‘Ghosts’ Returns With a Twist That Changes Everything in New Season 5 Sneak Peek [Exclusive]

Halfway through its fifth season, Ghosts is still standing strong as one of the best comedies on network television. For over two months now, fans have been waiting on tenterhooks to check back into Woodstone B&B, and now the wait is nearly over. Ahead of tomorrow’s midseason premiere, we are thrilled to include Ghosts in Collider’s Exclusive Spring Preview event for all the hottest TV shows and movies of the coming months. Not only do we have a sneak peek from the next episode, titled “The Others,” but I also sat down with showrunners Joe Port and Joe Wiseman to get the scoop on what we can expect from the rest of the season, including the show’s first-ever two-part finale.

Following a lore-bending Christmas adventure in which Sam (Rose McIver) experienced what life would’ve been like if she’d never been able to see the ghosts, the series left audiences on a major cliffhanger. Tomorrow night, the other dirt ghosts Patience (Mary Holland) mysteriously mentioned in Season 4 will finally make their debut. According to the episode’s logline, “Sam and the ghosts face The Others, a new group of spirits from one ghost’s past. Meanwhile, Trevor tries to deal with a demanding Patience, who seeks a committed relationship in the wake of their holiday hookup.”

With the ghost rules keeping the series fairly location-locked, the introduction of The Others opens up a wide rotation of new ghosts that may pop in and out of the main story — and, according to Port and Wiseman, they’re not going anywhere anytime soon. The showrunner duo told Collider that “the others play a big role in the remainder of the season.” During our conversation, Port and Wiseman also spoke about what to expect from the show’s next holiday episode, “St. Hetty’s Day 2,” directed by series star Rose McIver. They also teased the arrival of Young Sheldon‘s Iain Armitage, several exciting flashbacks, and what to expect from their new vampire series, which features a familiar face for Ghosts ​​​​​​fans.

New ‘Ghosts’ Will Have a Big Impact on Woodstone’s Main 8

“This has been a while in the making, ever since Patience mentioned The Others,” Wiseman told Collider. “We’re excited to finally reveal who they are. We think it’s an exciting group of ghosts, some of which have a direct connection to Woodstone and our ghosts who reside there.” Port went on to acknowledge that some images from the episode have already been circulating online that spoil the identity of Patience’s friends. “If people are dying to spoil it for themselves, they can, but it’s fun to discover it when you tune in,” said Port. “But whether you know it or you don’t know it, I think it’s going to lead to some interesting episodes that really tie in to some of our characters that are already at the house.”

We won’t spoil the reveal here, but even for those who already know the twist, Wiseman promises further reveals beyond the next episode. “In the first episode, there’s a clear connection to one of our ghosts,” he teased, “but even in future episodes, we learn there are connections to the others.” One of those connections can be seen in our exclusive sneak peek from the episode, available in the player above. The new footage sees Trevor (Asher Grodman) gushing about one of the new ghosts: a Philly girl named Barbara who just so happens to be Patience’s best friend. Never wanting to be the bad guy, Trevor devises a plan with Sass (Román Zaragoza) and Alberta (Danielle Pinnock) to get Patience to dump him so he can hook up with Barbara.

But what about Trevor’s on-again, off-again power friends situationship with Hetty (Rebecca Wisocky)? While Wiseman warned we shouldn’t expect Hetty and Trevor to be hatching any “official” power friends schemes in Season 5, “that doesn’t mean that it can’t [come up] in the future.” Speaking about the now-fan-favorite pairing, Wiseman went on to say that, “Those two are always fun together, and there’s always the possibility of who knows what’s going to happen with those two? I know there are a lot of people online who are rooting for them to get back together, and we’ll see. But Trevor’s kind of been entwined, surprisingly.”

‘Ghosts’ Stars Rose McIver Directs “St. Hetty’s Day 2”

While Trevor attempts to get himself out of and into his various entanglements, however, Hetty’s got romantic plans of her own. After going on her very first date when her long-dormant power arrived last St. Patrick’s Day, Hetty is looking to replicate the experience for her second turn with her “tier one” ability to be seen by the living. “We like that this has now become a perennial, annual event, because it’s just a really fun way to get to feature Rebecca Wisocky’s character,” said Port. “And this one is directed by Rose McIver, who’s returning to that role this season, and she did a fantastic job. It’s a very fun episode that starts off with Hetty trying to do online dating and meet a man who is up for, I think she put it in her profile, ‘one day of polite discussion, location non-negotiable,’ because she can’t leave the property, obviously.”

