The first three episodes of School Spirits just dropped on Paramount+, and they're filled with enough mystery to propel the series for years to come. The teen drama with a supernatural twist follows Maddie Nears as she lives out every teenager's worst nightmare. Destined to roam the halls of her high school as a ghost, Maddie takes it upon herself to discover the truth behind her murder, regardless of the consequences.
Nate Trinrud and Megan Trinrud are the creators of School Spirits with Oliver Goldstick serving as the showrunner. Goldstick is most notably known for his work on Pretty Little Liars, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, and Bridgerton. In addition to their work on the show, the Trinuds wrote the upcoming School Spirits graphic novel. The main cast includes Peyton List (Cobra Kai), Kristian Flores, Spencer MacPherson, Kiara Pichardo, Rainbow Wedell, Sarah Yarkin, Nick Pugliese, and Milo Manheim.
Screen Rant chats with the showrunner and creators about the inspiration behind School Spirits and how the series compares to Goldstick's work on Pretty Little Liars.
Oliver Goldstick, Nate Trinrud, & Megan Trinrud Talk School Spirits
Screen Rant: I loved the idea of a teenager trying to solve her own murder. What inspired this story?
Nate Trinrud: For Megan and I, an unfortunate family event happened about 10 years ago. Our father, who struggled off and on with alcoholism throughout our whole lives, got very ill. Megan and I had just finished college, we were out living in big cities, and very quickly, our lives turned upside down. We ended up having to move back to small town, Illinois, and move back into our parents' house where we had to figure out what was next.
It was in this moment of feeling very lost and very scared for our futures, I think one of us said, "I just feel dead inside. I feel like I'm watching my life from outside of my body." That was the genesis for us wanting to tell a story about somebody who felt lost and scared and confused, and had to work to figure out how to recover from that. How to heal and how to grow and how to sort it all out to get to a place where they can move on. That was kind of the genesis of School Spirits.
Megan Trinrud: We always kind of turned to young adult content throughout our lives as a comfort safe space. We love teen shows, we love YA shows, and we thought that it would be a perfect way for us to share that story and that healing journey—by writing one of our own.
When you're creating a new show, there are so many different things you can do with your protagonist. What was most important to you when you were shaping Maddie's character? Especially because this has personal meaning to you.
Nate Trinrud: One of the big things about Maddie as a character that we all really care about is it's a person who's guarded. This is a human who has built up a wall around herself to keep herself safe. But, the problem is, if you do too good of a job at that, all of a sudden, you've walled yourself in. So really, her emotional arc for the season, and for this series, is learning how to take down those bricks one at a time with the help of the people around her. To learn how to let people in, how to receive help, and how to live a life where she doesn't have to be so guarded.
Oliver, you were involved with Pretty Little Liars, which was also a murder mystery. There’s obviously a supernatural element in School Spirits, but can fans expect there to be some similarities?
Oliver Goldstick: Certainly unexpected twists, I hope. The thing about those two shows—a decade separates them. This generation of young people has been through something else called the pandemic. I have two teenagers who came out of their bedrooms after lockdown of a year and a half, went back to school wearing masks, and didn't know how to navigate the new world. You couldn't read people anymore, you couldn't read their faces, you didn't know who you could trust. I think this show taps into that, in a way. Pretty Little Liars was a mean girl, who, for all intents and purposes, had it coming, because she treated people so badly.
I mean, no one has it coming. But she was mean. We had so much fun writing her because she was so mean. But Maddie is not a mean girl and I thought that was really fascinating. This show was centered on a murder mystery. What happened? Was it a mistaken identity? Why is this personal? And she has no memories. I think a lot of people will also plug into the idea of uncertainty, not having answers, feeling a sense of loss and disconnection and not knowing how to get back. So, to answer your question, yes, there's a mystery engine to the show, but I think it's really character-driven. It's really rooted in character.
There are obviously so many different elements that make up this show. As you said, it's a murder mystery, it surrounds a tragedy, but there's also a bit of a comedic element. The ghosts are desensitized after being around for so long. Was there a specific tone you were trying to set with the pilot?
Oliver Goldstick: I think we all felt like the humor was really important. The comedy was really important. We didn't want it to be silly. We wanted it to be sardonic. We wanted it to be ironic. We wanted it to be what you just mentioned. They're commenting on their own situation because what else can you f*cking do? This is it. We knew that would be humor just for the levity—to release some of the tension and some of the darkness. These are young people sitting in this room. These are people who are 16, 17, 18-years-old, who are no longer with us. There's darkness here. But there also has to be levity because they're a family. They're their own connection now, and they operate as a family.
About School Spirits
SCHOOL SPIRITS is centered around Maddie, a teen girl stuck in the afterlife investigating her own mysterious disappearance. Maddie goes on a crime-solving journey as she adjusts to high school purgatory, but the closer she gets to discovering the truth, the more secrets and lies she uncovers.
Check back soon for our other interviews with the cast of School Spirits:
- Kristian Flores & Kiara Pichardo
- Spencer MacPherson & Rainbow Wedell
- Peyton List, Sarah Yarkin, & Nick Pugliese
- Milo Manheim
The first 3 episodes of School Spirits are available to stream on Paramount+.