'Ghosts' Showrunners Tease 'Very Weird' Twist for Season 2's Double Holiday Episode
The CBS smash hit sitcom Ghosts will not only be returning for its sophomore season this month but its 22-episode run will include a special double holiday episode, which showrunners Joe Port and Joe Wiseman tease will have a "Hallmark Christmas" feel but take a "very weird" spirited path to get there. While chatting with Variety on Sept. 2, Port and Wiseman revealed details about the episode, sharing the return of Jay's (Utkarsh Ambudkar) sister Bela Arondekar played by Punam Patel.
The two episodes, which will also be a nod to Rose McIver's Netflix holiday franchise The Christmas Prince and its subsequent sequels, will air back-to-back on Thursday, Dec. 15 at 8:30 p.m. ET. In the episodes, audiences will see Jay's sister Bela (Patel) returning to Woodstone Mansion for the holidays, bringing along a platonic male friend. With Samantha (McIver) loving rom-coms, like The Holiday, she feels inspired and makes it her mission to spark a holiday romance between the two. Meanwhile, the ghosts have conjured up a very different holiday plan, which involves Bela. But will it involve Trevor (Asher Grodman) too? After all, Trevor catfished Bela in Season 1 and believed the two were "friggin' meant for each other," so does the '90s Wall Street bro still have feelings for her?
"We thought it would be fun to have our holiday episode be our version of one of those Hallmark Christmas movies, because Sam is very into Christmas and rom-coms, and it's also a fun nod to Rose McIver's real-life history with those sorts of films, having starred in the 'Christmas Prince' trilogy," Port told Variety. "But because this is Ghosts, it has a very Ghosts twist to it, which turns the holiday into something very far from the wholesome family affair Sam envisioned. The double episode has tons of heart and gets to a very sweet place in the end, but takes a very weird and 'Ghosts'-y path to get there."
While the show did a Halloween episode in its premiere season, Wiseman adds having their chance to spend a full hour on the winter holidays is "a writer's version of a Christmas miracle" as they "packed the episodes" with a lot of holiday fun. "And, in true Ghosts fashion, a few twists: there will be visiting family, caroling, mistletoe, and a ghost will try to go where no ghost has gone before. It should come as no surprise that Woodstone is full of Christmas spirit," he said.
The Executive Vice President of current programs at CBS, Amy Reisenbach, also spoke out about the announcement, stating how at the heart of it all, the show "embodies a loving extended family with quirks and eccentricities" that viewers have overwhelmingly connected with. "We felt with the holidays being all about family, what better way to eventize the series than with an hour Christmas-themed episode. Because our ghosts, although they may be dead, love Christmas (except, it turns out, the Viking who's actually a bit of a grinch). Unsurprisingly, executive producers Joe Wiseman and Joe Port and their writers came up with a terrific story to showcase the talents of the amazing cast and to maybe make the Viking's heart grow three sizes."
Earlier this year, Port and Wiseman teased with PopCulture.com that relationships would indeed flourish in Season 2 and at the time, expressed their interest in bringing back Patel. Port, who shared that the relationship between Sasappis (Román Zaragoza) and Shiki (Crystle Lightning) would "definitely" get a follow-up as will the dynamic between Thorfinn (Devan Chandler Long) and Flower (Sheila Carrasco); and Alberta Haynes (Danielle Pinnock) and Pete Martino (Richie Moriarty), Port said the same goes for Trevor who showed a more, softer, layered side to his usual bravado. "[The writers] have a really interesting story that we've been talking about, so we want to and there might be more ghosts to ship," he said at the time. "We're talking about something in that realm."
Ghosts returns for Season 2 on Sept. 29 at 8:30 p.m. ET on CBS. The single-camera comedy stars Rose McIver, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Asher Grodman, Richie Moriarty, Sheila Carrasco, Danielle Pinnock, Rebecca Wisocky, Brandon Scott Jones, Román Zaragoza and Devan Chandler Long. For more on Ghosts, stay tuned to PopCulture.com for the latest.