Everything You Missed from the Ghosts Panel at Comic-Con

Beloved CBS comedy Ghosts returned to haunt San Diego Comic Con’s Ballroom 20 for its fourth year.

Moderated by actress Punam Patel (Bela), the spirited group of panelists included Utkarsh Ambudkar (Jay), Danielle Pinnock (Alberta), Asher Grodman (Trevor), Devan Chandler Long (Thorfinn), and Executive Producer Joe Port.

With production starting in Montreal on July 28, Ghosts couldn’t spare many cast members for the panel. It could spill the tea on what we can expect from Season 5 — from villainous showdowns to notable guest stars to new Halloween frights.

Here’s everything you missed from the Ghosts panel at Comic-Con:

Two-Season Renewal

Ghosts managed to snag a rare two-season renewal from CBS earlier in the year, guaranteeing a full-season order for Season 5-6. For Joe Port, that security has created an opportunity to take a swing at bigger storytelling.

“It frees up the big picture stuff. We have some big ideas that we want to do, and sometimes we worry that maybe we should pull the trigger because you don’t know how long you have. So having that long on the horizon allows you to take your time,” Port explained.

“We have never been in a position before where we’ve had so many episodes, and we’re very grateful.”

“A forty-four-course dinner we got coming up,” Chandler Long declared.

Halloween V

“As always, we’re going to do a Halloween episode this year. It wouldn’t be Ghosts without Halloween,” Port teased.

Indeed, Halloween has become an annual tradition at Woodstone, managing to scare up strong outings even when Jay cancelled the sacred holiday to host a yard sale. The joke’s on Jay because that yard sale will come to haunt him when one of Hetty’s trinkets returns to the forefront of the story.

“This year, the mummy that we briefly met in last season’s Halloween episode is going to play a major role.”

For context, this mysterious mummy can be seen during Ghosts Season 4 Episode 3, “Halloween 4: The Witch,” and when Hetty is asked if that is a real mummy, she responds, “As far as the Egyptian government is concerned.”

Patience

Port also confirmed everyone’s least favorite Puritan ghost would return: “We’re going to see Patience again.”

And she will not be alone this time. “A while back, she casually mentioned, ‘The Others,’ and it is our intention to meet those others,” Port added.

As for the fans who hoped Patience would help free Jay’s soul from his contract with Elias, Port assured us that she will throw down with the devil at some point.

“I know online a lot of people have been clamoring for a Patience/Elias sort of showdown. We’re gonna deliver on that too.”

Alberta and Pete

Danielle Pinnock knows better than anyone that a romantic relationship for Alberta will be a rollercoaster ride for everyone involved.

“Does anyone watch Love Island? This Alberta and Pete love story that’s about to set off Season 5 is definitely like Olandria and Nic. But I’m so excited for Alberta to enter her soft squirrel era. Okay, she’s looking for a nerdy love and a safe love. We’re done with the bootleggers, and we’re done with the murderers.”

For Pinnock, romance also means peeling back more layers of the lounge singer she has come to love so profoundly: “You really learn about a character when it comes to their relationships.”

“And Alberta has been the greatest gift of my career. Not only is she just truly a hot mess with a heart of gold, I do believe that as a plus-size Black woman playing this character from the 1920s, it feels like I’m honoring my ancestors in a really beautiful way.”

The actress also teased that for all the good that will come of this relationship, we will also learn what kind of girlfriend Alberta can be.

“She does live for the applause,” Pinnock stated. “But Alberta is really diving into her willingness to show vulnerability over the last four years, and so I’m really excited about this relationship with her and Pete,” she said, pausing before adding, “She’s going to be so toxic.”

“We don’t know that!” Utkarsh Ambudkar responded.

“Oh, she is going to be a mess,” Pinnock proclaimed with a laugh.

Jay’s Family

“I’m really looking forward to Jay’s family coming back this season, specifically my sister,” Ambudkar revealed.

“Jay cannot see the ghosts, so unfortunately we’re in the same room, but we don’t actually get to interact at all. When Punam [Patel] comes, it’s this wonderful oasis in a desert of loneliness, spend time together and be human beings together. So I really enjoy that.”

As it turns out, Bela enjoyed working with her brother a little too much last season. “I can say we are going to see a lot more of Bayla this season,” Port interjected.

“She will help Jay run the restaurant, and she’s going to get familiar with her entrepreneurial side when she starts an event business. She is also going to develop an interesting relationship with a ghost who is not Trevor.”

