This article contains spoilers for the March 6 2025 episode of “School Spirits”
In the last episodes of “School Spirits” Season 2, Janet (Jess Gabor), who was finally free of high school purgatory after hijacking Maddie (Peyton List)’s body, agreed to return to the school to swap places with Maddie, who’s been stuck in limbo ever since.
“Janet starts to finally empathize with Maddie by seeing her through her friends,” Gabor told TheWrap of how the conversation Simon (Kristian Flores) has with her changes her mind.
“When she’s in the cabin with all of Maddie’s friends, who clearly love Maddie enough to kidnap her, Janet doesn’t know what that’s like to have friends that have your back or what it’s like to trust somebody again,” said Gabor. “The person that she relied on most in this world, Mr. Martin (Josh Zuckerman), abused her and completely took advantage of her and her innocence.”
“She realizes what she’s doing is not the right way to do it and maybe there’s another way. Maybe there’s a second chance at a second life someplace else, but it can’t be through stealing Maddie’s body,” she added.
Gabor explained why, even when Janet unlocked her own exit and had the chance to cross over, she decided to stay in the school and how she finally took power over Mr. Martin, her controlling father, and her own scar (the place in the school where she died that contained all her trauma).
TheWrap: Why does she decide not to go through her exit in the end?
Jess Gabor: She’s a scientist. She wants answers. She wants to figure things out. Even though her door is open and she has accepted her trauma and has accepted what happened to her, that doesn’t mean that she can help everybody else get out as well.
She realizes that maybe there’s more to life than what she thought. Maybe it’s not all just black and white. She has to decide, “Am I in or am I out?” And she makes this really bold choice to go in the gray area and help these newfound friends figure out how they can get out too.
When she sees her father in the scar, what does that represent to her?
Her dad was always the person telling her who she wasn’t, who she couldn’t be. And the scars represent your biggest fear. It’s like all of your trauma in one room.
Walking into a room where her Dad is staring her down condescendingly, that rips her apart. She has to confront him in her head space: “You don’t get to tell me who I am. You don’t get to tell me I’m not a scientist. You don’t get to tell me I’m just a woman who’s going to be a housewife. You don’t get to do that. I get to determine my fate.” And so she gets to have that power back when.
It’s interesting to see her take control now that she can be honest with her fellow ghosts.
It might be the first time she has the power in a relationship. Even when she escapes the school in Maddie’s body, she’s not in power. She’s running away from something. She’s not running to something. Having friends who have your back, it does empower you as a person. And it empowered Janet and it made her more human.
Who knows what is waiting for her if she goes through the door? Does she believe it’s heaven?
I definitely thought about it while working on Janet. After 60 years in a so-called purgatory, and especially coming from her background that is extremely religious, I think she has some sort of faith.
And I also think she believes that she can go to heaven. So in the boat when Mr. Martin tells her, “How do you know where you’re going to go?” it’s so manipulative, because he knows how deep that trauma runs in her.
She does have to grapple with that, whether she likes it or not. It’s something that all the ghosts in the series have to grapple with: What is out there? If this is purgatory, is there something else?
It was never clear, but was there a romantic relationship between Mr. Martin and Janet?
It was a one-sided relationship. I don’t think Janet’s a romantic person, to say the least. I don’t think that she’s dreaming of kissing him, but she has an infatuation with him, and that she has a deep love for him and a yearning for him. He saw her as a mentee, but she saw him as an idol. I hope we get to explore that in Season 3, if the creators decide that that’s a place that we want to go.
When he pulls her back into this red room and he’s having his mental breakdown, she’s surrounded by all the people that now believe her and not him, and she’s never had that before. She’s taking her power back. Her not going through that door is her taking her power back. “You don’t get to decide when I choose my afterlife.”
Season 2 of “School Spirits” is now streaming on Paramount+
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