In the second season of the CBS’ Ghosts, the sitcom offers up its take on Christmas with the two-part mid-season finale titled “The Christmas Spirit.” In the episode, Rose McIver’s Sam and Utkarsh Ambudkar’s Jay invite Jay’s sister Bela (Punam Patel) to their upstate New York mansion for the holidays. Sam then tries to set up Bela with her male friend, but naturally, not everything goes as planned. Recently, McIver chatted with Variety about how her experiences on The Christmas Prince movies and iZombie helped her make Ghosts’ Christmas episode something truly special.
When asked about her thoughts on Ghosts doing a Christmas special, McIver said, “They wanted to do a bit of a riff on the classic Christmas movies and the Hallmark-style, and I love it — because our show does the same thing that ‘The Christmas Prince’ did. It simultaneously makes fun of genre but is totally on board with the joy that that genre brings. The projects I like to work on don’t take themselves too seriously, but celebrate the reason that something is a popular idea in our culture.”
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McIver also revealed her thoughts on doing a two-part season finale saying, “First, it was awesome that it was a one-hour episode broken into two. So many fans have been so sweet about saying they wish Ghosts was longer, and play out arc that you’re not racing through in 20-something minutes. And knowing that Sam was going to be possessed by Thor, I really wanted to lean into the opposite of that for the first half. Really play her sweetness and her traditional Hallmark vibe.”
She continued, “And playing the Thorfinn aspect, I worked on iZombie for five years, where I would eat a brain and take on a different character each week, and it’s so different on this show. On iZombie, the person I impersonated was a cadaver lying on the morgue table; I didn’t really get to play with that person. On Ghosts, my impersonation was of somebody who not only I worked with, but I’m very familiar with and love, and who’s built such an awesome character. It changes the stakes a little.”
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Rose McIver Says Her Ghosts Character ‘Loves’ Experiencing ‘Escapism of Christmas’
CBS Studio
McIver also reflected on how the holidays affect her character Sam. The actor said, “Sam has some quite splintered elements. There are some parts of her that are very much trapped in a juvenile state.” Even so, McIver noted that her character “really loves fantasy. She loves getting swept up in the escapism of Christmas. Christmas can be a really difficult holiday for a lot of people. It’s a time that reminds you of what you do and don’t have, and who isn’t with you.”
She added, “For Sam, Christmas movies provide a fantasy version of what a holiday can be, and the ghosts have given her a sense of belonging. We see when Bela comes to visit how desperate she is to connect with Jay’s family and develop those relationships as much as she can. She’s clearly on a search for belonging and identity. And I think this is another great episode that underlines how meaningful those connections are to her and how this house has taken up very important place in her life.”
Ghosts will return to CBS and Paramount+ early next year, with the second season picking up on Jan. 5, 2023.
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