“I don’t know if Trevor’s ready for that,” Grodman joked.

Jay’s father and mother could also make a reappearance as Jay’s desire to make his dad proud has become a cornerstone of the character and his mission to succeed in the restaurant industry.

“Jay and Sam both have these huge dreams, and they’ve taken these dreams to a place where it’s hard to populate. Getting business to the restaurant and the B&B is extremely difficult. On top of that, they’ve got a bunch of undead kids running around.”

“So, I do think there’s a certain sense of pride speaking from my own perspective, following in my dad’s footsteps, and him coming to this country to build a life for himself,” Ambudkar reflected.

It’s a multi-generational dynamic the actor knows a thing or two about. “My dad has a PhD, and I pretend I can’t see ghosts. So yes, I think Jay very much wants to make his dad proud.”

Trevor’s Relationships

Trevor had a rare second chance to connect with the family he never knew he had, and now Season 5 will look to put the new father in the hot seat.

“We found out at the end of last season that Trevor has a daughter, which is wild and has a lot of room for growth for Trevor, which would be interesting to play with. And getting Gideon Adlon to play Trevor’s daughter was wonderful, so I hope we get more of her.”

“We definitely are,” Port confirmed. “Trevor has a lot of time to make up for being a dad. So his daughter is going to come work in the restaurant for a couple of episodes, and you’re going to try to be a father.”

But Trevor has been a busy ghost, also cultivating a rich power couple dynamic with Hetty that has swept viewers of the show off their feet.

Fans can expect H-Money to take full advantage of this upcoming forty-four-course dinner.

“We get this long runway to be patient and grow stuff,” Grodman said. “They’ve done this really fun, slow-burn with Trevor and Hetty. That has been such a fun time, calibrating and tightening that tension up and up and up! I can’t wait to do more of that.”

Grodman also had an interesting observation to make about Hetty and Trevor’s potentially conflicting viewpoints on leaving: “The ghosts all dream one day of getting sucked off. But Trevor’s the one who, ironically, might be the least interested in it because he’s still so connected to the living world, whether it’s a dating app or it’s this job that he has, or his daughter.”

Alberta’s Hat

“A little birdie also told me that we’re going to delve into the mystery of Alberta’s hat because Thorfinn has been terrorizing her,” Pinnock revealed.

Port nodded in agreement. “I think sometime early in Season 2, Thor just started relentlessly going after Alberta’s hat. So we have a lot of discussions in the room, like there might be a story behind that hat.”

This prompted Pinnock to divulge the story behind her first time donning Alberta’s hat: “I don’t know if you remember, you and Joe [Wiseman] went after my hat in the audition.”

“I did this audition in my kitchen for Ghosts, and I had this beautiful hat — and they said, ‘Can you do it without the Hat?’ I get the call back, and I remember messing up on the last couple of lines and saying, ‘Y’all, that did not happen, I’m putting the hat back on.’ So now this character has a hat, and Thorfinn has been terrorizing her. I cannot wait.”

“Let’s be honest, no one likes the hat,” Chandler Long couldn’t help but add.

New Storylines

With two seasons confirmed, the Ghosts writers are hard at work scaring up new storylines for the residents of Woodstone, and the panel teased a few of these potential plot points coming up.

“We are going to learn an interesting thing about Flower’s power this season,” Port revealed, but would not elaborate on whether the spirits can have two powers.

And Port has not forgotten about Sas and his mysterious cause of death.

“That’s something we talk about a lot, and we are striving to do that. We’re crafting that story; it’s something we talk about a lot. That’s the last big mystery. We know everyone’s power and how everyone died. So, that’s the last big one.”

When asked if Sam could have met the ghosts before inheriting the mansion, Port acknowledged that it is a possibility they could explore down the line.

“In the pilot, I believe she mentions meeting the aunt who died before. So that’s something that I think could exist in the reality of the TV show.”

Finally, Ambudkar teased what we can expect this season after the reveal that Jay sold his soul to the devil.

“It’ll be another exciting adventure for the ghosts and Sam and Jay to go on. I love it when we all, as a family, work together against a common foe, when we’re not in-fighting or creating tensions with each other. I love when the whole team has a goal, and we are now united against Elias to save Jay’s soul, which I think creates a lot of really fun opportunities for the ensemble.”

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Ghosts returns to CBS on October 16. Watch the first four seasons on Paramount+.

Check out our full coverage of San Diego Comic-Con, including panel recaps, news, and interviews, here!

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