Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Ghosts Season 3 Finale.

The Big Picture

The Season 3 finale of
Ghosts
shocked viewers when Isaac was abducted by a feral ghost, Patience, leaving everyone guessing. It’s also a moment that left series star, Danielle Pinnock “shook.”
In an exclusive interview with Collider’s
Ladies Night
, host, Perri Nemiroff, Pinnock breaks down the Season 3 finale and looks ahead to Season 4, while questioning her character’s trajectory.
Fans can anticipate a deeper exploration of Alberta’s character in Season 4, including her insecurities and personal history.

When it comes to season-ending cliffhangers, Ghosts might be taking up the mantle for the most gasp-worthy moments on network television. Following its Season 2 finale that left audiences stunned after one of the Woodstone ghosts got “sucked off,” the Season 3 finale gave us a bit more concrete worry with its latest departure in the episode’s final few seconds. With one of the B&B’s “main eight” ghosts being taken by another, very feral and spooky spirit residing on the Woodstone grounds, the Joe Port and Joe Wiseman sitcom proves anything goes on the single-camera comedy. It’s also a sentiment echoed by series star Danielle Pinnock, who tells our very own Perri Nemiroff in an exclusive interview that “nobody’s safe!”

In the hilarious and jaw-dropping episode, “Isaac’s Wedding,” directed by Christine Gernon and written by Season 1 favorites, Lauren Bridges and John Timothy, the highly-anticipated nuptials between Isaac (Brandon Scott Jones) and Nigel (John Hartman) turn into pure chaos after Chris (Deniz Akdeniz), the bachelor party stripper, returns and sparks wedding day jitters for the Revolutionary War militiaman. While the wedding might have been the season’s most exciting event, it ended in a breakup with the pair suddenly calling it quits — a moment that Pinnock tells Nemiroff broke her heart.

But, it was nothing compared to the Season 3 cliffhanger in the episode’s final seconds that found Isaac being pulled into the darkness by the estate’s feral Puritan ghost, Patience, that left the award-winning actress absolutely “shook.” In an exclusive Collider interview with the Ladies Night host following the finale, Pinnock explains her feelings about Isaac’s abduction, what it means for Season 4, and what’s ahead for her character, Alberta Haynes. With the show set to return this fall on CBS, Pinnock says she’s “really excited to expand the world” of Ghosts and see where everyone ends up.

Ghosts (US) A young couple, Sam and Jay, inherit a haunted mansion and, unaware of their invisible housemates, plan to turn it into a B&B. Their lives become much more complicated after a fall causes Sam to see the ghosts. Based on the UK series.Release Date October 7, 2021 Creator Joe Port, Joe Wiseman Main Genre Comedy Seasons 3

Danielle Pinnock Is “Shook” by Isaac’s Abduction
Image via CBS

During the Thursday night Season 3 finale, audiences got the biggest surprise when Isaac was abducted by Patience after she came through the basement wall. First mentioned in the season’s antepenultimate episode, which saw the Woodstone spirits saving Flower (Sheila Carrasco) from a well, we learn Isaac accidentally abandons the Puritan ghost by letting go of her hand after he, Thor (Devan Chandler Long), and Sasappis (Román Zaragoza) worked to escape a hole they fell into by traveling through the dirt. In the Season 3 finale, Flower tees up the suspense by telling Sam (Rose McIver) and Alberta that she met Patience while in the well and is now “obsessed” with Isaac, never forgetting him. The culmination of those final moments is one Pinnock tells Nemiroff took her by total surprise.

“Shook. I was. I really was. I was like, ‘Oh, okay.’ The thing about these cliffhangers is that, our group text that we have as a cast, anytime we read a script, we’re like, ‘What are y’all thinking? What’s happening?’ And so we’ve played out so many different scenarios in the group text, and our lovely showrunners, they could care less,” Pinnock laughs. “They’re like, ‘We’re not telling you! Keep thinking. Keep on your toes!’ But I have no idea what can happen, [or] what can transpire for Season 4. Literally, no clue.”

Related ‘Ghosts’ Season 4 Will Start Filming This Summer ‘Ghosts’ was renewed for a fourth season last month.

