Debbie, their first guests since the floor incident, which earned their B&B a one-star review on Yelp, but the ghosts become suspicious of the newcomers' overly friendly demeanor. When the Arondekars discover Tom and Debbie's reputation for writing harshly negative reviews, the ghosts spy on them for Sam against Jay's wishes, and she struggles to act on the ghosts' multitude of suggestions to appease the visiting couple. Taking offense to his wife and cooking being insulted, Jay stands up for Sam, who tells the guests what they know about their Yelp activity, which they mistakenly thought was anonymous and ultimately earns the B&B a five-star review. Meanwhile, Nigel confides to Isaac how he feels about Thorfinn energetically disrupting their TV time, and when Isaac asks Thor to be more quiet, the Viking dejectedly leaves for the cholera pit. That evening, he apologizes to Thor, who turns out to share Nigel's love of watching ants.
A murder mystery podcast inspires Sam to develop her own based on Alberta's turbulent life. To gather more information, she invites Alberta's obsessive fan Todd back to the mansion despite Jay and the ghosts' warnings, and he comes across Alberta's secret diary. This prompts the singer to open up about how she felt discriminated against because of her size; to this end, she ratted out Clara Brown, a rival singer, for bootlegging alcohol so she could earn a gig on stage. Sasappis recognizes Clara's name and recalls how she was present in the mansion at one time, making her a suspect for Alberta's murder and bringing more excitement and intrigue to the podcast. Meanwhile, Flower shows Hetty how to use the mansion's broken washing machine as a sexual stimulant.
A small cult claiming to be a business group visits the manor, and their charismatic leader Micah deceives Jay into joining them, delighting Flower but concerning Sam and the other ghosts. While Sam gradually convinces Jay of the truth, Flower opens up to Alberta about how she chose to join a hippie commune instead of supporting her brother Rob, who went M.I.A. during his service in the Vietnam War. The cultists refuse to leave when asked because, as Jay realizes, the contract he had signed gave them permission to stay on the land indefinitely. At Flower's suggestion, Sam lies about being intimate with Micah to stir up a conflict and drive them out of the mansion. Meanwhile, Sasappis, tired of rooming with Pete, asks the scout leader to be less overly cheerful, and he feigns adopting a more dour and cynical personality. During a sunset, Pete tells Sass that his optimistic attitude regarding eternity comes from cherishing special moments that happen along the way, which he points out when Sam shows Flower that she wrote an email as a pretend commune member to Rob, who is still alive and wrote back a heartwarming message about his sister.
Sam and Jay's new neighbors, June and Ally, want to cut down an old tree. Sasappis has Sam tell the neighbors that the tree has a special significance to the Lenape people who lived on the land, noting the thirteen marks on the tree that he claims represent the Lenape language's dialects. Sam writes an op-ed in the local paper to get people's attention, but Sass confesses to the other ghosts that the thirteen marks are for every time Shiki said hello to him. As protesters arrive at the tree, Bob, who represents the Hudson Valley Lenape Culture Center, arrives and tells Sam that she is incorrect about her Lenape information, so Sass tells her the truth. The tree is cut down, and June and Ally give Sam seeds from the old tree to grow new ones. Meanwhile, acting on Trevor's advice, Thorfinn tries to get closer to Flower by learning about environmental issues, which interest her, but becomes overly concerned with protecting the environment. In response, Flower tells him to use what he has learned to inspire rather than harass people.
Jay hosts a last minute Halloween party after the Arondekars' new neighbors, June and Ally, say they want to go to Liam Neeson's party. To liven up their dull party, the ghosts tell Sam to do a séance with their guests. They bring back Molly, Hetty's maid and her husband's mistress, from the afterlife. While the guests leave, Sam tricks Hetty and Molly into entering the ghostproof vault so they can resolve their old tensions. One man passes through Isaac and smells him, but Isaac tells Nigel that Pete is the source of the stench. Flower forgets Sam is in there and shuts the door, trapping her. Realizing a feather duster that Ally borrowed for her maid costume is the key ingredient that brought back Molly, Jay hurries to Liam Neeson's house and retrieves the duster. Back in the manor, Jay fogs up a mirror so Trevor can write where Sam is but misinterprets Trevor's incomplete message. Isaac reluctantly passes through Jay, using his stench as a signal to read the full message so Jay can rescue Sam, and Nigel appreciates his honesty. Having made peace with Hetty, Molly returns to the afterlife through a reverse séance.
