[Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for Season 2 of School Spirits.]

Summary

In Season 2 of the Paramount+ series ‘School Spirits,’ Maddie is stuck in limbo with Janet in control of her body.

Peyton List trusted creators Nate & Megan Trinrud to take the story in unexpected directions, as she was excited to explore Janet’s backstory.

Maddie must navigate complex emotions, building relationships, and uncovering sinister motives to save her future.

In Season 2 of the Paramount+ series School Spirits, Maddie Nears (Peyton List) now knows that she’s not actually dead, but she’s still stuck in limbo because the ghost of Janet (Jess Gabor) has taken control of her body. On a journey to reclaim her stolen life and future, Maddie is torn, wondering whether Janet deserves to live out her own dreams even more. Between Janet’s plan, whatever Mr. Martin (Josh Zuckerman) has been up to, her feelings for Wally (Milo Manheim), and not wanting to leave her ghost friends to be with the friends she thought she’d never get to be with again if she were actually dead, there are a lot of questions that still need to be answered.
During this one-on-one interview with Collider, List talked about trusting the creators/showrunners of School Spirits that they won’t steer her wrong, what she was most excited about with Season 2, getting her questions answered, where Maddie will fit back into her own life, whether she’ll ever even see Wally, Charley (Nick Pugliese) and Rhonda (Sarah Yarkin) again if she does get her body back, why everyone needs a Simon (Kristian Ventura), and the memorable addition of Pottery Guy (Miles Elliot). She also shared what it was like to wrap the final season of Cobra Kai and how emotional it was to say goodbye to that series.
Collider: I loved the first season, and I had no idea where the second season was going to go, but I’m digging where you are taking it so far.
PEYTON LIST: Oh, thank you. Well, you and me both. I didn’t know where they were taking it either. They just kept telling me to trust them. I would follow Nate and Megan Trinrud, our showrunners and creators, through anything in life, so I was like, “Okay, I’m just trusting you.”
Peyton List Was Excited to Dig Into Janet’s Backstory in Season 2 of ‘School Spirits’

“Who is this person that is now running around in Maddie’s body?”

The first season of any TV series is about establishing the world, the characters, and the relationships. With Season 2, you can really dig into all the things that you had to set up in Season 1. What were you most excited to get to dig deeper into this season?
LIST: I was really excited to dig into Janet and her backstory. Who is this person that is now running around in Maddie’s body? I feel like we figured out the what, and then the second season is all about the how and figuring out the rules. If Janet didn’t move on, but Dawn did, what is the logic here? What are the rules?
I love when a character that everyone has forgotten about suddenly becomes the most important character on the show.
LIST: I love that too. They were like, “None of you are gonna get it,” and none of us did. We were working every day on this, and none of us guessed that it was Janet from group that got out in Maddie’s body. It was there if you paid attention, but a lot of people were texting me like, “What is going on? Who is this person?” You had to pay attention.

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What were the biggest questions you had about Maddie, going into Season 2, and do you feel like you got those questions answered by the end of the season?
LIST: I think I did. I feel like everything was left on the floor. I feel like I got a lot of the answers. But then, with the season finale, there are more questions. What I do like about the show is that it’s not six seasons of trying to figure out what happened to Maddie. We knew what happened to Maddie at the end of Season 1, and then we get answers within a season. They’re not trying to make this the longest running show, ever. They’re just trying to make it fun.
If Maddie does figure out how to get her spirit back in her body, is the series over? Have they told you what the plan is for after that?
LIST: I have the same question. I really have the same question. They haven’t really told me. They were like, “We have plans.” But I wanna hear it. I wanna know, as well.
Peyton List Believes Maddie Would Miss Wally the Most If She Reunites With Her Body

“She’s in love with this boy.”

Image via Paramount+

If she were able to be alive again, which relationship in her life do you think would change the most from what it had been before?
LIST: Definitely her relationship with Charley, Wally and Rhonda. But I think the obvious one for Maddie would be Wally because she’s in love with this boy. She can’t help it. She doesn’t want to be. It just makes no sense at all. But I feel like that’s young love and first love. It just makes no sense at all and you can’t help it. Wally would be the one she’d miss the most.
If Maddie gets her life back, she won’t ever be able to see them again, which makes it all so sad.
LIST: It’s incredibly sad. When I would even think about it, it was crazy how emotional I would get. I was like, “Oh, my gosh, I have built a love and a bond for Charley, Wally and Rhonda.” They’re so great at their characters. I’m in love with them. I’m just in love with them.

