Well, that’s one way to find out you’re going to hell.
**Spoiler warning for the Season 4 finale of Ghosts**
In Thursday night’s episode of Ghosts, Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar) finally learns that earlier in the season he unwittingly signed a contract with Elias Woodstone (Matt Walsh), a contractor of the devil masquerading as a publicist, that all but guarantees his soul will go to hell. And what’s worse, it’s sooner rather than later, too, as Elias even attempts to kill Jay in the final moments of the finale by having a chandelier fall as Jay is standing underneath.
Luckily, everyone’s favorite oblivious non-clairvoyant B&B owner is able to dodge death, but who knows how long that will last. Sitting down with DECIDER, Ambudkar explained why he thinks Jay’s Season 4 ending leaves the door open on so many incredible near-death experiences in Season 5 and Season 6, confirmed by CBS at the same time back in February.
“If I just spend the whole season with me and a handsome stunt double rolling around dodging bullets, that would be really fun as an actor,” the Pitch Perfect star explained of what the next season of the hit CBS comedy could look like. “But now that we have this extra layer of danger, it’s always good for Woodstone B&B to be in some sort of peril, you know?”
As for how that will play out, whether it will lead to Jay finally coming face-to-face with his main ghost buddy Pete (Richie Moriarty) — spoiler alert: it totally could — and what he’s most looking forward to about coming back for another season, check out DECIDER’s full interview with Ambudkar below.
DECIDER: So, let’s talk about that Season 4 finale. So, you’re going to hell, it seems.
UTKARSH AMBUDKAR: Allegedly.
How far out did the writers and producers give you the heads up that this might be Jay’s Season 4 ending — that his soul is probably in serious danger?
The Joes [Producers Joe Port and Joe Wiseman] had teased the Elias thing sort of mid-season where he kind of came back and offers Thorfinn [Devan Chandler Long] the chance to trade his soul for a cushy life in hell. And that last scene, there’s a button where Elias and Jay sign a publicity contract, and up until the last minute, they weren’t sure if they were going to keep it in. So it was kind of like still being debated right up until the last second. I think they always had an idea that they wanted to put Jay in jeopardy. I think Jay is a character that you could do a lot of things with because he’s sort of the everyman and putting him in the most crazy situations generally serves the show, but, um, they may have let me know. So if we shoot from June to February, maybe they let me know around Christmas time that something weird might happen. They’re pretty open with it. I gotta be honest with you, I rarely ask. I generally just show up and I’m like, oh, that sounds fun, and then we just shoot it. I think it fits the character to not know what the hell’s going on. That’s my excuse for being lazy, I guess, but hopefully people like it and they find it entertaining and scary.
What do you think it would look like if he didn’t sign the contract?
I don’t know, something else would have happened. The restaurant — well, we already had somebody crash through the roof of the restaurant — I think that the romantic story between Pete and Alberta is strong enough to have carried us into a Season 5. I think it’s a beautiful thing. I think Richie Moriarty and Danielle Pinnock have such a unique chemistry. They’re both such funny actors and act and live with their full hearts. I think we could have gone out on Alberta and Pete and been just fine. But now that we have this extra layer of danger, it’s always good for Woodstone B&B to be in some sort of peril, you know?
How do you see this rearing its ugly head in the next season? Do you see Jay dodging a lot of falling chandeliers like he does in the finale?
Oh man, that sounds so fun. Just a series of near-death experiences. If I just spend the whole season with me and a handsome stunt double rolling around dodging bullets, that would be really fun as an actor. I think we’re in a huge pickle. We got to figure it out. If it means Matt Walsh, our Elias gets to come back and play with us. That is even more of a gift. He’s such a generous actor and a legend in comedy. I don’t know. Does it mean Jay dies? Are our Jay’s days numbered? Are we getting a ghost Jay? I mean, we should really poll, I’m sure there’s a comment section somewhere under this video — If you’re watching and you’re a fan of Ghosts, what if Jay dies? Are we cool with that? Yay? Nay? I’m taking a poll right now because this is the people’s show. If I die, I’d stay a ghost because Papa’s got kids.
Your fanbase truly is wild, though. And they’re so opinionated about all of the characters and the dynamics. One dynamic we haven’t seen though is Jay and Pete [Richie Moriarty]. Do we think Jay’s predicament with Elias may finally lead to this collab?