Sam discovers Thorfinn has a son named Bjorn, who has not seen his father since he was a young child, came to North America to find him in adulthood, and ended up haunting the Farnsbys' house. Because the Arondekars and the Farnsbys are not next-door neighbors, Sam decides to have the Vikings shout to each other through the houses' windows to reconnect. While reading Sam's notes from her interview with Bjorn, Thor is enraged to discover his son married and had three children with a Danish woman. He plans to announce that he has disowned Bjorn during their conversation but has a change of heart when he hears Bjorn call him "Father", something he was too young to do when they last saw each other. Meanwhile, Trevor schemes to outcompete Hetty, who has amassed an impressive afterlife "wealth" in back rub time, by using TV time as a new currency. Hetty convinces him to share his TV time after a meaningful dialogue, although he discovers that this was a trick so she could watch her favorite show.
Paula, a producer behind the documentary TV series Dumb Deaths, wants to make a short film about Flower's death, although Flower is reluctant to having her image used in an unflattering light to raise money for the B&B. A chat between Sam and Paula leads the latter to prepare for a short film about Pete's death instead, but Pete does not want to be remembered as a failed scout leader. Sam and Jay reach out to Jennifer, a now-grown former member of Pete's troop, so she can provide a positive eye witness case for him. The ghosts plot to sabotage the production, and after Thorfinn runs out of energy from draining a camera battery, a production crew member passes through Flower, then shoots an arrow while in a drug-like trance into Jay's rear. Jennifer follows safety precautions needed to remove the arrow that she learned from Pete, reminding him that he was a good leader after all. Meanwhile, Sam's interview with Isaac and Nigel about the American Revolution causes their old sentiments from the war to resurface, but she resolves their tensions by reminding Isaac of the U.S. and Britain's much friendlier present-day relations. At the end of the day, the ghosts gather to watch Sam portray Flower in a televised Dumb Deaths episode.
Executive Producer Mathew Baynton, one of the co-creators, writers and cast members of the original UK version, guest stars as Pete's actor.
Jay admits to Sam that he neglected to apply for a liquor license when the B&B is about to host a whiskey tasting event. Since they have been selling alcohol illegally, Alberta encourages them to keep up the ruse for one more day despite Pete's objections. The liquor license inspector unexpectedly arrives during the whiskey tasting, so the Arondekars keep her from discovering the liquor by sending their guests into the vault for a "speakeasy" experience. When Alberta recalls a stash of Prohibition-era whiskey hidden in a wall, Sam and Jay try to convince the inspector to move to a room where she won't hear the wall being hammered open, but she sets up her final review work in the kitchen next to the whiskey wall. Jay tenderizes some meat loudly to drown out Sam breaking open the wall, and their party is a success, although they realize too late that selling the whiskey instead could have made them more money. Meanwhile, Isaac, who claims to have been in the Freemasons, wants to start his own intellectual fraternity for the ghosts, who all end up joining Trevor's fraternity because of the fun he promises. Trevor has a change of heart and invites Isaac, who was never really a Mason, to join the speakeasy party in the vault. In the whiskey hole, Sam discovers a letter adding two more suspects to Alberta's murder mystery.
Part 1 – When Jay's sister Bela and her friend Eric visit the manor on Christmas Eve, Sam is inspired by her love of made-for-TV Christmas movies to bring them together romantically. Trevor, previously Bela's "boyfriend", hatches a plan to possess Eric so he can be intimate with her for one night, and Bela agrees to his text invitation. After learning from Jay about how he was possessed by Hetty, Bela convinces Eric, who is genuinely interested in her, to go forward with the plan as well. That night, Jay catches Bela and Eric attempting to recreate the circumstances that led to Jay's possession and orders them to stop. Meanwhile, Isaac attempts to kiss Nigel for the first time under some mistletoe, but his nerves cause Nigel to leave for the shed. On Christmas Morning, Sam converses with Thorfinn, who despises Christmas for appropriating elements from Norse traditions, as she attempts to fix the sconce that caused Hetty's possession, gets shocked, and falls onto Thor, making him possess her.
Part 2 – A heartbroken Eric leaves for the nearby train station, so Jay sets out to bring him back. At the station, they eventually agree to allow Trevor to possess Eric. While everyone waits for Jay's return, Thor, now in full control of Sam's body, opens his Christmas present: a decorative Viking ship model in a bottle, and he has a change of heart about the holiday. Jay returns with Eric, who attempts to shock himself on the sconce but fatally electrocutes himself and becomes a ghost. Thor revives Eric using his powers as a defibrillator, exposing himself as Sam's possessor, so Jay drives Sam over the ghost barrier, freeing the Viking. The livings and ghosts celebrate Christmas in full the next day. Elsewhere, Isaac has a nightmare about his wife Beatrice calling him a "big gay liar". In telling this to his friends, he shows a cricket Beatrice embroidered for him, making Sasappis remember how Beatrice visited Isaac on his deathbed. Realizing his wife wanted him to be happy, Isaac gains the confidence to kiss Nigel. After the Christmas celebrations, Trevor and Hetty secretly start their own relationship.