McIver isn’t the only actor sitting in the director’s chair this season — Utkarsh Ambudkar, who plays Sam’s non-ghost-seeing husband Jay, will also take a turn behind the camera. “They both did a very good job,” said Port. “They know the show inside and out, obviously. They’re on set all day, every day, you know? So, they have a great handle on the tone, and their episodes turned out very, very well, so we’re pleased.” Wiseman went on to say that everyone was on their best behavior for McIver and Ambudkar, “Obviously, the cast loves them, the crew loves them, so those weeks always go very smoothly because everyone is working extra hard to make sure everything goes as planned.”

With five seasons officially wrapped, Ghosts has established a talented rotation of regular directors, including pilot director Trent O’Donnell, Pinkus himself, Richie Keen, and Christine Gernon, among others. Speaking about the familiar faces among their crew, Port shared, “That’s what’s wonderful. The nice thing about having multiple seasons is you can have people back, and we developed a great stable of directors who we know are just going to come in and deliver.” For fans hoping to see more of the cast jump behind the camera, the future looks bright for Season 6. Speaking with Collider during Season 4, stars like Grodman, Sheila Carrasco, and Zaragoza all revealed their desire to follow in McIver and Ambudkar’s footsteps, and their wishes may come true according to Port. “Some of the cast will probably be back to direct. […] we’re definitely going to have some cast directing in Season 6.”

Taylor Ortega’s Joan Will Return in ‘Ghosts’ Season 5

In addition to the recently announced appearances from John Michael Higgins (Best in Show) and Emmy winner Jeff Hiller (Somebody Somewhere), the back half of Ghosts Season 5 will feature a plethora of exciting guest stars. Wiseman confirmed that Young Sheldon star Iain Armitage will be playing an exaggerated version of himself. “We were so excited to have Iain on the show,” said Port. “We heard he was a longtime fan of the show, and we’ve been wanting to have him on, and we had an episode come up where we needed a celebrity cameo, so he was the first name we thought of. He came up, and he did a fantastic job, and he really enjoyed it. It was very fortunate that that worked out.”

Meanwhile, though Sass seems to think that Joan has left him behind after she missed her planned return to Woodstone, Wiseman revealed that we can expect to see Taylor Ortega back as the wisecracking 1940s screenwriter. However, for those hoping for another annual visit from Odessa A’zion‘s 1980s prom ghost Stephanie, we may be waiting a while. “Yeah. We love both of those actresses and both of those characters,” said Wiseman. A’zion has swiftly become one of the most in-demand stars in the industry following her new series, I Love LA, and her performance in this year’s Oscar darling, Marty Supreme. While neither showrunner outright denied her return, Wiseman suggested the scheduling may not have worked out for a Stephanie episode in Season 5. “They’re both in demand, and scheduling is the reason why it’s been difficult to get them. But I can say that Joan will be appearing this season, which is great. Sasappis has been waiting for her to return, and she is finally going to be coming back at some point this season.”

‘Ghosts’ Season 5 Is Doing Something the Show Has Never Done Before

Getting renewed for Seasons 5 and 6 at the same time last year has given Port and Wiseman plenty of room to play with formatting and story, leading to the show’s first-ever two-part finale. Ghosts has had a handful of two-parters, both officially and in an unofficial capacity, as Port and Wiseman have found instances to stretch particular narratives across two weeks instead of wrapping things up and moving on quickly. “We’re going to do a double episode for the finale. That’s what we’re working on right now and shooting right now,” said Port ahead of the show’s official Season 5 wrap last weekend.

While spoilers were off the table with a whopping 10 episodes still to air between the midseason premiere and the finale, Wiseman promises that the finale will once again leave fans with plenty to speculate about over the summer hiatus. “We have a tradition of ending the seasons on big cliffhangers, and we have a really fun, and I think enticing, one for this season. But I can’t really say anything about it,” said Wiseman.