Maybe Jay dies for a day or something happens where Elias almost gets him with some snake venom or I don’t know, just workshopping here. An extra heavy apple falls off a tree and hits him in the head. If Jay and Pete could hang out for a day either in the corporeal world where people can touch each other or in the ghost world, it would be great. I love Richie, we have a wonderful time acting together as humans, off-camera. Let’s see if we can recreate that magic on camera. And I just think Pete and Alberta have so many interesting places they can go now. We’ve really set up a lot of great relationships for Season 5.
When I talked with you at Comic-Con, you guys had just announced that Jay was finally going to see the ghosts in Season 4. It’s so crazy to think that we’re on the other side of it now. Does it feel a little bit like when you’re waiting for a vacation and then it comes and then in the rearview mirror and you’re like, “No, can we go back again?”
Jay met the ghosts during the double possession Christmas episode. And there was a lot going on in that hour-long special. I mean Rose McIver famously played Nancy, she was possessed by Betsy Sodaro’s Nancy, and did that so well. And then Jay, I played three characters. I was me, Zombie Jay, and Pete. Plus we had to sort of deal with Jay’s family coming home for the holidays so there was a lot of stuff. Jay meeting the ghosts kind of felt like it got shoehorned in. You know, I think we could have really explored a lot more comedy and we could’ve taken a lot more time with that. And we still obviously have the opportunity to do that. So I would love to revisit it because it felt like just a taste and not a full meal.
Speaking of the double possession, it’s part of my favorite thing when this show does the possessions because it gives you guys the opportunity to really show how good at impressions you are. Is there someone on the cast that you are every single season you’re like, “Please don’t give me this person because I’m not good at it.”
Honestly, it was Pete. It was Richie. Cause he and I are so similar. Our vocal tones are so similar. The great thing is that Richie creates a physical character with Pete — hands on the hips, glasses. There are things that I can do physically to sort of, “Oh gee, golly,” my way through that character. But vocally it’s really tough. Pete was the biggest mountain to climb. Trevor might be hard. No, Trevor’s easy because Asher [Grodman] is just like, “I can pretend I don’t have pants on.” Who else would be really tough? No, Pete was the one. Pete was one where I was like, “I don’t know how this is gonna go,” but it worked out, I guess.
So, do you have the next person lined up? Because you know there’s going to be another run-in.
I mean, Isaac [Brandon Scott Jones] would be really fun. Isaac would be very fun. I think Rose would do a great Isaac. I think Sam being possessed by Isaac could be really fun. For me, Flower. I mean I just love the idea that a woman like a flower existed in time. Sheila Carrasco plays her so perfectly. That could be great.
You have tons of opportunities because you have a confirmed Season 5 and a confirmed Season 6. I saw Danielle posted an emotional video on social media. How did you find out and what was your reaction?
The Joes called me and Rose and they let us all know sort of in the same morning. And I was in Vancouver working on another show, I play this character, King Bumi on Avatar: The Last Airbender. So I was doing that and they called and it’s an absolute relief. Look, I’m truly blessed. I’ve got a big family and being employed in this time on network television is really difficult. I think a lot of people financially and work-wise are feeling the pinch. I mean, not a lot of things are shooting. So to be able to have two years of job security is, it’s great. 22 episodes too. It’s not like eight episodes. It’s 44 episodes of television. If we can keep making it at a high level and they can keep giving us chances. Danielle’s spot on. We work very hard for a lot of years just being told no and just sort of scraping away. So to now have something resembling job stability is really, really cool. And it just so happens that millions of people love watching it every week. So you’re not only, I’m getting stability, but we’re also hopefully bringing some joy into people’s homes every week and it’s making a difference in that way.
I don’t think it will be in Season 5 but in Season 6 you’re going to hit 100 episodes, which is so special in today’s environment. Do you have any dreams for that or for Season 5?
The one thing that the Joes do and CBS casting does really well is we have great guest stars. It’d be really fun if we did a special where sort of everyone kind of came through like a revolving door. Obviously, a musical special would be really fun. An animated episode could be really cool. I mean, these are things that are artistically, I think outside of the realm of what the show is. But if we get to 100 — when we get to 100 — I know it’s gonna be really special. Certainly not something I’ve ever experienced and very few people have in recent years. So hopefully we’ll celebrate it as a family and we’ll keep making TV if we can.
I know you said you’re schedule is June to February, so we’re like a month out already. Do you know anything about Season 5 that you can tease?
I have no clue other than what the chat tells me about whether or not Jay should die. You guys will determine a lot, so make sure you tapity tap tap tap, Let us know, dude. This is a choose-your-own-adventure.