Sam and Jay hire Freddy, a food deliveryman, as their new assistant. The ghosts, who are concerned about the attention Sam is giving Freddy, discover that Jessica, a woman in Freddy's car, is a permanently drunk ghost who died in an accident that left her bound to a small area around the vehicle. Jessica lies and states that Freddy is a hit-and-run driver responsible for her death, leading the Arondekars to fire him over a cover story. However, she soon confides to the ghosts that she actually died upon crashing into a telephone pole, and that Freddy bought the car at a sale a few years later, but she does not want to give up life on the road. The ghosts break the news to Sam and Jay, who purchase copious burritos for online delivery until Freddy returns so they can hire him back. Elsewhere, Bjorn seeks counsel from Thorfinn when Judy, the ghost of Henry Farnsby's mother, bullies him. Though Thor wants his son to bully her back, Pete, who had a distant and strict father, tells Bjorn to use his words instead. Bjorn then learns Judy has a crush on him, and they start a relationship.
Hetty is taken aback when Sam treats Freddy with respect for his strong performance as an employee, insisting she treat him as harshly as Hetty treated her servants in life. Together, Trevor and Hetty secretly tamper with guest booking information at the front desk computer in the night, causing mass confusion the next morning. Sam takes out her frustration on Freddy, who promptly quits. Upon reviewing the incorrect data and learning that no livings were awake at the time, Sam and Jay deduce that the ghosts were responsible and are forced to beg Freddy to return. Hetty opens up about how she couldn't give her children guidance after her death and now wants to be a positive mentor for Sam despite her outdated methods. As Freddy checks the security footage from the previous night, he notices the keyboard keys moving by themselves. Meanwhile, Sasappis begins a relationship with Jessica the car ghost but grows jealous when she describes her encounters with charismatic ghosts during her time on the road. Acting on relationship advice from Pete, he confirms that she has not been cheating on him with any other ghost.
Following his discovery of the front desk computer's keys moving seemingly on their own, Freddy purchases ghost-hunting equipment, including a ghost trap from Latvia. The ghosts are skeptical that the trap works, dismissing it as a children's toy, but when a worried Pete refuses to test it, Thorfinn, wanting to show his bravery, gets sucked inside. Flower soon naively follows suit. Freddy calls the company that sent him the trap, and Sam presses a button that causes the device to prepare to eviscerate the ghosts from existence. As the group realizes the label on the device means it can only hold a maximum of two ghosts, Pete willingly risks his afterlife existence and allows the device to trap him, malfunction, and free all three of its captives. Due to their heartfelt conversation in the trap, Flower decides she wants to date only Thor, and he warmly agrees. Freddy, fed up with the chaos in the mansion, quits for good after hearing Alberta's humming again. Meanwhile, Sass convinces Jay via Sam to buy back Freddy's recently sold car with Jessica, but they break up as they come to grips with neither being able to participate in each other's afterlife activities.
Trevor's skull is discovered in a lake when Jay is taking a visiting couple out to fish for their supper. The discovery of Trevor's remains brings his parents, Lenny and Esther Lefkowitz, to Woodstone Manor. Trevor is distressed to find out his parents are now divorced, so he hatches a plan to "Parent Trap" his parents and reestablish their marriage via making the Arondekars hold a memorial for himself. Despite a romantic meal, plus a special song and film, Lenny takes a work phone call, causing Esther to leave. Meanwhile, Isaac learns of the existence of George: a Puritan ghost on the Farnsby property who is now open about his repressed homosexuality due to failing to reach the afterlife and flirts with the Revolutionary.
Sam and Jay put their Valentine's Day plans on hold to make Thorfinn's first date with Flower perfect. The next day, Flower does not appear to remember the previous night, so Thor requests to have the same night recreated exactly. When Flower helps Sam remember something she said before, she admits that she only pretended to forget the date because she is afraid her relationship with Thor will not last forever; her last two-person relationship in life ended when her then-boyfriend Michael died. Thor assures her that, as long as neither can die, they can stay together. Elsewhere, Nigel moves into the library but does not invite Hetty to his welcoming party, so Hetty, who used to be closer with Isaac before he started dating Nigel, seeks revenge by starting her own party. They seemingly apologize while Isaac is listening, although they secretly tell each other that their conflict over him will continue. The Arondekars ultimately have their romantic dinner six days after Valentine's Day.