Since Alberta and Isaac have a real knack for solving mysteries as first seen in Season 2, the detective duo touted as “Pony and Bangs” won’t be able to solve this one together. But when it comes to the first step in her search for Isaac come Season 4, it’s all about understanding the newest additions to Woodstone. “The thing that is just terrifying is to know that there are probably dirt ghosts, and who are these ghosts? There was a part of me at the end when we discovered where Flower was, and we pulled her out of the well. I was telling Brandon, I was like, ‘Wouldn’t it be insane if we pulled her out of the well and another ghost was tied onto the rope?’ Because this show can go anywhere.”

Pinnock adds how knowing Season 4 will start with this mystery of just who the “dirt ghost” is will be an exciting, yet “insane” new chapter to the series. “Who is going to play Patience? And are a couple of us going to have to go into the dirt, and what does that look like? Is it gonna feel like The Blair WitchProject?” Pinnock laughs. “It could go in so many different directions. It really could!”

Danielle Pinnock’s Performance During Isaac’s Wedding Was Lit – Literally

While Isaac and Nigel’s breakup will surely hurt fans who have wished for the two to be together since the start, Pinnock admits to Nemiroff it was an “absolutely heartbreaking” moment when she and the cast read back the scripts. “I felt so bad for Nigel because if I was Nigel, I would just be, ‘Oh, God,’ I would just sink. I truly would,” she says. “I understand that Isaac did what he had to do, but it just is so heartbreaking.”

With the breakup planned by the showrunners and writers, Pinnock admits there was one moment during the bleak wedding scene that was a “last-minute choice.” After Isaac admits to Nigel following Pete’s very tender speech that something is missing between the two and they break up, Alberta takes it upon herself to sing the Etta James classic “At Last.” But as it might have been the most pitch-perfect and hilarious way to close out a heavy moment, Pinnock reveals Alberta’s singing number was a hazard in the making that is also top-tier, “behind-the-scenes, bloopers insanity.”

“The hilarious part of that scene that fans will not see is, I don’t know if you noticed those candles that are going down the aisle? On one of the last takes of that, my sleeve went up in flames,” Pinnock laughs. “And I was like ‘At last…’ [raises arms] and literally, the sleeve went up, and I was like, ‘What is that smoke?’ And then I just saw people crowding around me trying to pat the fire out. They were like, ‘And that is a Season 3 wrap!’ It was the best way to close out the season. Fun fact!”

Will Pete and Alberta Finally Hook Up in ‘Ghosts’ Season 4?
Image via CBS, Paramount

In case you were keeping track, Isaac and Nigel weren’t the only relationships on Ghosts. Season 3 dug its heels in and took a turn outside the ordinary when it came to grouping its motley crew of characters. But one of the all-time favorites audiences have long awaited is the relationship between Pete (Richie Moriarty) and Pinnock’s Alberta. While there have been breadcrumbs for fans of a potential love connection between the pair, nothing has come to fruition. Instead, our favorite 1920s jazz singer was lovestruck this season by shortstop for the Negro Leagues, Saul (Lamorne Morris), and carried out a relationship with him. Though the performance might have given Pinnock her “ultimate superpowers” as a performer working alongside the New Girl actor, their breakup is indicative of Alberta’s real feelings.

“Alberta and I are kinfolk when it comes to relationships. Earlier, when I was dating, I loved toxic men. I just loved it, and I loved the excitement of it. We thank God for therapy. I’m happily married after 11 years [to Jack Wallace], but there was a thing of, ‘Am I actually good enough to be in a positive relationship? Am I good enough? Do I have the self-esteem to be in a nourishing relationship where it’s 50/50, and not me doing all the things all the time?’ And I feel like there’s a little bit of that with Alberta,” she says.

Related ‘Ghosts’ Needs To Give Us More of This Character This character is criminally underutilized on ‘Ghosts’ and deserves more stories particularly tailored to their strengths.

Pinnock admits she is “very curious to see what happens in Season 4 with her and Pete,” simply because Pete is a good, well-rounded guy who loves hard. “I feel like that’s a lot for Alberta because she wants to be pursued by the gangsters and the bootleggers. That is not our baby Pete, and we love him for it,” she laughs. “And she does get the ick when people start to cling to her — I’m also very curious to see where that came from. You know what I mean? Is it something from when she was a teenager in high school, and maybe she was a clinger? So these are some of the things that I’m really curious about to see what [the Joes] have in store.

