One of CBS' newest sitcoms, Ghosts, features a cast full of spectral characters that each hail from a distinct time period and come with their own unique backstory and death. Though each of the eight ghosts has a wildly different perspective based on their different experiences throughout history, they nonetheless form a sort of family, which is one of the show's greatest charms. After all, being stuck with the same people for all of eternity allows for plenty of time to get to know each other.
Ghosts, which is an adaptation of a BBC show of the same name, stars Utkarsh Ambudkar and Rose McIver (who played Liv Moore on five seasons of iZombie) as Jay and Sam, a young couple who inherit a mansion in upstate New York. To their surprise, however, the house also comes with several ghostly inhabitants, who Sam is able to see after a near-death experience. These are Thorfinn (Devan Long), Sasappis (Román Zaragoza), Isaac (Brandon Scott Jones), Hetty (Rebecca Wisocky), Alberta (Danielle Pinnock), Flower (Sheila Carrasco), Pete (Richie Moriarty), and Trevor (Asher Grodman).
Although other ghosts feature in the show, such as those in the basement "cholera pit," the British soldiers from the shed outside, and even Hetty's nefarious husband Elias, the main eight are the most fully fleshed-out. As in the BBC version, they're a motley bunch, but come with a different range of characteristics and stories due to their location in the Hudson Valley. Here's a guide to each of Ghosts' main phantoms, including what time period they're from and how they died.
Unlike Marvel's Thor from the MCU, with whom he shares a name, Thorfinn is not a god, although he does have some pseudo-lightning powers. The oldest ghost in the show, Thorfinn is a Viking who traveled to North America but was accidentally left behind by his compatriots. The Vikings' actual historical voyage was about 1000 years ago, meaning Thorfinn has been dead since around the 1020s. He died on the land that would one day hold Sam and Jay's house after being struck by lightning, which leaves him with the ghostly ability to make lights flicker. Never one to pass up a good discussion about fishing or fighting wild animals, Thorfinn is a Viking through and through, and would probably love to accompany his namesake Thor, God of Thunder, into battle.
Sasappis is about 500 years younger than Thorfinn, having died in the 1520s. He's a Lenape man, a member of an indigenous group from the Hudson Valley in New York as well as parts of present-day Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Unlike most of the other specters in Ghosts, Sasappis has yet to reveal how he died, but one of his favorite pastimes is reminding all the others of how they met their ends, most of which he was there for. While the details of his death are unknown, however, it is revealed in Ghosts episode 7 that a woman Sass loved in life, Shiki, is also a ghost, and he tries to get in touch with her. Sasappis is also a big fan of watching TV and often asks Sam and Jay to cook junk food so he can smell it.
A Revolutionary War captain who knew the likes of real-life figures Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, Isaac Higgentoot unfortunately died of dysentery before he could make any lasting historical mark of his own. Killed by the disease sometime between 1775 and 1783, when the American Revolutionary War was taking place, Isaac now has the ghost power to make people smell sewage any time they walk through him. Despite these circumstances, however, Isaac always maintains his pride, as evidenced when he has to negotiate with the Redcoats who also died on the property back in the day, including British officer Nigel, who Isaac has an obvious crush on despite having accidentally shot him.
Sam and Jay's house, Woodstone Manor, was built in the late 1800s by a family of robber barons, and it's this lineage and time period that Hetty hails from. But although she lines up with the timeline of HBO's The Gilded Age, Hetty has started to gradually let go of her antiquated notions and bigotries as Ghosts goes on. As with Sasappis, Hetty's death is also still a mystery, but given the corruption she was a part of during her life and the vile nature of her husband Elias, she certainly had no shortage of enemies who might have wanted to off her. As for ghost powers, Hetty hasn't displayed any unique abilities yet, but does manage to possess Jay in episode 10, which is something all ghosts seem capable of.
A jazz singer from the 1920s, Alberta finally confirms her suspicions in Ghosts episode 9 that she was poisoned by her no-good bootlegger boyfriend. But while Alberta has an unfortunate Great Gatsby-style death, she also embodies a lot of what made the 20s roaring, as well. From her tasseled flapper attire to her lively vocabulary, and from her confident singing voice to her fiery passion for women's rights, Alberta is one of Ghosts' most engaging and fun characters. Fittingly, her special ghostly ability is that she can be heard humming by the living when she so chooses. And although Alberta offers constant reminders of all the low-lives and two-timers she's dated, she may have a romance arc with Pete in store later on.
As her name suggests, Flower is a hippie from the 1960s who was killed by a bear on the Woodstone property after leaving a nearby music festival. If she looks familiar to some viewers, it's because Sheila Carraso, who plays her, has had brief appearances on other shows like The Good Place and Jane the Virgin. Naturally, Flower's ghost power is that people who walk through her get high for about an hour, and she herself is often forgetful and off chasing butterflies. But Flower has interesting depth to her character as well, as she was involved in multiple cults and cult-like organizations in her life, and even helped one such group rob a bank.
Of all the eponymous characters in Ghosts, Pete's death is the most apparent. Shot in the neck by one of the Scouts from the troop he was leading, Pete met his untimely demise in 1985 and still has the arrow in his neck to prove it. Despite the tragedy of his passing, however, and the later revelation in Ghosts episode 6 that his wife was cheating on him in life, Pete is perpetually chipper, a near carbon copy of Edward Norton's likable character Scout Master Ward from Moonrise Kingdom. And while he doesn't possess a unique ghostly ability, Pete's affinity for compromise and teambuilding makes him a crucial member of the ghosts' de facto family, and could earn him a shot at romance with Alberta later on.
Finally, there's Trevor, the youngest of the ghosts, whose special power is touching or moving solid objects (with great effort). A spoiled yuppie party boy who died in the late 1990s, Trevor is all about popularity and scoring attractive women. While it's still unclear how he died, the secret probably lies in his prodigal lifestyle and the fact that he's never seen wearing pants. It's possible that, like his BBC counterpart, Trevor was caught in some kind of sex scandal and died as a result. But while in many ways Trevor seems like he could have a Wolf of Wall Street cameo, he has also had some character growth over Ghosts' first season and is a hilarious addition to the group just like all the others.
Ghosts releases new episodes every Thursday on CBS.
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