Posted in: Paramount+, TV | Tagged: Nick Pugliese, sarah yarkin, School Spirits

School Spirits S03: Pugliese, Yarkin on Charley/Rhonda Growth & More

Paramount+'s School Spirits' Nick Pugliese and Sarah Yarkin discuss filming the third season, what's ahead for Charley and Rhonda, and more.

School Spirits stars Nick Pugliese (Dramarama) and Sarah Yarkin (Platonic) will forever be grateful to their ensemble family for casting them as Charley and Rhonda in the Paramount+ supernatural series. Charley became Maddie Means' (Peyton List) first friend in the afterlife and helped her solve the mystery surrounding her death. Joining them is Rhonda, who was stuck the longest in the group, having died in the 1960s. As spirits, they're bound to the campus of Split River High School along with a mix of other spirits and the living, with only Simon (Kristian Ventura), a living student, to act as their medium to communicate with. Stakes will be raised when we see Maddie jump back into her body at the end of season two of the Megan and Nate Trinrud-created series, and what will happen to her future among the living and the dead. Pugliese and Yarkin spoke to Bleeding Cool about how they grew as actors and as their characters in season three, how their time on the series affected their outlook on life, and what we can look forward to from Charley and Rhonda.

School Spirits Stars Nick Pugliese and Sarah Yarkin on Charley and Rhonda Deepening Their Relationships

Nick, Sarah, how do you feel you've grown as Charley and Rhonda since season one? Was there anything you've done to change how you approach this season?

Yarkin: I was thinking about this the other day. We booked the show in 2022. I've known you guys and (my character) Rhonda longer than a lot of other people in my life. Like, it's a really long relationship. I feel like I'm getting to know Rhonda, and I'm growing in my own personal life, and I come back to play her every year. It infuses into her in this weird way, so looking back at season one, I'm like, "I was an infant. I was like a baby child. I've never seen the world before, and then each season I'm a little older. I'm at this place in my life, and that inevitably bleeds into creating the character."

Pugliese: Yeah, it's so interesting, on the page, I know exactly how Charley's going to say anything, and I think you feel that way about Rhonda. I know how Charley would deliver this, and then there are certain things that start to happen where they bleed into each other, but I'm not sure which one is bleeding into which. I'm like, "Well, am I thinking this way because like Charley's having this moment, or do I get this well because I actually had this experience?"

Yarkin: Totally. Yeah, I've been told I'm being more and more like Rhonda, which I don't know if is a good or a bad thing

Pugliese: Who's telling you that?

Yarkin: Nicole. My girlfriend told me that [Pugliese laughs].

Has being on the show changed your outlook on life or your spiritual outlook?

Pugliese: Not really?

Yarkin: I think we both struggle with our beliefs about an afterlife.

Pugliese: Being definitive.

Yarkin: Yeah, but it definitely makes me think about it, and when I hear stories, I'm like, "Oh well, that's crazy."

Pugliese: I think I'm more interested in hearing people's ghost stories or paranormal stories. I'm like, "Oh, I want to hear about it," but I don't know if it's changed my personal outlook. If anything, maybe it's made me be more like, "Oh, okay, well, I'll welcome it with open arms whenever it comes in 100 years.

Yarkin: Nick?!

Pugliese: I don't know, not really, don't kill me.

Yarkin: That's horrible.

Pugliese: Sorry.

What's the most exciting thing about exploring your character arcs this season?

Yarkin: I think we get to see Rhonda in unexpected situations that some people might like. We get to see her connect, be vulnerable, and maybe forge connections in a deeper way.

Pugliese: That's good.

Yarkin: Thank you.

Pugliese: I think we get to see Charley make some mistakes and not be just the sweet boy that we've all come to know him as, which was fun to play. It felt fun to be a little bit off the rails.

Yarkin: Crazy. Charley goes crazy.

Additionally, what do you like about working with Miles [Elliot] and developing that chemistry for Charley and Yuri?

Pugliese: Miles is the best. It's so much fun, us together is ridiculous, and I'm so comfortable with him. Anything the characters must do, I trust him, and it's just easy.

What's it been like sharing this three-season journey with Peyton, Kristian [Ventura], Spencer [MacPherson], Milo [Manheim], Kiara [Pichardo], Rainbow [Wedell], and everyone in the cast?

Yarkin: It's hard, because I'm not going to say they're like my siblings, but they're more like cousins that I see a lot every summer.

Pugliese: Yeah.

Yarkin: We go to a family reunion every summer, you're growing together, and you're in and out of relationships. You hear about them, and it's amazing. It feels like some of us live in the same cities, some don't, and we sometimes don't get to see each other, but it's cool to come back and be like, "Oh, that's my brother."

Pugliese: Yeah, and more to your point, we've "grown up together" in a way. I can't even imagine the shows that have gone on for 10 or 20 years, how they must feel, but I mean seeing us in our early to mid-20s, and now it's like some people are married, some people. It's just…

Yarkin: Babies.

Pugliese: Who has babies…oh, yeah [laughs].

Yarkin: Me…Josh. Yeah, season one, everyone's single, and then season three, everyone's like…

Pugliese: We all have children.

Yarkin: Essentially.

Pugliese: It's nice, it's special.

Season three of School Spirits, which also stars Jennifer Tilly and Josh Zuckerman, premieres with its first three episodes on January 28th on Paramount+, with new episodes on Wednesdays through March 4th.

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