With Ghosts‘ unique premise featuring characters that have been alive for centuries, the show is also ripe for flashback episodes. This year, we’ll be diving into some surprising backstory for one of the house’s most underrated ghosts: the ever-hilarious basement dweller Nancy (Betsy Sodaro). “We’re going to delve into Nancy’s backstory at some point this season,” said Port, “which we were very excited to do, and we’re going to learn some surprising things about her past.” Wiseman also teased “a really fun Isaac (Brandon Scott Jones) flashback” in the episodes ahead. “I love, and the audience loves seeing the ghosts when they were alive and learning things about them, so there’s a really fun Isaac flashback that we do to start off an episode,” he told Collider. But if you’re hoping for more storylines for those we haven’t touched on, like Thor (Devan Chandler Long), Flower (Carrasco), Alberta, and Pete (Richie Moriarty), don’t worry, Ghosts is still very much an ensemble, and each of our favorite silly spirits will get a turn in the spotlight before the season’s end. “Everyone has big moments, and it’s a really fun second half of the season,” said Port.

Flashbacks are always a particular treat on Ghosts, both for the fans and the cast and crew of the show itself. When I mentioned how much fun the costume department must have with the show’s flashback episodes, Wiseman went on to say, “You know what’s so fun about that, too? The actors love being able to hold props, and wear something else, and have different hair. Because, I mean, think about it, five years now, they’ve been wearing the exact same outfits and can’t touch anything. So, I think they always enjoy it when we do a flashback to when they’re alive, and they can act like humans.”

Jumping back to the present, however, Port teased that the rest of Season 5 will hardly be smooth sailing for Sam and Jay, who’ve finally started to see some success in their social life and the redemption of Jay’s restaurant after a rocky opening in Season 4. Teasing a storyline that may take us all the way up to the finale, Port revealed, “Sam and Jay are going to have huge stakes as we come down to the wire of the season about their future at Woodstone, and about their ownership of the property.”

‘Ghosts’ Fans Will Want to Stay Tuned for ‘Eternally Yours’

Ghosts’ future at CBS is bright as the most-watched sitcom of fall 2025, and that success has led the network to order a second series from Port and Wiseman. Eternally Yours is a vampire comedy that the duo originally wrote the pilot for over a decade ago. In fact, that pilot played a role in making Port and Wiseman CBS’ first choice for the US adaptation of Ghosts, now they’re coming full circle as cameras are finally set to begin rolling soon on the new show. “I think this is one of the reasons we got Ghosts, is we had pitched and sold this script, Eternally Yours, to CBS, and it didn’t get shot,” said Wiseman. “But when Ghosts came up, they were like, ‘Oh, Joe and Joe wrote that really funny, supernatural genre comedy, maybe they would like Ghosts.’ And so, because of that, Ghosts, and now because of Ghosts, we get to revisit Eternally Yours.”

Ghosts fans can expect the new series to have a lot of the same DNA as the hit comedy. Wiseman confirmed that Trent O’Donnell, who’s directed over 15 episodes of Ghosts, will helm the first episode of Eternally Yours. “When it came down to director, Trent O’Donnell, who directed the Ghosts pilot, was just a no-brainer. He gets the tone, he’s so inventive, the cast loves him, he’s easy to work with, and he’s an incredibly talented writer himself, so it’s having another great writer on set. So, we’re just thrilled.”

Eternally Yours will also feature a familiar face for Ghosts fans in front of the camera, with Allegra Edwards in the lead role. Edwards previously guest-starred in the series as Pete’s island girlfriend Donna. Now, she’ll take on a new kind of undead role as one half of the immortal vampire couple at the heart of Eternally Yours, opposite Ed Weeks (The Mindy Project). Sharing an update on the growing cast, Port told Collider, “She’s been great on Ghosts, and I loved her in Upload. The whole cast is coming along really well — Ed Weeks, and we’ve got some good people. We’re still filling it out, but hopefully we’ll have it done before next week because we’re going up there.” If Ghosts is anything to go by, this team certainly knows a thing or two about assembling an all-star ensemble cast. Port made sure to give the casting department their flowers, saying, “Appreciate it. Thank you. We’ve got to give credit to Liz Barnes and Tannis Vallely. They cast Ghosts, and they’re casting this for us.”

Check out our sneak peek at tomorrow’s new episode of Ghosts above and stream previous episodes on Paramount+. Stay tuned for more big reveals from the hottest TV shows and movies during Collider’s Exclusive Preview event.