[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for School Spirits, Season 3, Episode 7, “Midsomester.”]They’re really putting Peyton List’s Maddie Nears through it in School Spirits. In Season 1, she had to solve the mystery of her own death, and then in Season 2 she had to figure out how to get her body back. Maddie and her friends manage to pull off the impossible and bring her back to the land of the living, but she gets zero time to enjoy being home sweet home. In Season 3, the pressure is on yet again because she’s got to rescue Simon (Kristian Ventura) from the spirit realm and also save her spirit friends because if Split River High is demolished, they could join The Forgotten. As if all that’s not enough, in Season 3, Episode 7, Maddie must face an especially crushing realization. Wally (Mile Manheim) crossed over.

As we near School Spirits Season 3’s big finish and as she’s in the midst of her Off-Broadway debut in Heathers: The Musical, Peyton List returned to Collider Ladies Night to look back on the end of Cobra Kai, discuss what it’s been like taking the stage as Heather Chandler, and to dig into the latest episode of School Spirits.
Peyton List Shines in One of Maddie’s Most Emotional Scenes

“Knowing that scene was coming up was just taking over my entire being.”

From the very beginning, Maddie and her friends have kept Sandra Nears (Maria Dizzia) in the dark. Even after Xavier (Spencer MacPherson) tells his dad (Ian Tracey) about what he’s going through, Maddie’s come nowhere close to telling her mom where she’s really been all this time. However, when Wally leaves, Maddie is crushed and needs her mom. In a devastatingly powerful performance from List, when Sandra returns home from rehab, Maddie tells all. “I was really scared to tell you because I was worried you wouldn’t believe me. And I can’t do it anymore, mom.” Maddie tells her mom she died and that when she first came home, it wasn’t her. It was Janet (Jess Gabor). She goes on to tell Sandra about Rhonda (Sarah Yarkin), Yuri (Miles Elliot), Quinn (Ci Hang Ma), and also Charlie (Nick Pugliese), who passed while Sandra was still a Split River student. She goes on to tell her mom about how she might never see Wally again, and also how “she lost” Simon. When Sandra still doesn’t believe, Maddie tells her something she couldn’t possibly know. She tells her mom that she now knows she was the one who bought her necklace for her, not her father (Danny Mac). It appears as though that was the key. The two hug and Sandra assures Maddie, “I believe you.”

Spencer MacPherson, Peyton List and Danny Mac in School Spirits Season 3, Epsidoe 7.Image via Paramount+

In the end, it’s a fantastic scene, but it’ll likely come as no surprise that such a significant moment for her character upped the pressure big time for List. “Knowing that scene was coming up was just taking over my entire being.” List continued:
“Having to go into that energy, it takes over everything. But it just felt like such an important moment. So much is coming up and there’s so much honesty with a character that Maddie really hasn’t been very honest with, and so to go there, the stakes felt so high.”
The key to tackling such a high-stakes scene? Leaning on the folks around you.
“It’s just one of those things where I have to lean on everyone that’s around, our showrunners. It’s also just so many people watching in the crew. It really feels like everyone is a part of it that day and really respects what everyone needs, just resetting the cameras and staying in that energy. Maria, she gives on my coverage. She wants to make sure that she’s bringing everything to really bring that out. But that was just one of the most heartbreaking scenes to do.”

Related

‘School Spirits’ Season 3 Review: Peyton List’s Supernatural Series Plunges Into Darkness With a Horror Icon

Familiar faces return, but the stakes have never been higher in this haunting season.

Peyton List Teases a Shocking Twist for Maddie and Her Mom

Did anyone see this coming?

Sandra holds Maddie’s hand and looks at her with concern.Image via Paramount+

If you read this scene like I did, you likely latched onto List’s choice of words there. It’s a heartbreaking scene? There’s been a rift between Maddie and Sandra for quite some time. Revealing the biggest secret of all has to contribute to bringing them back together, right? Is it the heartbreak of losing Wally, but then also the joy of the truth finally bringing Maddie and her mom closer? Not quite.

When I said as much to List and told her how excited I was to see the next step for them, she warned, “Oh, you’re going to be so heartbroken.” She added, “It’s just, right when things get better …” While you wrestle with that idea, be sure to watch List’s full Collider Ladies Night interview in the video at the top of this article. Not only does she talk about working on other huge School Spirits Season 3 scenes, like the garage scene with Wally and their “I love you” scene, but she also goes into detail on the reality of starring in an Off-Broadway show, discusses how this chapter of her career feels different, and loads more!

Release Date

March 9, 2023

Network

Paramount+

Directors

Hannah Macpherson, Brian Dannelly, Max Winkler, Oran Zegman

Writers

Nate Trinrud, Megan Trinrud, Oliver Goldstick, Nandita Seshadri