As fun as it would be to see the Shakespearean poet Thomas Thorne (Mathew Baynton) or WWII Captain (Ben Willbond) interact with the American ghosts, there are actually a ton of reasons why the crossover just wouldn’t work that well overall. First off, there are just way too many similarities between the two shows for the characters to not feel extremely redundant. Lady Button’s refined and haughty ways are super close to Hetty Woodstone (Rebecca Wisocky) and Pat Butcher (Jim Howick) was obviously the inspiration for Pete Martino (Richie Moriarty), down to the arrow through the neck as the cause of death. Likewise, Alison and Mike don’t have distinguishing characteristics that make them all that different from Sam and Jay — the woman is the one who can see the ghosts, they’re both a couple who are trying to make their business succeed, and there are plenty of silly mishaps because of the ghosts’ presence at their respective estates.
The most glaringly obvious reason a crossover would never work is that the ghost lore that’s already been established prevents the ghosts from showing up in a different location. Except for Pete’s ghost power, the majority of the ghosts are tied to the site where they died. There’s not really any conceivable way that, all of a sudden, ghosts from the UK (who have previously been stuck at Alison and Mike’s home) could gain the ability to travel thousands of miles to pop up at the only other bed and breakfast that also houses a woman who can see spirits. It would be way too much of a coincidence, and it doesn’t fit with what’s already been the foundation of how the ghosts operate. Plus, the UK series ends with a flash-forward to Alison and Mike as much older versions of themselves who have headed back to Button House, so Alison can visit with her old spirit friends. It doesn’t really make sense for the two humans to travel to Woodstone in any timeline, since we already know what their story looks like in the future.
There Is One Way To Have a Semi-Crossover of the ‘Ghosts’ Shows
So far, it seems like Ghosts US co-showrunner, Joe Port, agrees with this assessment, saying in an interview that having Alison and Mike on a crossover “sort of doesn’t compute for us because it feels kind of strange… It just seems too similar, or something, to Sam and Jay.” The UK show was also perfect in completion, so it doesn’t really need continuations of those characters’ stories. But there is one solution for fans that still want more of their favorite British spirits. Why not bring over those actors in brand-new roles on the US version? This would be a fun way to utilize the talents of the cast without getting bogged down trying to follow the pre-established ghost lore or without needing fans to question why these specific characters would be showing up at Woodstone.
Even if the ghosts from Button House don’t make appearances in the US, there are still many exciting things in store for Ghosts’ upcoming season. It has already been announced that Jay is going to start seeing ghosts for the first time (which will most definitely lead to all kinds of upheaval and hilarious situations for all of the characters). We also don’t know exactly what happened to Isaac (Brandon Scott Jones); the last we saw of him in the Season 3 finale, the mysterious Puritan ghost, Patience, was dragging him into the earth. The series has always included plenty of fun twists and exciting guest stars, so there will certainly be interesting additions to the plot and to the cast going forward. But here’s hoping a few of the actors from Ghosts UK will still pop up in future seasons of the US franchise, without needing to do a traditional crossover to make it happen.
Seasons 1-3 of Ghosts US are available to stream on Paramount+ in the U.S. Season 4 will premiere on October 17 on CBS.
