Big spoilers ahead for the first season of “School Spirits.”
After several decades of TV murder mysteries involving teenage girls, it's practically impossible to come up with a story that hasn't been done before. But the Paramount+ series “School Spirits” has attempted the impossible with its eight-episode first season, which follows student Maddie Nears (Peyton List) as she adjusts — or refuses to adjust — to the purgatorial school to which she has been sent. in the afterlife. The show's supernatural premise already makes it pretty unique, but the Season 1 finale also ups the ante with a big reveal: Maddie never really died.
Although this twist was foreshadowed in previous episodes, “School Spirits” leaves audiences hanging with its ending. It provides enough information to make fans scream “WHAT?!” without really getting into the dark details surrounding Maddie, a ghost named Janet and chemistry teacher turned therapy group leader, Mr. Below, we decode the finale's big moments and look into our crystal ball to see what's next. there in this metaphysical teen mystery series.
Who plays Maddie Nears in School Spirits?
Convicted teenager Maddie Nears is played by Peyton Listwho has been acting on screen since a very young age. You might know her from the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” movies or Robert Pattinson’s polarizing drama “Remember Me” (yes, what one), or since his teens, when he starred in the Disney Channel shows “Jessie” and “Bunk'd.” She also starred in the Disney body-swap comedy “The Swap.”
Most recently, List appeared in Netflix's popular “Karate Kid” sequel series “Cobra Kai” and voiced Barbara Gordon in “Batman: Hush.” Before “School Spirits,” she appeared in the main cast of another supernatural teen murder mystery show: the two-season Hulu series “Light as a Feather.”
“School Spirits” marks the first time List is credited as a producer for a TV show she worked on. “I'm more excited than ever to take on new projects because, as the show's producer, I can ensure my opinion is heard,” she told Imprensa Associada last year.
What really happened to Maddie in School Spirits
All season, the teenagers of Split River, Wisconsin (living and dead) tried to find out who killed Maddie – but discovered they were investigating the wrong question. After her still-alive friends come close to discovering the truth about what happened to Maddie, they end up getting too close to a pickup truck driven by none other than Maddie herself.
While it's undoubtedly a relief for Maddie to know that her mother, boyfriend, or other loved one isn't responsible for her death, the doppelganger moment is undoubtedly mind-blowing for her. This also means that while your soul is trapped in purgatory, someone else is using your body. It turns out that a spirit named Janet, who Maddie's dead classmates thought had passed away, ended up possessing Maddie, casting her out of her body and taking her to the afterlife. In the season finale of “School Spirits,” Janet is leaving town — wearing Maddie’s face.
How did Janet take control of Maddies' body?
Logistically, it's not entirely clear how Janet ended up in Maddie's body. However, this has to do with Mr. Martin (Josh Zuckerman), the leader of the milquetoast group and former chemistry teacher who welcomed Maddie into the purgatorial support group where she spends much of the first season. a fire in the 50s, as well as a girl named Janet. Evidence found at the end suggests that he started the fire himself, and he seems even more antagonistic when he appears in front of Maddie before the credits roll at the end of Season 1.
Martin was also counseling Janet, and in a last-minute reveal, we see how she took control of Maddie's body. When Maddie was alive, she arrived in the school basement after a fight with her mother and found Janet and Mr. Martin arguing. “No, I don’t,” Janet told the teacher as he pressed her for information about a recent experience. “We have to find out exactly what happened. What did you feel?” he asks her. When Maddie enters and sees the two of them – Mr. Martin looking human, Janet just a black outline – the ghost appears to be startled and purposely runs to Maddie's body or takes over her as she tries to get away from her teacher. Either way, the effect is the same: when she makes contact with Maddie, she possesses her, apparently dislodging Maddie's spirit.
Every Hint That Maddie Was Alive During School Spirits
While much of “School Spirits” kept audiences focused on the hunt for Maddie's killer and the stories of her new friends in the afterlife, there were definitely some hints about how this all likely happened. At one point, Mr. Martin's therapeutic exercises seem like a distraction technique designed to prevent Maddie from gathering more information, and he also at one point warns Maddie not to do memory extraction hypnosis. Maddie also had a lot of trouble remembering the circumstances of her death; she finally remembered the truth only after seeing a photo of herself, alive and well in the real world.
The Janet angle was also telegraphed an episode earlier when a character named Dawn (RaeAnne Boon) solved her worldly problems and moved on to the final afterlife, leaving purgatory school behind. She was enveloped in white light when this happened, but Mr. Martin points out at the beginning of episode 8 that Janet's crossing didn't happen the same way. “There was nothing strange about the day Janet crossed over,” he told the group. “She was simply there one moment and gone the next.” This is not a satisfactory answer for his stressed-out students, and although they don't put two and two together right away, it soon becomes clear that he was lying. Janet never went to any version of heaven or hell. Instead, she returned to the human world, through Maddie's body.
Will School Spirits have a second season?
The Paramount+ series was renewed for a second season two months after Season 1 ended, with Deadline reporting that Paramount ranked the show as the most-watched young adult program during the period it aired. The same article reports that the series is expected to debut season 2 of films in 2024, and ScreenRant says that filming on the second season began in June.
According to TV Line, the series' entire cast is returning for Season 2 (so don't worry too much about Xavier's head injury, I guess), with Mr. Martin actor Zuckerman being promoted to series regular. . There are also four new teenage cast members: Zack Calderon (“The Wilds”) will play a character named Diego, while Miles Elliott (“The Amazing Spider-Man”) is newcomer Yuri and non-binary actor Cihang Ma (“Departure”). ) plays someone named Quinn. Jess Gabor, who you may know from the American version of “Shameless” or Starz’s “Three Women”, will give human form to the previously invisible spirit Janet Hamilton.
There is no word yet on the exact return date for “School Spirits,” but when it is released, it will stream on Paramount+.
