School Spirits Cast Reacts To Season 3 Twists, From Wally And Maddie's New Obstacle To Mr. Martin's Dark Reveal

Class is officially back in session at Split River High, with the first three episodes of "School Spirits" Season 3 now streaming on Paramount+, and just when we thought things couldn't get any darker for our favorite phantoms... we were wrong.

For starters, we learn that Mr. Martin was the one who caused the bus crash. It was technically an accident, as he was transported there through a hole he discovered in his scar, but it still happened. Simon becomes convinced that the hole will reveal why he's stuck in limbo, so he dives right in, only to end up in some sort of nightmarish church. And there's someone — or something — else in there with him. That, coupled with Mr. Martin's warning that there are "other" spirits in the school that "aren't like us," should give you several reasons to worry.

Other early Season 3 developments include Wally and Maddie navigating a new, touch-free dynamic;  Yuri discovering a living relative, leading to unexpected friction with Charlie; Quinn opening up about their gender identity, growing closer to Rhonda in the process; and the discovery that Split River's new superintendent (Jennifer Tilly) intends to bulldoze the school... but why?

Below, TVLine speaks with the show's stars — Peyton List (Maddie), Milo Manheim (Wally), Nick Pugliese (Charlie), Sarah Yarkin (Rhonda), Kiara Pichardo (Nicole), Rainbow Wedell (Claire), Miles Elliot (Yuri), Ci Hang Ma (Quinn), and Josh Zuckerman (Mr. Martin) — about some of the most pivotal moments in these first three episodes, and what we can expect from the rest of the season. When you're finished, grade the premiere in our poll, then drop a comment with your thoughts.

"School Spirits" ended its second season on multiple cliffhangers, beginning with Wally potentially crossing over into the afterlife. Were we really worried that Milo Manheim would leave the show? Absolutely not. Still, we were relieved to see Wally turn back and return to the school in Season 3. It was a difficult decision for him to make, but it's one that Manheim fully stands by.

"I trusted the [show's] creators, that their headspace would be in the same place mine was, which is that Wally isn't ready to disappear," Manheim tells TVLine. "He needs to say goodbye first. He also finds very quickly that there's a lot of unfinished business to attend to, regarding Simon and Maddie. I keep thinking about the scene in Season 1 that Wally had with Charlie, where he says he doesn't want to just disappear, you know? He'd want to have a proper goodbye. The afterlife may think he's ready to cross over, but I don't think he's ready for it."

And it's a good thing Wally is sticking around, because Manheim says his character is about to embark on a "whole new self-discovery journey, which is crazy because he already learned so much about himself last season, but [he'll learn more] in a completely new way this season."

Maddie is also understandably relieved that Wally decided to remain in limbo, but there's a new wrinkle to their situation this season: while Maddie can still see ghosts, she can't touch them, which the couple discovers during a bittersweet reunion at school.

"I think there's something beautiful and tense about that scene, for that reason," Milo Manheim tells TVLine. "We were like a hair's length away from each other with our hands. Throughout the season, there are so many moments where not being able to touch adds so many different layers."

Maddie and Wally later meet on the football field for some alone time, where they face the difficulties of their new reality, ultimately deciding to stay together and push forward.

"I love that they both really respect the relationship and what's best," Manheim says. "They're not like, 'Let's just go full force with how deeply we're feeling for each other."

Adds Peyton List, "I loved that scene. We shot it during sunset, which was so beautiful, but we were losing light, so we were trying to [get it done quickly]. It was nice to have a normal moment between these two characters of just levity and joy, just being able to see each other."

Before she crosses over, Janet offers this chilling warning about Mr. Martin: "He's the most dangerous when he's desperate... and he's never been more desperate." And Josh Zuckerman doesn't disagree, because no one knows Mr. Martin like Janet.

"I think that's totally accurate," Zuckerman tells TVLine. "We left him in Season 2 at a very vulnerable moment, feeling kind of naked in front of everyone as he confesses to essentially being responsible for Janet and him dying. And then we start Season 3 with him stuck inside this scar, which is his own worst nightmare, and there are secrets within that scar that he hasn't wanted to explore, but they're going to make themselves known, regardless of what he wants. And then he reveals an even bigger confession to everyone in the beginning of the season that has huge ramifications for everyone's journey."

He's technically the villain, so we shouldn't be too sympathetic, but we have to wonder — is Mr. Martin OK? The answer, in short, is no. Here's a slightly longer answer:

"He really is grasping at his own sense of reality and trying to stay above water," Zuckerman says. "For someone who has held secrets to his chest for so long, to start to reveal one that is so shameful, and then to reveal another, I don't even know how he manages it. Maybe it's a testament to 'you really can't do anything alone.' When you're at your most desperate is when you need people the most. That's probably why he's willing to reveal these things, because he's so lost."

Because of his brush with death at the hospital, Xavier is now able to communicate with the spirits of the people who died there — including Maddie's father! With Xavier serving as the middle man, Maddie is finally able to communicate with her dad, healing some very deep wounds in the process.

