School Spirits Co-Creators, Showrunner, and Cast Tease the New Paramount+ Series

School Spirits is coming to Paramount+ on Thursday, March 9.

It follows the story of Maddie, a high school student who goes missing from the school.

Maddie may be missing, but her spirit remains, and she discovers there’s a thriving afterlife associated with the school of all of those who died within it.

The series has a wonderful, talented cast and is bursting with emotion. The underlying mystery of what happened to Maddie provides a solid throughline for getting to know more about the school and its permanent (?) inhabitants.

We participated in press day to get a little insight into the show, but it’s more of a tease. After all, we don’t want to take away the joy of discovering the School Spirits’ mysteries on your own!

Up first is a discussion with co-creators, executive producers, and siblings Nate Trinrud and Megan Trinrud, as well as showrunner and executive producer Oliver Goldstick.

Nate and Megan created the series during a time of personal loss, and when you watch, you’ll see how lovingly they write characters experiencing the same.

During the interview, they speak to how Maddie’s modern-day sensibilities set her apart from her fellow spirits, among other things.

Oliver shares his secrets for keeping the many layers of the story alive and ensuring viewers will be invested in all of them.

Up next, we visited with Rainbow Wedell, who plays Claire, and Spencer MacPherson, who plays Maddie’s boyfriend, Xavier.

I call them the suspects in her disappearance. Things are not necessarily what they seem with Xavier, and Claire is such a mystery that we can’t help but wonder what’s going through her mind.

They each briefly describe their characters before Spencer explains how Maddie’s death and his father’s profession as Sheriff affect him in the wake of it.

We also had a little fun talking about the what ifs of dying in high school. Take a look!

Milo Manheim plays Wally, a jock from the 1980s who is stuck in the school in spirit form.

Jocks often seem impervious to death, but Wally seems to be taking things pretty well as he clings to what made him happy during life.

Milo talks about Wally and what makes him tick, and why he seems to be taking his fate so well.

I also asked him to weigh in on whether Wally might find a little something extra with Maddie because they seem to view things in the same light. Take a look!

Kristian Flores and Kiara Pichardo play Simon and Nicole, respectively, who are Maddie’s good friends and act as the investigators of the show, as they’re determined to find their friend and bring her home safely.

Kristian has a lot of heavy lifting as Simon, as his grief is palpable, giving Kristian a lot to work with bringing it to life.

Kiara talks about how Maddie’s disappearance impacts both Nicole and Simon as they grow more confident in themselves while investigating their friend’s mystery.

Find out what else they have to say in our full interview below.

Finally, we talked with Nick Pugliese, Peyton List, and Sarah Yarkin, who play school spirits Charley, Maddie, and Rhonda, respectively.

Petyon speaks to what’s driving Maddie not to take her fate lying down or letting possible death define her.

Nick chats a little about Charley and how he takes Maddie under his wing when she arrives.

And Sarah talks about how the generational differences between Maddie and the other spirits might set them apart.

The three of them launch into their own discussion, which proves how close they’ve become while filming School Spirits and teases what’s ahead for the series.

Looking back at high school, it seemed like hell at times. School Spirits lovingly suggests that for some students, the misery never ends, but they find ways to survive in spite of it.

School Spirits is an absolute delight, tearing at your heartstrings and teasing the greater mysteries of life after death.

School Spirits premiere on Thursday, March 9, with three episodes on Paramount+.

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