Ghosts: Richie Moriarty Takes Aim at Pete’s Emotional Wedding Episode and Teases Season 2 Finale [Interview]

Richie Moriarty, who plays Pete, takes aim at an emotional episode of Ghosts as the slain scout leader welcomes his family to Woodstone for a wedding.

“Pete has these great opportunities for storylines because he still has family members out there living their lives,” Moriarty said in a recent interview as we discussed the father-daughter reunion of Ghosts Season 2 Episode 19, “Ghost Father of the Bride,” and those adorable family news blast.

“It was such a fun device for the writers to pipe in because they’re still living their lives every day. Of course, he would be pestering Sam to get more information on his family. And I love that the other ghosts are also intrigued. It’s like a TV show for them where they’re like, ‘Oh, what’s happening with the Spider-Man retainer.’ It’s a funny way to rope everybody into his family’s life.”

A Wedding to Remember

“So many people can relate to this idea of not having a parent with them at their wedding,” explained Moriarty on the significance of this episode.

“I’m fortunate my parents are both still living. But my wife, her mom was very sick and couldn’t travel to our wedding. There are a lot of people who lose parents before they get married. This was a special moment to illustrate the wish that those people have, which is, even if your parents can’t be there, you hope that they’re there in spirit.”

Pete’s senior moment was also something Moriarty “loved” about the episode.

“We all have very strong ideas of what has happened in our past, and we kind of made Pete look like a dope at the end like, ‘Oh, orchids, right!’ But I think there’s real truth in moments like that, where we don’t remember things the same way and especially when you consult different people on the same event. It’s why eyewitnesses are so unreliable. So I love that element of it.”

When it comes to illegal deck permits, that is where Moriarty believes the crime spree stops for Pete. “I like to think this is truly the only rule he ever broke,” he joked.

“There’s a reason he feels deep shame around it. It’s the one time he skirted the rules, and now he’s all of a sudden, like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I could potentially see my daughter get married because I never got this thing permitted.’ It is dumb in the best way.”

Pete is often framed as the cheeriest ghost, yet his episodes boast the darkest sense of humor thanks to the “strife” between Pete and Carol.

“As bubbly and optimistic as this guy is on the surface, there’s definitely darkness there,” he shared.

“Part of why I think we’re reminded of that in Pete’s episodes is because his wife has played a major part in these episodes. When Carol visits the mansion, he recognizes this wasn’t the ideal marriage he thought it was. You see it in this lovely flashback we get with his daughter, and you hear Carol nagging him to get the deck permitted.”

Carol brings out another element to Pete that Moriarty enjoys. “I just love yelling so much. Whenever it calls for Pete to yell, I’m like, ‘Give me more of this forever.'”

A Second Chance at Love

In the wake of Carol’s cheating scandal, Pete fell fast for Alberta and was rejected just as quickly. So is romance off the table for those two?

“I don’t know where this is going to lead, and I honestly don’t know if the showrunners know either,” Moriarty revealed. “I think there’s like a big question mark as to what’s going to happen with this relationship. I don’t think we’ve seen the last of it by any means.”

But he acknowledged that putting space between Alberta and Pete, for now, is the best move.

“He’s gotten clear indications from Alberta that she is not feeling this, and he’s had to be okay with that. When someone is saying no, you have to back off. So I’m hopeful that there will be opportunities for Pete to explore relationships with other characters because he does clearly feel a license to move on and to find love.”

When asked what he would like most for his character in Season 3, Moriarty wanted to see Pete embrace that second chance at romance.

“The idea of exploring his love life more is very exciting to me. I think there are opportunities, within the house and externally, for Pete to move on with his afterlife in a romantic way,” he explained. “I have no information on whether that will happen, but that’s one thing that I hope will happen down the road for Pete.”

Between Hetty and Trevor’s unexpected fling and Flower’s threesome search, love is certainly within reach for the scoutmaster.

“You can imagine a fun relationship between almost anybody in the house. We are all such a clash of generations and character types that there’s so much fun to be had.”

The End Is Near

The end of Ghosts Season 2 will see Woodstone Mansion’s revolving door of characters continue to spin.

“We’ll see more of Nigel and Stephanie. There will be a lot of guests that are back in the mix — people we love back at the mansion,” Moriarty confirmed.

“But also, the season ends on such a great note,” he continued, diving into what we can expect from the season finale. “The Joes do such a good job of buttoning up a really crucial storyline in the final episode. They also leave the season on a great cliffhanger that I think is going to have a lot of our fans excited and talking quite a bit about what’s going to happen at the beginning of Season 3.”

“It’s so hard to end the season and tee up opportunities for a future season. I think they have crafted things incredibly well, and I’m excited to see it all come together in the final edit.”

That elusive cliffhanger promises to be quite the spectacle.

In an interview earlier this season, Asher Grodman, who plays Trevor, suggested the finale’s cliffhanger would “scare” people. Much to the horror of the fans, Moriarty agreed with this sentiment. “I think saying that the audience is going to be scared is right,” he said.

“At this point, we’re two seasons in, and the audience is really attached to the people in the show. There’s gonna be a fearful response from the audience and rightfully so. It’s definitely going to be a shift in how things operate at the mansion.”

So, buckle up, Ghosts fans. We are in for one gasp-worthy season finale.

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

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