With Isaac watching, Sam tries to pitch his autobiography to a publisher. The publisher later passes, but Sam lies to Isaac to make him happy, even posting on Facebook about the book being accepted by a fictitious publisher. An old friend of Sam's from journalism school arrives for a stay at the mansion, forcing Sam to keep up the lie. Just as Sam's friend is about to contact the book's fictitious publisher, Sam admits the truth in front of Isaac, to whom she explains that being loved and remembered by friends is more important than being remembered by history. The real publisher, having read Sam's posts and thinking another publisher accepted, makes Sam an offer for the book. Meanwhile, Flower tells Thorfinn she can't continue dating him unless he does something about his anger issues, so the Viking asks Pete to become more mild mannered. When Sam's friend's husband, a native of Copenhagen, begins trashing Norway, Thor loses his patience. Flower apologizes, admitting that she likes Thor for who he is and should not force him to change. In the basement, Nancy gives Nigel a tour and walks in on Trevor and Hetty in bed.
Hetty's husband Elias returns from hell for a 48-hour furlough and tries to get her to sign a document of forgiveness that will release him from hell's torture. Hetty refuses until Elias tricks Pete into selling his soul, but she cannot write on the document because her forgiveness isn't genuine. Hearing Alberta's words about letting go of past toxic relationships, Hetty forgives Elias and signs the document, freeing both him and Pete. Sam and the ghosts allow Elias to stay unless he misbehaves, in which case Thorfinn will throw him back into the ghost-proof vault. Meanwhile, Jay walks through Flower and cooks a chicken dish that inspires a guest to invite the Menu Hunter, a TV food critic with whom she has ties. Unable to remember the recipe, Jay tries walking through Flower repeatedly without success but decides to go forward with a newly improvised lamb chop recipe. Elias, deciding he cannot control himself, states he will voluntarily return to hell and passes through the Menu Hunter, causing her to ecstatically enjoy the lamb chops. When the portal to hell reopens, Elias almost drags Pete down with him, but Pete escapes using self-defense techniques he learned from Thor.
Alicia, a lawyer and a descendant of Alberta's younger sister Theresa, books a stay at the mansion to participate in Sam's podcast. She is particularly interested in meeting Todd, who cohosts the show, and when he arrives, they start forming a relationship, much to Alberta's horror. With the ghosts' encouragement, Sam breaks up the couple during their dinner by divulging all of Todd's embarrassing secrets about his obsession with Alberta. Despite this, Alicia is inspired by her conversation with Todd to pursue singing and demonstrate her voice on the podcast to get some exposure. Although Alberta notes that music is a difficult career to pursue, she enjoys her descendant's voice and sings a duet with her. Meanwhile, Nigel uses his knowledge of Trevor and Hetty's affair as blackmail. Trevor, realizing his selfishness, breaks up with Hetty, and they finally recount their story to the other ghosts. During an episode of the podcast, new clues suggest that Theresa may have been Alberta's killer.
Pete wants to be part of his daughter Laura's upcoming wedding. Sam and Jay file a anonymous complaint to close an unlicensed deck that Pete built, so Laura, her mother Carol, and her son Little Pete arrive at the mansion, but Pete disagrees with all of Laura's wedding ideas, including her refusal to include lilies. This leaves Pete heartbroken as he remembers "marrying" Laura to a stuffed bear when she was a child and giving her a bouquet of lilies. Sam attempts to include a passage about lilies in Pete's old diary, but Little Pete, who has memorized it, quickly discovers the truth. As the Martinos leave, Sam uses a slang word that Laura remembers only her father using, and she recalls him giving her a bouquet of orchids. The scoutmaster "walks" his daughter down the aisle on her wedding day. Meanwhile, the ghosts recover Crash's head, which was thrown into the property's forest a year ago. Isaac and Alberta interrogate each of the ghosts until Flower confesses that she discarded the head. Alberta then notices a key detail in Isaac's story that only he would have known, and he admits he threw away the head to create a mystery to solve, but because she enjoyed the experience, they agree to start another mystery soon. That evening, Crash sings an irritating love song to Flower, who tosses his head behind the couch.
In New York City, Jay reapplies for a position at his old restaurant and buys an expensive pair of sneakers, hiding both from Sam. While hiding the shoebox in the attic, he accidentally awakens Stephanie the prom ghost, who has long had a crush on Trevor and is furious when she learns of his relationship with Hetty, plotting to break up all the couples at Woodstone Manor. This includes trying to show Thor and Flower that they have nothing in common and leading Sam to the shoebox, and when Sam asks Jay about it, he lets slip about the application and they get into an argument. However, Nancy gives away Stephanie’s plan. Sam soon understands Stephanie is lonely and sets her up with Ralph, a teenage cholera victim. Thor and Flower realize that they both love owls and think this is proof that they are meant for each other. Discovering during tea with Isaac and Nigel that having their relationship out in the open isn’t working out, Trevor and Hetty stage a fake breakup to start over in secret.
