Ghosts: Rebecca Wisocky on the Return of Woodstone’s Infamous Maid [Interview]

Ghosts Season 2 Episode 5, “Halloween 2: The Ghost of Hetty’s Past,” witnesses the return of Hetty’s nemesis from her time alive at Woodstone Mansion — Molly, a.k.a. The Maid.

Recently, I had the chance to speak with Rebecca Wisocky, who plays the role of Hetty, about her character’s momentous outing and the loveable pandemonium that ensues when ghosts dabble in the occult.

With a reckoning fit for the lady of the house, Wisocky was delighted to see Hetty confront her past once again. “I think it’s wonderful,” she said. “Any time you can punish a character you love, it’s going to be something really fun to watch.”

“Hetty suggests the séance as a party trick. And the occult, séances, and things like that were very popular in her time. Of course, it backfires, and she is forced to reckon with the person that she would least like to see in the world.”

The festive shenanigans then take a considerable turn when Hetty finds herself unable to avoid her husband’s mistress. It’s an uncomfortable situation designed to explore Hetty’s many facets as a flawed character.

“When your back is put up against the wall as Alberta and Flower force her to be in that tight, confined vault space, the truth comes out. And Hetty takes another little mini step forward in terms of her understanding of gender roles and feminism,” Wisocky explained.

“But, of course, in true Hetty fashion, she doesn’t quite get the entire lesson.”

The irony of Hetty’s questionable dislike for Irish people and the tongue-in-cheek jokes about the Woodstone family’s ancestry is something Wisocky quite enjoyed too.

“I find it very funny that Hetty pretends to hate the Irish people, yet every person we’ve now met from the Woodstone family and home look kind of exactly alike. We’re all these pasty white people with red hair,” She laughed. “So, I find that to be deliciously ironic.”

The Halloween special matches the chaos of Ghosts Season 1 Episode 13, “The Vault,” with a glowing ceiling portal and a chorus of screaming ghosts. Wisocky confirmed these scenes of sheer terror are just as fun for the ensemble to act out as they are for us to watch.

“I think for us, those big group scenes where pandemonium ensues are the most fun.”

“That’s where we shine as a cast together because we’re all so different, and we’re all so capable of keeping the ball up in the air. And it might seem like a lot of that stuff is improvised because it happened so fast and furious. But all those things are very carefully crafted.”

Wisocky also pointed out that there’s no green screen magic or transparent ghosts. It’s just the beauty of a good camera cut-away.

“The séance sequences are a great testament to the fact that it feels like there are a lot of special effects taking place, but there really aren’t. It’s just the beauty of how exciting it is to cut back and forth from eight ghosts going wild and the dud of a Halloween party where Sam has to pretend it’s not happening.”

She had high praise for everyone who helped bring these chaotic scenes to life as well.

“It’s a testament to our director, Katie Locke O’Brien, to have edited that together so beautifully, and to Rose McIver for being so wonderful at playing both the ghost and non-ghost world seamlessly with such great humor,” Wisocky said.

“It’s the kind of thing you can only really accomplish in an animated show, and I feel like we get to do it a lot.”

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Ghosts airs Thursdays at 8:30/7:30c on CBS.

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