"It's so poetic that he's the one who has this ability to help her mend the the trauma of losing her father, given that he is someone that caused her so much pain early on, I think it's really, really cool," Spencer MacPherson tells TVLine.

Of course, Maddie isn't the only person in need of Xavier's help this season. And now that his character has evolved into a full-blown hero, he'll be looking out for everyone.

"It's been awesome to see Xavier grow," MacPherson adds. "He has become someone who fights for his friends, so he's going to fight to help Maddie, and hopefully he'll find out what secrets lie at Red Pine General that might be able to help Simon."

When Charlie notices Yuri eyeing a cute (living) jock at school, he finds himself bit by the jealousy bug. But when Charlie finally confronts his pottery prince about what he saw, the truth is revealed, and it's insane. The reason Yuri was looking at him is because... he's Yuri's grandson!

"Oh my gosh, I remember reading that and being like, 'What?'" Miles Elliot tells TVLine. "I texted [showrunners Nate and Megan Trinrud] and they were like, 'We're going to explain it.' And it really does get explained in a beautiful way throughout the rest of the episodes. But gosh, I was shocked. And then I was scared because that's such a hard thing to play in a really realistic way. Yuri is 17, but he's not really 17, obviously, because he's been alive for so long, but he's in the 17-year-old's body. So to go through something that intense, as a 17-year-old, it's just a lot. So I was shocked, but I was excited to do it."

The good news is that Yuri wasn't checking out another guy behind Charlie's back, but the bad news is that the misunderstanding leads to a snowball of emotions from both spirits.

"What gets uncovered about Yuri's past does put their relationship to the test," Miles Elliot tells TVLine. "I think Charlie has to deal with his insecurities about being loved and his internalized self-hate, so he can believe that someone like Yuri could love him. And I think Yuri has to learn to let somebody in and allow someone to be there for him. It's unknown [territory] for both of them, and it creates a pretty big obstacle for them, but they love each other, so I hope they work through it."

Adds Nick Pugliese, "At the beginning, there's almost this imbalance of power. Yuri has seen so much of Charlie's traumas, but Charlie hasn't really seen any of of Yuri's. And Yuri hasn't even gone into a scar, so it's a little unfair, but they start to open up and they start to fight. It's how a real relationship goes, I think."

For the record, we don't actually consider this next one a "twist," as that would cheapen what was a beautifully thoughtful and very important moment for Quinn. Alas, it's too crucial not to mention. During their ongoing investigation into the bus crash, the spirits discover that Quinn's birth name is actually Jaclyn, which leads them to open up about their gender identity.

"It's really fulfilling as an actor to get to dive deep into something like this," Ci Hang Ma tells TVLine. "I'm also on a gender journey, so it was a true expression of myself and what I offer to this character. ... Quinn died in 2004 when there wasn't a lot known about [gender fluidity] or a whole lot of acceptance for it, especially for an Asian person in small-town Wisconsin.

As Hang Ma reminds us, "Quinn has only been awake for one or two weeks, and they're still sort of stuck in that time. They don't have the words to explain [being] non-binary or whatever this is. All they can do is express how they feel. They don't know how else to say it other than 'I changed my name because this is how it makes me feel.' It was interesting to explore that without having the language to do it."

There are quite a few new dynamics emerging in Season 3, but the one we're keeping the closest eye on is whatever's brewing between Rhonda and Quinn. If it's merely a friendship, we're OK with that; the two have multiple bonding moments in these first three episodes, having deep conversations about the process of finding your identity. But if the show does decide to go full couple with them, we're also very much on board. 

"They're so different, and I think it's funny, sometimes the people we are most drawn to are the most different from us," Sarah Yarkin tells TVLine. "There's a calmness to Quinn that Rhonda really likes and is interested in, and Quinn's not going push anything out of her, and, I think there's sort of this sweet friendship that emerges that's kind of unexpected. We don't see Rhonda connecting with most people, but this is a new person that she can start off fresh with, kind of reinvent herself, and push through these walls."

While the spirits handle things on the other side, the members of #TeamAlive are left to do their part in the land of the living. For Nicole, that means infiltrating a group of mean girls led by Livia ("not Liv, not Olivia, just Livia"), who also happens to be the daughter of Jennifer Tilly's villainous Dr. Hunter-Price. With an assist from Claire, who speaks fluent mean girl, Nicole becomes... Nicki.

"It was fun," Kiara Pichardo tells TVLine of Nicole's makeover scene. "I thought it was a super sweet moment for Claire and Nicole when she's giving her the pep talk and dressing her up, telling her how to go about it because she knows that world more than [Nicole] does. It was also so much fun to just be able to do a little physical comedy."

In real life, however, the roles are a bit reversed. "Kiara can do makeup a lot better than I can," Rainbow Wedell tells TVLine with a laugh. "She was teaching me how to put lip liner on her for that scene."