‘Ghosts’ Showrunners Tease ‘Wide-Ranging Ramifications’ After Season 2’s Game-Changing Ending

Warning: The following contains spoilers for the Season 2 finale of Ghosts, "The Heir."

Death just got real for the ghosts of CBS's Ghosts. The Season 2 finale ended with a shocking mystery that will plague the living and the dead alike until the arrival of Season 3: While living B&B owners Sam (Rose McIver) and Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar) sit in their ghost-free car and realize how important their haunted house and ghostly friends are to them, they watch as a heavenly light bursts through the roof of said house, indicating that someone has just moved on to whatever comes next in the afterlife. 

Leaving the earthly plane in a pillar of heavenly light (or, in ghostly parlance, getting “sucked off”) is what every ghost hopes will happen to them someday, but here it's bittersweet. No one wants to lose a beloved member of the ghost crew, but it's unfair to limit the ghosts to an eternity in limbo. Executive producers Joe Port and Joe Wiseman know exactly what's going on, but they've left the cast just as in the dark as the fans as they plan their big Season 3 promotional campaign around one incredible question: Who got sucked off?

Port, Wiseman, and the whole cast were on hand at a network event this April to weigh in on that surprise ending, and they offered The Messenger a few exclusive teases for what's to come as well as reactions to some key theories.

Who got sucked off in the Season 2 finale? 

"It's gonna be significant, and it's gonna have wide-ranging ramifications," Port promised of the mysterious disappearance. While Asher Grodman, who plays pantsless Trevor, is hoping it's just a ghost pigeon, the Joes say no. "It's not a pigeon, but that's a good idea." 

Whatever happens, it's going to hit the house hard for a number of reasons. First, the cast doesn't exactly relish the idea of losing one of their ghostly pals. Second, it's a reminder of a complicated possibility that has loomed over the show from the beginning. 

"They all obviously want to go somewhere better, but they're starting to like their surroundings and the people they're with," Port said. 

"For the people left behind, it's like a death for that character, even though they're happy for them," added Wiseman. "It's a sadness." 

Port said Season 3 will involve an "exploration of grief" as the ghosts contend with that very real possibility, especially after all of the growth they experienced in Season 2. Hetty began hooking up with Trevor (a big move for such a prude) and finally told Alberta the truth about who murdered her. Thorfinn and Pete both found ways to play bigger parts in the lives of their children. And everybody came to realize that they care about Sam and Jay beyond the fact that the living can change the channel on the TV. Anyone could have reached that moment of peace in that finale, and no ghost is safe. 

How the cast reacted to the finale cliffhanger

Brandon Scott Jones (Isaac): I was very surprised. I think the first thing you always do is just look around because you love everybody here, and you're like, "We're all staying, right?" You never know. I have some ideas, but I don't know for sure. I think if they could choose, Isaac would choose Creepy Dirk, who lives in the basement, because he's the president of the house,  and I think Isaac wants to be the president.

Richie Moriarty (Pete): I mean, my fear was that it's me. There's the initial fear because I don't want this fun ride to end, but it's mostly fear that I have because there are so many incredible people that are a part of this show, and losing anyone, it's heartbreaking. I'm nervous and excited to see where it goes – and just nervous to lose a friend on set. 

Rebecca Wisocky (Hetty): We're all dying to know what happens, and they won't tell us. I mean, anything can happen. There are [theories], but we know better than to second guess the Joes, and I know that they will take us on a journey that will be exciting and that we could have never predicted. 

Devan Chandler Long (Thorfinn): Secret suck-offs are intense. I’m just as nervous as everyone else. 

Sheila Carrasco (Flower): I was just like wow, these guys are great. The Joes are geniuses, and it's a great way to end the season. I love that we don't know who it is, and I feel like the way the finale wraps up, it could be any one of us really. I have theories. I'm trying not to make it personal, but it really just comes down to I don't want anyone to go because I love them all so much. 

Asher Grodman (Trevor): My reaction was, "Well that should torment people for a few months, including us." It's good to have everyone tormented. 

How the cast thinks things will change in Season 3

Roman Zaragoza (Sasappis): There's gonna be a huge shakeup. There's probably gonna be a lot of sorrow and grief about what happens and who gets sucked off, because it's such a family now. We want to make sure that we stay in the fold, but it's nice they keep us on our toes.

Danielle Pinnock (Alberta): We are such a big family, so we lean on each other for everything. So regardless of whatever the storyline is and how it changes things, we're gonna lean on each other and it's gonna be just fine. 

Rose McIver (Sam): The writers keep us in the dark because they don't trust any of us, which makes sense because we're all blabbermouths. I don't know who it will be. I feel like the dynamic will inevitably change because people feel at risk, like knowing that somebody who we love can vanish, it changes things. 

Wisocky: This will 100% shake up the dynamic in the house. I think something like that happening so close to home, literally and figuratively, will create a more immediate sense of consequence, and redefine and remind us all, the fans included, that the ghosts are trapped here in purgatory for a reason, and the goal is for them to be set free. 

Moriarty: I think the nature of the way shows like this work is that every season has a new feel, and I think that's going to mean probably the loss of at least one character, and we're probably going to gain new characters. I'm sure the feel will be different. I hope it will be. I mean, I think that's what keeps the show interesting. 

Carrasco: One thing I have to remind myself is that that's always been a possibility in the world of our show. We've seen people get sucked off before. We've seen ghosts that have hung out get sucked off. So I'm trying to establish that in a way, it's normal. But this time it's new for us because we're all so much closer because of Sam and Jay. They brought us even closer together even though we've all been together for 50 plus years. 

The cast’s theories and thoughts on moving on without one of the crew

Utkarsh Ambudkar (Jay): It's gonna be interesting to see who's no longer here next season. I can almost guarantee that I'll be back, so that's exciting. I think Rose will be back, but we'll see. I hope our core ghosts are all safe. I don't want anybody to be gone, because we have such a good time together, but it's up to the Joes. I'm waiting with bated breath, just like everybody else at home. 

McIver: I hope it's somebody I'm not too attached to yet. I hope it's a ghost we didn't even know existed, like a ghost hiding behind somebody in the cholera pit. 

Grodman: I think it's gonna be a pigeon. I think it's a pigeon or maybe a basement ghost we haven't met yet.

Jones: I think…what's really fun and subversive about the show [is that] if you like these characters, you're rooting for them to leave. So it's kind of a double-edged sword because then you're like, "Oh, I want them to stay." But I know as an actor, every single time I do a scene, every time Isaac's doing something, I think there's a selfish idea of, "Will this be the thing that gets me to move on to the other side?"

Zaragoza: I think before Sam and Jay got there, I'm sure Sas was like, "Get me sucked off. Get me out of here." But now there's something different in the air, and that's what we've seen in Sas, this growth in him. So I think he'll be happy but sad to lose his family. 

Long: There is always a level of unease because it's a real possibility for all ghosts at all times. The rug can get pulled on any of us at any time so you just have to live in the moment (or dead in the moment) and take every day as a gift.

Grodman: I think it's fun because on some level we're all secretly hoping this happens — or outwardly hoping this happens — so it could certainly shake things up for the ghosts, mostly because if someone gets sucked off, it will mostly inspire jealousy. 

Long: It’s bittersweet because your character is going to happy for whomever got sucked off but also sad that they lose one of their only friends, and then there is my personal feelings about losing a castmate because I love everyone I work with and selfishly don’t want to see anyone go — myself included.

Pinnock: Baby, all I know is that it's gonna be a long summer. 

The first two seasons of Ghosts are streaming on Paramount+. Season 3 will return on CBS this fall.