In Season 2 of the CBS comedy “Ghosts,” Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar) and Sam (Rose McIver) finally manage to open the doors of their bed and breakfast. But, little do guests know, there are a lot more to stay at Woodstone Manor than meets the eye—and they’ve certainly caused some chaos.
“We have some stories about how Jay and Sam do business now, how the ghosts will be affected when they’re open. [and] What role could they play in a B&B,” teased co-showrunner Joe Wiseman to TheWrap when we talked to him as part of our fall TV preview.
In a new interview with TheWrap, “Ghosts” boss Wiseman and co-showrunner Joe Port tease more about what’s to come, including new characters we can expect to meet and whether J through the manor’s floor. The fall of seeing ghosts may finally be their ticket.
TheWrap: How much did you know about where Season 2 would go when it ended Season 2?
Joe Wiseman: I think as we were round the corner on Season 1, it became clear that a natural place for them to end up would be to open a B&B. Then we can start telling stories about a young couple who open and tackle a business together. It allows the stories to literally walk in the front door and provides just a little bit of progress for Jay and Sam without radically changing the show. It will still be about the residents of Woodstone.
We have entered the backstories of several ghosts in Season 1. When you were writing those episodes, did you think about how you might expand on them in potential future seasons?
which port: Because we have so many, you can really focus on each of them for only two, maybe three episodes each over the course of the year. So, you move the ball a little bit for their backstory, and I think the stuff we did last year gives a lot of insight into what we did to them this year — with stories like Isaac and Nigel. Afterwards. We are now going to follow their relationship and learn a little bit about how Isaac’s past affects his present based on how he is in relationships. We began to find out about the Alberta murder, and we learned something about Pete’s family. We’re all going to keep uncovering the layers of ghosts as we progress through this year.
Last season we met most of the main ghosts at the start of the season, but there were a few surprises that surfaced throughout. Can we expect some new ghosts in Season 2 as well?
wise: Yes. We love to feature ghosts, and some of them are on the property. This season we are definitely going to meet some ghosts that are adjacent to the property that have a surprising connection to our ghosts. We’ve thought of some fun, creative ways to bring both former residents and other people to the property. It’s one of the more fun things to think about in the writers’ room, how we realistically cast ghosts in a way that makes sense given the rules we’ve established.
port: We are going to meet some ghosts from the past who may not necessarily be living in Woodstone in the present.
The cast has some really fun and creative ideas for their characters. Did you even talk to them about what they want to see this season?
wise: I think informally we have spoken to all of them. They all know their characters really well, just from embodying them – or not embodying them, I guess. [Laughs],
port: He certainly has strong opinions. Like Joe said, he is very well acquainted with his characters and the eras from which his ghosts came. It’s like having eight other writers on the show in addition to our amazing writing staff, because they all become experts in the time that their character came from. It’s really helpful and fun.
So you mentioned we’ll see more about Isaac and his relationship with Nigel. Is there any other story you can tease?
wise: Our Halloween episodes, we always try to swing a big one and do something fun. I think we have come up with something that should be entertaining.
port: We’re about to find out that a ghost lives in Farnsby. They live a couple of houses downstairs. As we learned in the show, wherever Sam goes there are ghosts, because throughout history I’ve felt that wherever you go, someone dies. So there are some ghosts who live there that she knows, and there’s a surprising connection between one of them and Thorfin, which we’ll learn about very quickly.
In the teaser, it looks like Jai might now be able to see ghosts as well.
port: He definitely really wants that. Both the Jai Charitra and Utkarsh actors and Insan want to be able to talk to only a tenth of the cast that they can talk to right now. This is a show where at the end of the season he fell off the floor and hit his head. I guess in most shows he couldn’t die or he couldn’t see a ghost, but in this show both things are possible. We’re not saying what’s up with it, but anything is possible.
Can you summarize what to expect from Season 2?
wise: Hopefully in a good way, more of the same. I think the show will be basically what it was for, but we’ll continue to dig more deeply into what these characters are about. There are still a lot of mysteries out there, and we’re not going to answer them all, but there is one episode where we find out a little more about the circumstances of Pete’s death. … As we move forward, we will continue to learn about our ghosts and develop some relationships with ghosts.
Season 2 of “Ghosts” premieres September 29 at 8:30 p.m. on CBS.
