5 Things We Learned About ‘Ghosted’ at the ATX Television Festival

FOX’s comedy slate is one of the best on TV. Between New Girl and Brooklyn Nine-Nine alone, the channel consistently produces long-running comedy gold.

One of the latest and most promising new comedies of the Fall 2017-2018 season is Ghosted, a sci-fi/buddy cop show starring Craig Robinson and Adam Scott in the two leading roles of Leroy Wright and Max Allison, respectively. Created by Tom Gormican, Ghosted held a special screening of the pilot at the ATX Television Festival.

After the screening, Robinson, Scott, and Gormican attended a casual and hilarious Q&A panel. Here is what we learned about Ghosted and what to expect from Season 1.

1. It’s a comedy with “dramatic-ish” moments

Without giving away too much about the very strong pilot episode, I’ll just say that, though it is predominantly a comedy, there are several more serious moments. The more dramatic moments involve the backstories of our two leads. (Max’s is more tragicomic, while Leroy’s is straight tragic.)

Scott aptly described the show’s mixed tone: “[It’s] a very grounded comedy, where there are even a few dramatic-ish moments thrown in. And then something crazy like a guy taking his own head off happens.”

2. Craig Robinson and Adam Scott were both directly and actively involved from an early stage

Robinson and Gormican are represented by the same agency, which is how Robinson came to hear about the treatment that eventually became Ghosted. He was drawn to the role of the “badass cop.” Scott was brought into the fold later and said he “love[s] working with Craig.”

Similarly, Robinson said that he’d always wanted to work with Scott from when he first saw him (“In Hellraiser 4?” Scott joked). Though they’d both appeared in Knocked Up, they didn’t officially meet until they filmed Hot Tub Time Machine 2 (“You’re welcome,” Scott deadpanned). Their “really fun rapport” is easily the strongest aspect of the show

Because of that early involvement, the two lead actors had a large role in shaping their characters.

“These guys were involved from the pitch phase. This wasn’t something they were just cast in. They were in the room with me, selling the show. It wasn’t written for anybody else. They were involved from day 1, so there’s a lot of them in these characters,” Gormican explained.

3. The inspiration for the show came from ’80s buddy comedies

It is easy to track the genesis of Ghosted and particularly the earlier shows and movies that influenced its tone and themes. Unsurprisingly, it leans heavily on “buddy movie” tropes.

“Tom was talking about this idea and the potential to make something that has the feeling of our favorite action comedies from the ’80s. Beverly Hills Cop, Midnight Run, 48 Hours, and Ghostbusters even. That tone that is hard to achieve, and you don’t see it as much anymore,” Scott explained.

4. An X-Files crossover isn’t entirely out of the question (sorta)

Since FOX announced more episodes of The X-Files revival earlier this year, the moderator asked what the chances were of a crossover or even just “cross-promotional stuff,” given the similar, alien-centric stories and the familiar skeptic-believer dynamic (Leroy is the Scully in the show’s world).

Obviously, The X-Files is massively popular, so the crowd at the panel heavily applauded the idea of a crossover.

“We’ve sent emails about that,” Gormican joked. “Unreturned emails to David Duchovny.”

While there’s nothing in the pipeline for any kind of X-Files/Ghosted mash-up, I’m of the mind that it’s a “never say never” situation.

5. The pilot leaves a bunch of loose ends that are tied up during the course of the first season

The first episode of the new series does an excellent job of world-building, setting up the dynamic between Max and Leroy, and explaining to the audience what overarching plot will be driving the show’s first season forward.

At the time of the panel, Gormican explained that they were just three days into Season 1. The showrunner and creator said that the first season will be servicing the larger mythology of the show, particularly involving the mid-credits twist introduced at the end of the first episode.

Scott explained that any loose ends introduced in the pilot will be wrapped up throughout the first season and by its end. “There are a lot of unanswered questions in the pilot, there’s a bunch of loose ends, so those things are all fun paths to go down, and there will be no loose ends by the end of the first season,” he said.

“We do have an overall mythology, but there will also be episodes that are outside of the mythology that are our, for lack of a better term, ‘monster of the week’ or ‘case of the week’ things that will be closed-ended,” Gormican confirmed.

Be sure to check out all of our coverage of the ATX Television Festival right here (there is still more to come).

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