One of the stars of School Spirits revealed when they think the cast and crew will return to work for Season 2 of the Paramount+ original series.
The finale of Season 1, starring Peyton List and Kristian Ventura, aired on April 12, 2023. Two months later, the project was officially renewed for Season 2.
The industry then went through two monumental strikes that brought everything to a halt for most of the year. One of the many consequences is that fans now have no idea when they can expect new episodes of School Spirits.
An Exciting Update on School Spirits Season 2
In an exclusive interview with The Direct’s Russ Milheim, School Spirits star Kristian Ventura, who plays Simon, revealed when he thinks Season 2 will start filming.
The actor stated that he believed the production team is “looking at a summer start date" for the new episodes:
“You know, everyone's operating on their own schedules... They are writing the series. My best prediction is we're all going to be in Vancouver in the summer. And it's going to take a couple months for the writers to get back into the room and hash out the second season. I think we're looking at a summer start date.”
While it's sad that Season 2 was delayed a good chunk of time due to the strikes, they had to happen for the betterment of the industry.
Season 1 was filmed for three months, from August 2022 to November 2022, and released five months later in March 2023. By that metric, if School Spirits were to start filming next June and wrap in Fall 2024, a premiere in early 2025 would be the best conservative estimate at this point.
If waiting that long is too much to think about, there is one thing fans can look forward to before its far-away debut: the release of the graphic novel on which the show is based. According to Amazon, the book, written by the show’s writers Nate and Megan Trinrud, is set to hit shelves on September 10, 2024.
While Season 2 is up next, it's hard not to think about how long the show may run for.
Ventura was unsure how many seasons School Spirits may go for, but he did point out how “the graphic novel is going to come out next year” and hopefully give a better picture of the bigger picture:
“Well, you know, I think that the graphic novel is going to come out next year, and we'll finally be able to get the ending, and then we'll be able to see if the seasons adjust to the same pace, you know, how it'll look - a three-season show or a five-season show.”
Ventura also noted how he believes “there’s an invitation to allow new characters to exist” outside of Maddie’s high school:
“I think that because of the ghosts' world and their sort of immortality, there's an invitation to allow new characters to exist in the series and not maybe necessarily in Split River, Wisconsin. I could see that. I do see, though, that, not to be cynical of anything, but due to the nature of all of us being in our youth, a high school series ceases to be a high school series when we look 26…”
“[The writers are] gonna call it when they call it,” exclaimed the actor, noting that he “trust[s] them:”
“Everyone's so real that works on it. Nate and Megan, the writers of the show, are brothers and sisters. They're so real. They love horror movies, and they hate bullshit. So they're gonna call it when they call it... I trust them in what they're going to do, but they're not going to let an audience sit through, 'Is Xavier growing a beard?'"
When asked what he is most excited to explore in Season 2, Ventura pointed out how he thinks their “performances will dramatically improve” for these new episodes thanks to all the work they did with one another in the freshman run:
"It's so rare for a group of actors to meet again. How it kind of works is, 'Oh, my God, I saw you eight projects ago!' It's like, yeah, eight projects ago. There are more pilots than second seasons. So just to be able to be in the space with actors who you've built a relationship with. I think our performances will dramatically improve. I'm interested in… the technical improvements of our chemistry and how that's going to translate on-screen... I think it's going to lead to good things.”
Speaking of his co-stars, while responding to an inquiry about how the cast built dynamics with one another, Ventura revealed he reached out to Peyton List to try and guarantee personal rehearsal time between the two of them offset:
“Yeah, well, one of the first bits of advice I got... entering the industry was how difficult it is for people, for actors, to rehearse when they're not being paid to rehearse. Because preparation is so private. So I was like, Darn, I really wish School Spirits was a play. And we could just go over to each other's houses and rehearse. But what I ended up doing is I texted Peyton [List]. I'm like, 'Hey, I really want the show to be good.' And she said, 'Yeah, I really want this to be good, too.' I'm like, 'Do you want to come over every night?'"
Ventura believes that “really surrender[ing] to the work” is the best way to bond with other actors and his character:
“And so while we shot in Vancouver, we're going into each other's hotel rooms, pushing the chairs back. And if we have a night shoot or a morning, it doesn't matter. We're with each other every day. And so that's sort of my philosophy is that bonding with your castmates at Disneyland is one thing to build a bond, but to really surrender to the work and like to die every night with the script in your hands, It gives you a deeper comfort than any kind of bonding activity.”
“Peyton and I were not like best friends going to concerts together,” confirmed the actor, but they were both able to achieve a deeper connection when rehearsing with each other:
“So yeah, Peyton and I were not like best friends going to concerts together. But every time I'm in a scene with her... we both sort of look into each other's eyes and go, 'You ready to go there?' And she goes, I'm ready to go.' Their scenes aren't very happy.”
Ventura’s character, Simon, is stuck in the land of the living. So did he ever get to hang out with his fellow cast members who play those stuck in the afterlife?
“There is definitely the inherent innocent social divide,” admitted the actor:
“To be honest, there is definitely the inherent innocent social divide because we do film on different days. So we only catch each other playing billiards and drinking beer on the weekends in Vancouver. But we're not on set on the same days a lot of the time…”
Toward the end of the show, Ventura shared how they were able to get closer despite their lack of scenes with one another—such as playing chess with co-star Milo Manheim:
“Toward the end of the show, when we all got a little bit closer, we would just take an Uber to set and watch behind the monitors on our day offs. I'd watch like Milo Manheim scenes and go, "'ow, this Wally character is really frickin funny.' Better than what I read in the script, he really brings it to life. And he would come by and watch me and play chess with me if I have a break. So over time, we started to get more involved in each other's workdays even when we're not called.”
The full interview can be seen below:
School Spirits is now streaming on Paramount+ and Netflix.
