Warning - The rest of this article contains spoilers for School Spirits Season 2, Episode 8.
There was a lot happening in the Season 2 finale, as Janet (played by the wonderful Jess Garbor) and the Split River High Ghosts have their long-awaited confrontation with Josh Zuckerman's Mr. Martin—who ominously teased unknown secrets and big mysteries in the future of the show that pertain to everyone there.
But the final moments of the episode, arguably the biggest moment of the entire series, saw Simon shockingly pulled into the afterlife.
The Direct sat down with Kristian Ventura, where the School Spirits star helped break down what exactly happened to Simon.
What Happened to Simon in the School Spirits Season 2 Finale?
"Oh, So This Is What a Season 3 Would Look Like."
After two long seasons, Peyton List's Maddie is finally able to make it back into her body—and just in the nick of time, too, as she jumps back into her body just as ambulances are about to push her empty body past the property line of Split River High.
However, as she lies in her hospital bed, in the land of the living, she asks Spencer Macpherson's Xavier where Simon is.
The show wastes no time blowing the minds of everyone watching: somehow, someway, it's revealed that Simon is trapped in the afterlife at Split River High. Not only that, but he's somehow in Mr. Martin's scar, aka his personal hell in the afterlife.
- The Direct: "I want to just start right at the end. What in the world are you doing in Mr. Martin's scar, man?"
Kristian Ventura: When we read that in the script, that was, oh, so this is what a Season 3 would look like. You know, here's how the producers explained that moment to me. Maddie goes to her ambulance and rushes over there, but at the same time, Simon crosses, and they are trying to justify the supernatural occurrence of their love for each other somehow coming into play while he got trapped like that. But it's the perfect role reversal. I mean, Simon has done a lot for Maddie these past couple of seasons. Now it's like, your turn, baby.
- The Direct: "Where did you go? I guess you can't really say too much about it, but like, you run off camera, the next thing we know, you're in the scar. But what was your destination in between?"
Kristian Ventura: I mean, he was going right back to the boiler room, thinking that that would be their mutual spot. Maybe he could scream Maddie's name, and she'll be there. And he went inside the shelter, that bomb shelter, the famous bomb shelter that they got down there.
And lo and behold, he is trapped in the underworld. He cannot come back, and I don't know how they're going to rescue him, but someone's got to save Simon. It was such an act of unconditional love. It was an act of, I don't know what the danger is. I just got to run and get her. And that kind of knee-jerk reaction is kind of what friends are for. But poor guy.
Is Someone Running Around In Simon's Body Now?
"I DON'T EVEN KNOW!"
The last two times someone mysteriously ended up in the afterlife at Split River High, it was because a spirit hijacked their body. First, it was Janet taking over Maddie, and then Mr. Martin borrowing Mr. Anderson's body.
Did Simon cross paths with a mysterious soul?
- The Direct: "Is anybody else in your body, do you think? Or is this a whole new situation that we have to explore in Season 3, whatever it may be?"
Kristian Ventura: All the hints and clues that are going on in the script, it kind of looks like, I wouldn't want to make a call that's false, but it kind of looks like his physical body is—that doesn't even make sense. I DON'T EVEN KNOW! I was about to say his physical body is trapped in a scar because they went in and out at the same time. I don't know. I really don't think—Are you saying that his body should be lying around somewhere in the school?
- The Direct: "At least that's how it's been working so far. In theory, did someone surprise you and, like, hijack your body, and then you ended up in the scar? There are a lot of question marks."
Ventura: Simon, saying, 'where the hell is Maddie?' Trapped in that scar is the big question mark. But there's one other question mark, and that's the cliffhanger of the second season when Janet says there are still more things. Mr. Martin, I need to figure out. He didn't tell me something, and it's something important.
This is beyond the red rooms. This is beyond scars. This is something about the hospital and the school. What is underneath these places that allowed ghosts? What did he find? I think that maybe there's some explanation there because we have no idea what kind of information Mr. Martin's holding in his pocket.
Simon and Maddie's Big Fight In Episode 7 Explained
"He's Just Completely 0% Battery."
Maddie means the world to Simon, and helping her solve her problems in the afterlife has been his entire purpose. But, School Spirits Season 2, Episode 7 saw a notable crack form between the two, as tensions rose.
- The Direct: "Now, let's jump back a second. Simon and Maddie have another big fight in Episode 7, where you kind of question how she's treating you and her living friends while everything is going down. [Can you] dive into what Simon is feeling in that moment."
Kristian Ventura: I think he feels burnt out. I think he kind of looked around and said, You know, I gave a little bit too much of myself, and I thought you would do the same. Her doing the same as coming back to him and reconnecting
But he goes, I lost my whole future. I can't even go to college anymore. I'm suspended. That's going to be on my record forever. My life is over because I was running around, you know, Splt River, Wisconsin, trying to save you. He's just burnt out. And I think what he learns is there is no such thing as a jail-free card. There are consequences to everything.
If you're going to love someone that much and do all that well, you have the potential to be really, really hurt. So it's a heartbreaking moment. He kind of says, I miss you and that's the thing, like we forget when you're in a show that has so many cool conflicts, is that they're 17-years-old and they really just want to go to the skate park, and they really just want to hang out, but in these awesome shows like 'Stranger Things' or 'School Spirits,' the world is ending and they lose childhood and youth forever.
But yeah, I think he's burnt out, and he just realized that you can give an arm and a leg to someone, but eventually, you're gonna run out of body parts. There's nothing left for him to give. He's just completely 0% battery.
What's Simon's College Future In School Spirits?
"Simon Hasn't Done a Single Thing For Himself."
- The Direct: "Simon does make a big move after that big exchange [with Maddie in Episode 7 where] he goes back and calls the College Recruiter before everything else plays out. How does he hope that all is going to unfold for him? He made that call. What does he think is going to happen next?"
Kristian Ventura: I think him picking up that landline phone at the office was him saying, well... Simon hasn't done a single thing for himself. So when he picks up that phone, I don't know if he thinks he's gonna get into Northwestern, but I just know that it almost seemed like the only thing left he can do.
It was, you know, it's either clean your room or call Northwestern. He's picked up that phone. He did something for himself, and when he hung up, he just sat back in the chair. It was the first time his soul had been restored.
And I always make the argument: why do we love people? I think we love people because of who they are, but when all you are is a self-sacrificing figure that, again, is just composed of absolute selflessness, Maddie has no one to love. He just becomes a shadow. He just becomes a figure of her. He's almost like an understudy of his own life. He's just there. And so she needs a best friend to love. And I feel like when he gave a call to that college, it was the first time that he, I guess, filled his fridge back.
- The Direct: "Yeah, well, now he's basically dead. So what do you think are his chances with that particular—like, that college is basically done now. How do you even come back from that a third time? Unless this is solved within 24 hours, which I can't imagine."
Kristian Ventura: There's a potential for so many great scenes in the third season. I think we talked about this at our last interview, like a graduation, or even just the opposite of a flashback, like a fast-forward to what their college lives look like, and have the ghosts that are our favorite breakfast club guys, have they moved on and passed on? Does someone want to take the torch and say, Mr. Martin's gone, I'm going to go ahead and lead the afterlife. Is that going to be Charlie?... [Simon] deserves the world, and I hope that they rescue him.
The full interview can be seen here:
School Spirits Season 2 is now streaming on Paramount+.