12:59

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“If you keep giving someone your arm and your leg, eventually, you’re gonna run out of body parts.”

Throughout the first season, Maddie was just trying to figure out how to deal with what happened to her. This season, she knows what happened, but she’s still trying to figure out how to get her life back, or if she can get her life back. How does that change things for her? What becomes the most important thing for her this season?
LIST: The most important thing for her is getting her body back and getting Janet [out]. She wants to know this girl’s motives with her body. She wants to stop this girl from doing anything that she can’t come back from. She can’t explain to people that a ghost inhabited her body because everyone will just think she’s absolutely insane. So, she needs to [find Janet] before she does anything terribly destructive to her life and her future.
What was it like to shoot that moment when Janet jumps into her body and sends her back into the night?
LIST: It was the first day back. We were filming that scene with Mr. Martin when Janet is in Maddie’s body and holding the weapon, and I had first day jitters, just of being back, because we had new crew and new people. I felt like we had to do it justice for people that were wondering about the character. We had to prepare. That was a stunt that I had to come in early to work out. There was a rig that they set up for that, for the fly back. They put it in slow motion and shot it on that camera. There was a stunt person that did the actual falling. I just did the hit on the machine on the rig. And then, the person was face down on the ground and I was doing the scene, so that you could see my physical body there, and then also see me. We had multiple versions of me.
Peyton List Found the Experience of Sharing Her ‘School Spirits’ Character To Be Very Powerful

“It’s two women who are not competing, but are working together to create this character.”

Image via Paramount+

How did you approach figuring out how to physically play a Maddie that’s inhabited by Janet? How did you want to carry yourself and walk and behave differently? Was that something that you continued to fine tune?
LIST: Not that I’m comparing our performance to this, at all, but I was really inspired when I went to the premiere of May December, with Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman, because Natalie Portman is portraying Julianne Moore’s character in a movie, as an actor. Natalie Portman’s character is studying Julianne Moore and she starts to develop her lisp. I was like, “This is what I have to do with Jess [Gabor].” I don’t think Jess even knows that. I don’t know why I’m oversharing. I was like, “Okay, I need everything of Jess I can possibly get. I need her tape. I need videos of her.” We met with our director, Hannah Macpherson, to go over the plan of swapping us in and out in the very same position. It was very uncomfortable because, at first, as actors, if you’re playing the same character, you’re competing for a role. But this was a situation where it was very healing and really cool for me because it’s two women who are not competing, but are working together to create this character. It was very powerful to me to be like, “I respect you. I actually really like you. I really like your work. I’m really excited to build this and learn from you, as well.” I feel like we just became really, really tight. We spent New Years together. We just became such good friends during this process. I had to overcome [that worry of], “I hope that this woman is nice.” I had to get that out of my head because she’s lovely.
It seems like Janet is maybe not so nice and not okay. Do you feel like Maddie could empathize with her if it weren’t her body that she’d stolen, or is there just no way to empathize with somebody stealing someone else’s body?
LIST: Maddie goes back and forth a lot. There is a point in the show where she starts to question if maybe Janet should just keep her body because maybe Janet is this girl that was a victim and wanted to be a scientist, and she never got to live out her dream, and maybe Janet will do more with her life than Maddie ever would. I was like, “Damn, I think I would have that thought, as well.” If someone had my body, I might be like, “Hey, maybe this person would do more than little old me.” There’s just a roller coaster of thoughts and emotions that arise. It’s violating. And then, she’s like, “This girl is insane and she needs to come back.” We don’t know who Janet is until the finale. We don’t know what her motives are. We’re constantly just guessing.
As these other ghosts, or spirits, help Maddie, if she succeeds, they’re all going to lose her because she’ll be back in her body again. How hard will that be for them to come to terms with? Will it make any of them resentful?
LIST: Everyone has all kinds of different takes and feelings about it all. They’re helping and they wanna know the answers, as well. It also affects them. But when it starts to hit that the outcome is very different for Maddie than it is for them, it starts to get really emotional.
Because Mr. Martin is taken out of the equation once he disappears that really gives more of an opportunity for Maddie to spend time and become closer with Wally, Rhonda and Charley, and whoever else they might happen to come across. What did you most enjoy about really getting to explore those character dynamics more this season? Did you have any favorite character moments with those characters that really stood out for you?
LIST: I really enjoyed Rhonda breaking down and just being honest. That character, when Maddie first met her, her walls were so far up and she didn’t trust anyone. So, for her to open up to this person who’s a lot younger than her and for her to trust her was a really cool scene for me. I thought Sarah [Yarkin] brought a lot of heart to it. I think what’s gonna make fans really happy is that there are a lot of scenes of Maddie and Wally just getting to be in love, and I’m really excited about that. Their relationship is some of my favorite scenes.