What Alberta Gains From Falling for Pete
Image via CBS, Paramount

But as much as she’s curious, Pinnock is also “excited to see” what happens with Alberta and Pete even if he isn’t Al Capone. “Getting to work with Richie is a dream. There have been some hints that she may like him now this season. You know, he took that arrow out and she was shooketh, shaken, and stirred,” she says, admitting this new side of him, including a newfound independence through leaving the property and standing his ground is a major turn-on for Alberta.

“He can take the arrow out when he wants to take it out. He’s not taking mess anymore from Thorfinn. And so I think his evolution has inspired Alberta to know that it’s more than just him being a nice guy. He’s not just a doormat; he means business too. I’m excited to see what happens with them. But also, I know it’s probably gonna be hard because Pete, at the end of the season, is dating someone. He has kind of a little bit of a fling on vacation, and so I think that’s gonna stir up some trouble, too, for sure.”

When Nemiroff asks Pinnock theoretically how Alberta and Pete being together could move the character forward on her own journey, the actor takes a moment before responding. “The fear is that if Alberta ends up falling in love with Pete that she might ascend, and you know on the show we call it being “sucked off,” she says “I feel like that is kind of her final step before she does get sucked off on the show because she really would have to love him for who he is — all of the annoyances, all of the boringness, all of the peace — and I don’t know if she’s quite ready for it. But I think she would then learn how to love herself truly.”

Naturally, fans want to see their favorites getting “sucked off,” but it’s a moment that we all need CBS and the showrunners to pump the brakes on. “It’s terrifying to think that, but it really could be. It could be that. And that’s the thing with the show: nobody’s safe. Nobody’s safe! So it’s like, stay tuned,” she laughs.

What’s Ahead for Alberta in ‘Ghosts’ Season 4?
Image via CBS, Paramount

There’s no telling what’s to come for Season 4 just yet, but Pinnock tells Nemiroff of all the things she’s most excited to dive into next, it’s the numerous layers behind her character. For three seasons, we’ve known how Alberta “lives for the applause,” but what does that say about her character? “She is quite insecure and that the confidence is really just a mask for the fearful little child that she actually is,” Pinnock says. “For me, what I would like to see in Season 4 is how she became the confident diva that we know because I don’t think she always was that. I don’t think she came out of the womb confident. I think she kind of had to build that hard exterior to survive in the 1920s as a Black woman, as a Black artist, and a Black performer, and also the people that she was rubbing shoulders with, as well, too.”

Pinnock reveals one of the things that she pitched to Port and Wiseman was something personal to the actor herself. “I know for me when I was pursuing my dreams of being an actor, I had so many side hustles, and so I was like, ‘Outside of singing, what was Alberta doing to pursue this dream? Did she work at the local 1920s ShopRite? Was she selling newspapers? Was she the Mary Kay and Avon lady?’ I just imagine her selling little lipsticks and all kinds of stuff trying to get commissions. I was like, ‘There’s so many things!’ So I’m very curious about that.”

Related The Entire Cast of ‘Ghosts’ Really Wants to Make a Musical Episode Happen We caught up with the cast of ‘Ghosts’ at the Library of Congress, where they were treated to an incredible tour of the collection.

In Season 2, Alberta also had a chance to meet her great-great-grand-niece, Alicia (Ashley D. Kelley) in the episode, “Alberta’s Podcast.” Pinnock admits it’s this layer of her character’s life that she would hope the show explores more. “We learned that Alberta never had the chance to have children, so my other question was like, ‘Was she trying? Was there someone very special that she may have been trying with?’ Those are kind of some of my Season 4 [questions], and then my silly one — because she’s always speaking Yiddish, like randomly in these episodes, I was like, ‘Does our girl need a Bat Mitzvah? I’m ready.’ We don’t know anything about Alberta’s spirituality and religion, or if she has any of it, or if she’s trying to convert, and I’m like, ‘I would love to go to Hebrew school with Trevor,’” she laughs. “To have these scenes, I just would love it. So, these are some of my pitches. Who knows if it’ll make it, but that’s what I’m hoping.”

Ghosts is available to stream all three seasons on Paramount+.

Watch on Paramount+