Sam's new podcast editor tells her that she has to post the solution to Alberta’s murder within 24 hours. With help from the ghosts, she and Jay arrange a murder board, and much to Alberta’s dismay, all the evidence keeps pointing back to her younger sister Theresa, making her feel betrayed. However, Hetty admits the love note to Alberta’s boyfriend Earl signed "T" was not from Theresa, but Thomas Woodstone, Hetty’s son. Thomas and Earl were secretly lovers, and when Earl broke it off, Thomas killed Alberta out of jealousy, using poisoned whiskey Theresa took from Al Capone while he was attempting suicide. Alberta is furious to learn Hetty saw what Thomas did and thus knew the truth all along, so she refuses to forgive her for keeping this a secret. Meanwhile, Trevor and Flower make Pete an email account so he can read daily jokes from Reader’s Digest (despite Sam banning Trevor from using the computer following the Christmas incident), and the three end up falling victim to a Nigerian prince scam by wiring money from Jay's bank account. Sam stops the wire transfer upon receiving a fraud alert.
A guest claiming to be the daughter of David Woodstone, Sam's uncle and Trevor's former coworker, states she is the rightful heiress. Trevor counters that this is impossible because David was banned from a strip club where he met the woman's mother, an exotic dancer. At the club, Sam and Jay encounter the ghost of David, who explains that he had been sterile since before he met the woman's mother. Using this information, the couple gets the woman and her lawyer to admit that they had plotted to buy and resell the mansion at an immensely high profit to pay off gambling debts. Elsewhere, the ghosts put Hetty on trial for concealing the truth that her son killed Alberta, and although she is sentenced to staying in the forest for a year, Alberta forgives her on the condition that she shares a room with Flower, to which Hetty agrees. Sam reluctantly gives half the profits from Isaac's book to him, which he plans to spend on a new one-person bed. Understanding that Nigel is worried about what this means for their relationship, Isaac proposes to him, and he happily accepts. That evening, as the Arondekars reflect on how the ghosts have enriched their lives, and vice versa, Sam notices a beam of light from the mansion's roof, indicating that one of the ghosts has moved on to the afterlife, but it is unclear which ghost.
On November 29, 2019, CBS announced that they were developing an adaptation of the BBC One series Ghosts.[55] The original British series upon which the series is based was created by Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard, and Ben Willbond for BBC.[56] On February 4, 2020, it was announced that the pilot had been picked up by CBS Studios and was co-produced with BBC Studios and Lionsgate Television.[57] On March 31, 2021, it was announced that the adaptation has been picked up for a full series.[58] In July 2021, it was announced that the series would premiere as a Thursday-night entry on October 7, 2021.[1] On September 23, 2021, CBS changed the premiere to back-to-back episodes.[59] On October 21, 2021, CBS picked up the series for a full season.[2] On December 17, 2021, it was reported that production has been temporarily halted due to a positive case of COVID-19 on the set of the series.[60] On January 24, 2022, CBS renewed the series for a second season[3] which premiered on September 29, 2022.[4] On November 8, 2022, it was announced that the BBC would be airing Ghosts in the United Kingdom under the name of 'Ghosts US' on BBC Three & BBC iPlayer on November 20, 2022.[61][62] On January 12, 2023, CBS renewed the series for a third season,[5] which is scheduled to premiere on February 15, 2024.[7]
Casting
On March 4, 2020, Rose McIver was cast in a leading role for the pilot.[63] On July 1, 2020, Utkarsh Ambudkar was cast in a main role for the pilot.[64] On December 9, 2020, Brandon Scott Jones, Richie Moriarty, Asher Grodman, Rebecca Wisocky, Sheila Carrasco, Danielle Pinnock and Roman Zaragoza were cast in main roles for the pilot.[65] On May 12, 2021, Devan Chandler Long joined the cast as a series regular.[66]
Filming
Filming for the third season began in Montreal on December 2, 2023.[6]
Reception
Critical response
For the first season, the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 93% approval rating with an average rating of 7.3/10, based on 27 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Ghosts could stand to ask more of its characters, but an excellent ensemble and a genial wit make for easy, softly spooky viewing."[67]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 69 out of 100 based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[68]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season has received an approval rating of 100% with an average rating of 7/10, based on seven critic reviews.[69]
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