Supernatural high school drama series “School Spirits” released its third season on Paramount+ over the last few months. The season premiered on January 28 with three episodes, and the rest of the episodes dropped weekly until the finale on March 4.
The show, starring Peyton List and Milo Manheim and first premiering in 2023, follows Maddie Nears (List) as she uncovers deadly secrets about her high school, Split River High. In the first season, she wakes up in the “ghost world” after dying in school, and meets fellow ghosts who have also died there. The mystery about who killed her spirals into intense drama as secrets get unearthed and the boundary between alive and dead gets crossed time and time again. With added elements of possession, “scars” that hold onto trauma, nagging parents and normal small town problems, the show is guaranteed to never be boring.
The end of the second season, released in early 2025, left audiences waiting for more after a huge cliffhanger, and this third season delivered.
The boundary between worlds gets even blurrier as Maddie rejoins the land of the living after her body was possessed in season two, and her best friend Simon (Kristian Ventura) – still alive – is thrust into the ghost world. While figuring out the secrets and inner-workings of the ghost world would be hard enough, it is made even more difficult by the politics of their small town. Corrupt members of the school board and community have an agenda to destroy the school entirely, which would leave the ghosts that inhabit the school to questionable futures.
The added setting of the ghost world in the local hospital, discovered by Maddie’s friend Xavier (Spencer MacPherson), works as a tool for getting answers as the high school ghosts try to find out why they’re stuck there and how to leave.
The concept of “crossing over” through doors in the ghosts’ scars, introduced in the first two seasons, is built on and made more clear – to a certain extent. Without giving away what’s beyond the doors and who gets to see it, the other side presents even more challenges for the characters to navigate.
The season keeps the viewer on the edge of their seat the entire time, offering very few escapes from the constant drama and plot twists. It veers from supernatural into horror at times, creating a new and interesting viewing experience.
List, currently playing Heather Chandler in the Off-Broadway show “Heathers: The Musical” in New York City, delivers an emotional and convincing performance as her character faces all sorts of hardships.
The season ends on another huge cliffhanger that sets itself up perfectly for a season four that would explore the aforementioned third world beyond the doors, the effects of a massive boundary shift at the conclusion of the season and even more possession.
The show has not yet been approved for a fourth season, but the underrated, well-written series definitely deserves it.
Junior Emily Myers is a Copy Editor. Her email is emyers3@fandm.edu.