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Maddie with Janet inhabiting her body has shown up at home with her mother. How will that play out? Will her mother notice anything different about her?
LIST: Sandra knows she needs to tread carefully because she doesn’t know what’s happened to Maddie. Maria [Dizzia] was like, “Obviously, as a mother, your head’s going in a bunch of different places. You’re assuming the worst. You don’t know where your daughter has been. You don’t know what’s going on with her mentally. You’re trying to be very careful and respect that.” I also think that Sandra does notice there’s a huge difference in her daughter.
One of the most important relationships for Maddie is the one she has with Simon. Simon is really the only living person who can see Maddie and is that bridge between the two worlds. What is that relationship like to explore? What does it mean to Maddie to have someone like that? What’s it been like for you to have someone who really serves a very unique purpose in the story?
LIST: It’s been so beautiful. Every kid needs a Simon. Every person needs a Simon in their life. He’s just the best friend you can have. He shows her that she’s the best person in his eyes. No one else could care about her, but he sees her. He’s seen a lot of important moments in her life. They just get each other. That relationship, with Kristian [Ventura], has just been so much fun to play. I know that maybe there are some feelings, but I also like that it’s a male and female best friendship. Above all, the friendship matters the most. I like seeing that dynamic. I have a twin brother and he’s one of my best friends. It’s fun to have that guy-girl mischief.
When I spoke to you about Season 1, I asked you how it feels to lead a show and you told me that you were pretty intimidated to lead a show because you love being part of a big ensemble. While your character is still front and center in the story, because it is about finding out what happened to her and whether she can get back on her body, it’s also become much more of an ensemble and we’re really getting to know all the characters more. Have you felt that shift on set? Does it feel like it’s much more of a big collaborative dynamic now?
LIST: It definitely does. Everyone is branching off into different things. There will be a whole day that’s just a Quinn and Rhonda storyline. It definitely feels like an ensemble, and we even have more characters this season, new characters whose storylines we need to explore, and I love that. I think it’s more special to not sit with the character the entire time.
Who knew how much I would love Random Pottery Guy, aka Yuri?
LIST: I’m so glad you said that. I have to tell him. I love that whole meeting. He’s just like, “I didn’t care about group. I didn’t care to let you know that I don’t only speak Russian. Fuck you guys.” Miles [Elliot] is just so great. I like his storyline, and I’m so glad that you like it. He’s just been so excited. I have to tell him that you said this.
Finishing ‘Cobra Kai’ Hit Peyton List With More Tears Than She Expected

“There was the nostalgia that hit heavily after we wrapped.”

Image via Netflix

At the same time you’ve been doing this series, you also wrapped Cobra Kai. How did that feel? Did that hit you in any ways that were different than what you expected?
LIST: It did. I didn’t like the feelings at the end. Obviously, there was the feeling of, “Thank God, I don’t have to learn how to kick ass every day.” But there was the nostalgia that hit heavily after we wrapped. I was already so intensely nostalgic for these people and this thing and just how special it was, which doesn’t hit you with anything fully until something really, truly ends. I was just like, “Wow, that will never, ever be recreated in my life.” That’s a chapter in life that was a very special age period, where was like, “I’m not gonna go to college. I’m just gonna act and hopefully it works out.” And then, that show ended up happening and that was my college experience. And then, I met people that are like family now. Billy [Zabka] and Ralph [Macchio] are like uncles. I just feel like everyone is a family member who I could call and be like, “I need to crash at your house,” and they’d be fine. It’s just nice to have those relationships.

2:23

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What was the most emotional moment? Was it reading the final script? Was it shooting the last episode? Was it the final day of filming? Was there like a specific moment that it really just hit you the hardest?
LIST: The last thing that I filmed was emotional and I cried. But I actually cried when we finished up filming the Sekai Taikai big world tournament. I cried because it was so physically exhausting. I can’t even imagine how our stunt team felt because they were the ones doing all the flips and everything, but we were in it with them every day. Finishing that and just realizing, “Wow, that was really special,” I cried so much. I hated it, but I also loved it, at the same time.

School Spirits

Release Date

March 9, 2023

Writers

Nate Trinrud, Megan Trinrud, Oliver Goldstick

School Spirits is available to stream on Paramount+. Check out the trailer: