Van Heydt possesses Maddie’s mother

Spoiler Alert: This story contains spoilers for the season finale of “School Spirits,” now streaming on Paramount+.

The ghosts of Split River High have finally found their way out. It wasn’t what they were waiting for.

The Season 3 finale of Paramount+’s supernatural drama ends not with the long-promised crossroads, but with a doorway into something even stranger and scarier. It’s a vast forest full of mirrors that Dawn (Rayanne Boone) has been stuck in since she “traversed” in season 1, and which turns out to be where Janet (Jess Garber) has been since the beginning of this season. When Wally (Milo Manheim) finally walks through the Scar Door, Maddie (Peyton List) follows, and the two are reunited in a place neither of them understand. There are rules in the forest. When you look into the mirror, you are trapped. It becomes a brutal new obstacle on what will become a very long journey.

Just when a breakthrough feels within reach, the ground shifts. “School Spirits” executive producer Nate Trinrad said: “We never thought that one epiphany could lead to fixing you. The door always does. These characters have made breakthroughs, but that doesn’t mean the journey is over.” Eventually, as Simon begins to forget himself, Maddie’s father Mr. Anderson (Patrick Gilmore) drags her and Simon (Christian Ventura) out of the woods. Maddy leaves Wally behind again.

Back on the Split River, the situation is similarly chaotic. Kyle (Ali Dalbert) retrieves the body from Van Hite, who immediately dives into the superintendent and attempts to burn down the campus. A ghost prevents it. When the smoke clears, the barriers that have kept them on campus for decades will disappear. The whereabouts of Mr. Martin (Josh Zuckerman) remain unknown. And the finale delivers the final shock. Van Heydt escapes from the burning building and is now inside Maddie’s mother.

In Season 4, if “School Spirits” is renewed, the Ghosts of Split River will be free to roam the advanced world without them, but Wally, Dawn, Janet, and Mr. Anderson will remain stranded in whatever that forest actually is.

Below, executive producers Megan Trinrad, Nate Trinrad, and Oliver Goldstick break down the season’s biggest shake-ups, the mythology behind Scardoor, and what’s in store for our favorite “School Spirit.”

Season 3 leans more towards horror than the first two seasons. How did that creative change come about?

Oliver Goldstick: People kept asking the obvious questions: Why did so many children die on this campus? Is there something unclean or cursed about this place? The graphic novel has always wanted to explore their origins, and season 3 gave us a platform to go back in time and answer what happened here. We wanted the audience to go on that journey with the ghosts, and we all went in feeling scared and not knowing what we’d find.

Megan Trinrud: We’ve always played slightly different genres each season. Season 1 was a full-on crime/murder mystery, while Season 2 was more sci-fi and supernatural. In Season 3, we thought, what about horror? We have ghosts, but we’ve always played something very down to earth. The interesting idea was to put them in the genre that ghosts commonly belong to, but make them scary.

So many threads from Season 1 (Ralph, Split River history) pay off in this season. Was that always planned?

Nate Trinrud: Most were pregnant from the beginning. The eight episodes are a special kind of story, with particularly intricate intertwining narratives. We often had ideas from the writers’ room in Season 1 that didn’t make it into the show: thoughts, feelings, characters. Kyle appeared early in season two. So we’ve laid the groundwork in our heads about what parts the elements will affect.

Megan Trinrud: Ultimately, we wanted to get to this place where the big question is, what’s wrong with the Split River? We planted small sections of it as we went along.

Scar Doors don’t lead to a traverse, they lead to a forest. What is that place?

Megan Trinrud: We’ve always agreed that we don’t want to define what life after death is. I don’t know, so I’d like to leave it open. But we felt that finding closure and peace needed stages. The next level is where the characters are leveling up. New challenges, new kinds of afterlife need to be understood.

Nate Trinrud: These are big themes – dealing with trauma, healing grief. We never thought that a single flash of inspiration would solve the problem. Just because you’ve solved one problem doesn’t mean your work is done. The door is always like that. The characters have made a breakthrough and gained access to move forward, but the journey is far from over.

Oliver Goldstick: The whole season showed Maddie straddling two worlds. Now we’re pushing her up to third. Will she be able to come back? Will she get stuck? This makes us want to leave a question mark on everything going forward.

We learn that Dawn has been in this forest since season one. She never actually went beyond the forest. Is this third world a step forward or a step backwards for characters like her?

Oliver Goldstick: We saw her scars. We didn’t see her go through it. This is the only question regarding purgatory. Is this a waiting area until you reach your next destination? Or is this a place where you have to sort out all the things that need answers before you can find peace? It is not clearly defined. All we know is that it might be on the other side of the door.

Nate Trinrud: Sometimes a clear answer just raises more questions. That’s part of the fun of mysteries, but it’s also part of the fun of looking inside. It can be very frustrating, but that’s part of the journey.

This season, we learn that Wally never wanted to leave, and Quinn and Rhonda find something meaningful together. Is crossing borders still the ultimate goal for these characters?

Megan Trinrud: I think they’re asking themselves that. That weighs heavily on them.

Nate Trinrud: We saw with Janet and Wally that you have to make a choice to open the door. There is an aspect of choice and it doesn’t just magically happen. Because we all have to choose whether we want to move forward or leave things behind. There are many things that need to change in order to grow. That’s the conflict we’re really giving them: Do they want to stay where they are, or do they want to move forward?

Mr. Martin goes through a process of redemption this season and disappears completely. Should viewers trust him? where did he go?

Nate Trinrud: That’s for the audience to decide. We’re trying to write three-dimensional characters who aren’t perfect, who have failed, who are trying to find redemption. You can choose whether to forgive him or not. Quinn’s forgiveness of him at the beginning of the season was profound. Other characters may not have gotten there yet. You have to listen to where he is.

Oliver Goldstick: Megan and I always felt like no one was the bad guy. This person has a past and is ultimately looking for some type of healing. He just did it in a very misguided way.

This season, Simon is trapped in a world of ghosts. How does Simon’s experience there compare to what Maddie experienced, and what kind of person will come back?

Megan Trinrud: There’s a similarity in that neither of them are really dead forever. But they are very different. Maddie’s body was out all over the world while she was gone. Simon was in a space with his body that he wasn’t supposed to be in. His healing process will be very different from hers. And she didn’t really have it – she just stormed straight out. They have a lot in common, but they’re also just different people, and that’s going to show.

Nate Trinrud: Death changes you – whether it’s someone you know or, in our story, you. Both Simon and White Eye were deeply hurt by the loss, to the point that they lost themselves trying to repair it. Going to the ghost world and coming back has already changed Maddy. Of course Simon changes too. I’m really looking forward to seeing it all.

Oliver Goldstick: There’s a moment in episode 7 where Mr. Anderson says to Maddie that he doesn’t talk about that era anymore, that he doesn’t fully understand it. The idea is that most people won’t understand it anyway, so what’s the point in bringing it up? Only a select few were there. Simon now has that in common with Maddie.

The barrier that keeps the ghosts on campus disappears in the finale. What will that freedom actually mean for them in a potential Season 4?

Megan Trillund: What I find really interesting is being trapped somewhere for a long time and then being released into the world, and for the first time you realize how difficult it is to exist in that huge space again. The world has changed. Split River schools are very small environments. What you’ll find there will be very different and I think you’ll be really shocked. Also, there is something very real about imagining. If you could only talk to that person, you would tell them everything. And when given the chance, suddenly it becomes the last thing you want to do.

Oliver Goldstick: They may be interacting with people they haven’t seen in 40 or 50 years. Charlie alludes to his brother. We talked about Wally’s sister, an adult woman in her fifties, selling off his belongings. These ideas didn’t make it into this season, but they might make it into next season.

Nate Trinrud: And the real question is how does that freedom help them heal? They all have histories waiting beyond the school’s boundaries.

Maddie and Wally are reunited in the finale, but she has to leave him behind in the woods. Is there a version that would be a happy outcome for them?

Nate Trinrud: I can’t give you any spoilers. What we can say is that we all believe that when you die, a person never leaves you. Whether it’s through memory or the way we keep people alive in our own ways or literally. It’s a lot to understand what it means to lose someone and how much time you have to go to to get them back, whether it’s health or not. When is the right time to fight for something instead of letting it go? I can’t say there’s a perfect answer. Because there isn’t.

Oliver Goldstick: In Season 1, he’s someone Maddie would never have talked to if they went to high school together. They would spend four years without saying a word to each other. This journey was very unexpected. The most unlikely person becomes the love of your life. That’s what it means to jump into the unknown. I don’t know where I’m going. Your heart must be open.

The finale ends with Van Heydt inside Maddie’s mother. Xavier’s story this season also revolves around Maddie’s relationship with his mother. How will these threads be connected in the future?

Nate Trinrad: In Season 1, we learn that Maddie is like this because of her mother. This is the moment her mother broke her spirit. We’ve been following this idea. What does it mean to fight to save the soul of someone who took their own life? It can be really confusing and distressing for someone dealing with a parent with addiction issues. What does it mean to try to save someone who hurt you, and how does it heal you?

Megan Trillund: It’s relentless for Maddie. But she’s not alone anymore. Xavier, Claire, Nicole, and the ghosts. She allowed herself to be open and vulnerable and said, “I need you, I can’t do this alone.” She is surrounded by people who love her. No matter what is thrown at her, it makes her infinitely stronger.

Oliver Goldstick: Xavier is a really important stepping stone into all of that. Trust issues are really difficult when you are the child of an alcoholic. The fact that Maddie was able to slowly bring Xavier back together over time actually helps her relationship with her mother and helps her regain the honesty she reached with her mother in episode 7 of this season. It also means that people can change.

This interview has been edited and condensed.