Ghosts: Román Zaragoza Breaks Down Sasappis’ Dreamy Ghost Power [Interview]

Ghosts has unveiled one of the long-awaited mysteries surrounding Sasappis’ character — his ghost power.

When Jay shuts down Sas’ pizza oven suggestion on Ghosts Season 3 Episode 2, “Man of Your Dreams,” the storyteller reveals he can enter the dreams of livings and influence their decisions.

As far as ghost powers go, it’s fair to say Sas has won the afterlife lottery.

And no one is more excited to explore this new power than Román Zaragoza, the actor who plays Sasappis. “It was such a dream,” he explained when I spoke with him about this episode’s big reveal. “I’m so grateful. It’s fun getting to change costumes and settings and interact with Utkarsh [Ambudkar].”

So, how long has Zaragoza known Sas had this epic ghost power?

“I heard about it for the first time about a year ago. Showrunners Joe Port and Joe Wiseman — the Joes — reached out and were like, ‘Hey, we have an idea about your ghost power. Can we run it by you?’ So we talked about it and I was like, ‘Wow, this is the coolest thing I’ve ever heard. Amazing idea! I’m on board.'”

“But Season 2 went by and we didn’t get an episode about it,” he added.

“I haven’t talked about it with anybody because the Joes were like ‘Just keep it under wraps. We don’t know if it’s for sure what we’re gonna do,’ so to see that in scripts and to see how they created it and what they did with it. It was just such a fun episode. And I’m beyond grateful that Sasappis has this really cool power — like all the other ghosts are so jealous.”

Sasappis’ ghost power allows him to get back to doing what he loves most: scheming and deceiving. “He has been a little bit less focused on his deviousness and it was nice for him to get back into that and to see that side of him again,” Zaragoza acknowledged.

However, this power also affords Sas the opportunity for honest growth, something the actor was especially excited to explore.

“It’s beautiful to see how he’s growing to love this family and feel so cared for and accepted. To feel like, ‘Wow, this is a family, and I do care how they think about me.’ The scene with Jay where he wants to be friends with Sas; it’s so exciting to see that and I think he learned a lot from that experience,” Zaragoza said.

“So it’s a beautiful power, and he’s definitely thinking about how with great power comes great responsibility.”

Could Sas channel his inner Spider-Man and embrace the superhero lifestyle? Zaragoza agreed Sas would be all for using his ghost power for good, at least “for a little bit.”

“Then, who knows, he could become the Green Goblin,” he laughed.

As for whether previous Woodstone events may have been manipulated by Sas and his ghost power without the others knowing, the jury is still out. However, the prospect of revisiting previous antics with this new information had Zaragoza excited.

“Let’s go back — let’s relook at some of the things that we did the first few seasons and be like, ‘Oh, why did that happen? Oh, maybe Sas manipulated it, you know?’ I’m not in the writers’ room. But man, that would be so cool to talk to them about those ideas. Because who knows? He could be the puppet master this whole time.”

As impressive as it is to ponder all the havoc Sas has been wreaking on Woodstone for hundreds of years, it is even more remarkable to admire the beauty of his conflicting character traits.

“There’s been a really beautiful character growth with Sas,” Zaragoza said. “He does try to help everyone and he falls short because he’s like, ‘Oh, I don’t care,’ and then, ‘Oh, wait, no, I do care.’ So it’s fun to see the dichotomy of this young spirit but old soul. He died very young, but he’s been dead for 500 years. So we’re seeing more of how his immaturity will come out and how his wise self also comes through. It’s been fun to see the evolution of him. I feel like I’m starting to discover who he is, and it feels great.”

Now that Sas has started to see his power as a way to build relationships with the living rather than trick them, who else would he want to strike up a dream outing with?

“Of course, Mark. Man, we love Mark,” he revealed. “It would be fun for Sas to visit Sam’s dreams, I think that could be really interesting. But it might be hard to get away with things because she knows what he looks like.”

And finally, the part of the interview where Zaragoza reveals what we can expect from upcoming episodes of Ghosts and it is some gasp-worthy tea.

“I can tease that we learn about how a ghost died,” Zaragoza confirmed.

“That is something exciting that is coming up, and the séance — it’s a really entertaining episode. We had such a fun time shooting this one and you know the Halloween episodes are always so special with this show. So just get ready for some crazy stuff to happen.”

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

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