‘School Spirits’ Star Kristian Ventura Talks Simon’s ‘Fulfilling’ Afterlife Storyline (Exclusive)

School Spirits Season 3 is streaming now on Paramount+, and star Kristian Ventura spoke to PopCulture.com all about Simon’s new afterlife.

The Season 2 finale of the Paramount+ drama saw Simon accidentally getting trapped in the afterlife at Split River High.

The kicker is that Simon is not dead, but it’s like he is. So now he has to work with the spirits to figure out what to do, while digging deeper into the mysteries surrounding the high school. In just these first three episodes of the season, which dropped on Wednesday, there have already been several discoveries and plenty of twists and turns. Ventura broke down Simon’s afterlife situation for the first three episodes. (Interview has been edited for length and clarity.)

PopCulture: Season 3 kicks off with Simon in the afterlife, but he’s not actually dead. What has it been like being able to explore the story on the other side now?

Kristian Ventura: It’s pretty fulfilling. I mean, on Simon’s end, he hates it. He hates it because he’s so impatient to get out of there and doesn’t even feel like he belongs there. Even offends some of the ghosts sometimes and says, “I’m not one of you.” It’s hurtful.

But as an actor, oh my god, I love it because I’m finally standing on my mark with a literal taped X on the ground across actors that I never thought I’d be able to act with because my plot isn’t in the ghost world. So it’s really great as an actor to be at scenes with, like, Mr. Martin.

PC: Going off of that, with him in the afterlife, he’s been able to actually talk to the spirits now and really see who Maddie has been trapped with. What have you enjoyed most about the storyline and, as you said, working with actors that you haven’t had much interaction with on screen during the first two seasons?

Ventura: I wanna answer this genuinely because there is something deeper within the surface. There’s this sort of energy that the afterlife has that is so special. It’s like a group of people who are probably over 100 years old and look 17, and they’re just with each other. It’s like walking into a club, like a chess club, and everyone looks at you like you don’t belong. And I don’t know. I could see why Simon loves her friends. I mean, Wally’s pretty great, they are funny, and they make jokes. Simon can’t laugh because they’re joking about him being dead, but there’s something.

I can’t even explain it in this interview with you. The afterlife is so otherworldly that it feels like a home, but also like a strange underworld at the same time. I think if you like it too much, though, it’ll stay there forever. It’s like that thing in Percy Jackson, where they buy the hotel, they stay in the hotel. You never wanna cross over just by being friends with such great people. And they’re not even great. You’re just familiar with them. It is such an interesting show.

PC: Not to get even more deep, but it’s been interesting to see Simon experiencing the afterlife and basically seeing him and Maddie go through what the other was experiencing. How do you think this viewpoint changes Simon’s perspective when it comes to all that has gone down at the high school?

Ventura: I’d say there’s been a tension between Simon and Maddie because the only thing he wants for her is for her to return to the life that’s waiting for her. And that’s a really good moral argument. He’s saying, “Look, you died prematurely. You deserve to be with us again.” And for him to hear that there’s even an inkling of her that wants to remain dead, hurt so much.

And now that he is dead and he’s with these people, that all they do is just collaborate for each other. That’s basically my impression of them, even just playing science, is that these guys are, like, they get their maps, and they look at the map, and then they plot it out, and then they go make out in the hallways, and then they come back here. I could understand how badly he wants her to be alive, but at the same time, you can’t blame your friend for loving what they love. Otherwise, you don’t really love them. If she loves being with them, there’s a part of him that just needs to understand that “I want the best for you.”

PC: It’s been entertaining seeing Simon working with the spirits and risking his life by going into scars such as the bus accident. What do you think has been going through his mind while in the afterlife and making all these new discoveries?

Ventura: It’s no joke. I mean, he’s going into the bus scar, and he is seeing these kids with glass shards cutting through their neck, and then another guy whose pole is just in between his lungs. It’s so graphic. I think there’s this guilt that yields of… because not every teenager gets to witness people their age dying in mass numbers and to see graphically.

I think he can just take advantage of what life is and the horrors that happen at that dance school. It’s pretty scary. The scenes are terrifying. You don’t have to act much. It’s when they set up a set like that, and they have all these actors bleeding out. It’s terrifying. I think these scars that they go through, even though it’s not graphic like blood, if it’s just like a peanut allergy that Charley has or Rhonda’s experience with her counselor. They’re awful. They’re the same measure of awful for all people. So it’s just that’s scary. It’s a scary world.

New episodes of School Spirits drop on Wednesdays on Paramount+.