Summary

Welcome to a new episode of Collider Ladies Night with Ghosts star Sheila Carrasco.

During her Ladies Night conversation with Collider’s Perri Nemiroff, Carrasco revisited her road to the hit CBS series, and scoring her big break at 38.

She also discusses what it was like becoming a mother during the making of Ghosts Season 3, and digs into all of Flower’s biggest moments in Season 4.

After many short and sweet group interviews, the time has finally come for a lengthy one-on-one sit-down with Ghosts star Sheila Carrasco. During our Collider Ladies Night conversation, Carrasco revisited working with D’Arcy Carden on The Good Place and also dug into a number of Flower’s standout moments in Ghosts Season 4, but this particular piece puts the spotlight on a point in Carrasco’s journey when work and life overlapped in one of the most important and beautiful ways. While on Ladies Night, Carrasco detailed what it was like becoming a mother while being a series regular on a hugely popular and fast-moving show.
Ghosts Season 2 ended with an epic cliffhanger. On May 11, 2023, “The Heir” concluded with a beam of light bursting out of Woodstone Manor, which indicated that a ghost had been sucked off. But who? When Ghosts Season 3 began in February of 2024, all signs pointed to Flower given she was missing. However, after seven episodes without Carrasco, the truth was revealed. In one of the very best episodes of Ghosts thus far, “Holes Are Bad,” we learn that Flower’s absence was due to her being stuck in a well and that it was actually a cholera ghost who moved on at the end of Season 2.
It’s brilliant writing. Not only does Flower’s situation tee up one of the most profound and emotional reveals of the series, the truth of Hetty’s death, but it also gave Carrasco the opportunity to prioritize becoming a new mom while leaving the door wide open for her to return to the show on her own terms. And team Ghosts didn’t stop there. Carrasco noted, “I’ve never felt more supported. It was incredible.”
The Showrunners Didn’t Know Who Was Sucked Off at the End of Season 2

“I was able to tell the Joes, ‘I’m pregnant.’ And that was right around the time they were trying to figure out who got sucked off.”

While one might assume Ghosts showrunners Joe Port and Joe Wiseman had everything figured out when they wrapped Season 2 with that cliffhanger, it turns out, the duo and their writing team didn’t know exactly who was sucked off at that point. Carrasco walked me through the timeline:

“We had the strike, the actors strike. That started when I was three months pregnant. So at the beginning of that strike, when the writers room was supposed to go back in session, I was able to tell the Joes, ‘I’m pregnant.’ And that was right around the time they were trying to figure out who got sucked off at the end of Season 2.”

Carrasco admitted, “I wasn’t even thinking about the sucked off part, necessarily. I was pitching, ‘Maybe I possess a weird object in the house for a few episodes.’” She continued, “And then the solution they had was so brilliant for me, for my maternity leave.”
All the Power Was Placed in Carrasco’s Hands

“Everything was truly my decision.”

Not only did the plot point serve the Ghosts narrative, but it also gave Carrasco flexibility when deciding when to return.

“I had my baby the week before they went back into production for Season 3. And we shoot in Montreal, so it wasn’t like it was just down the street, so there was no way I was gonna be working for a while. They were like, ‘Well, timing-wise, it’s gonna be at least six, seven episodes,’ and, of course, I’m like, ‘I’m gonna be right back there.’ They were like, ‘No, please take all the time you need. You don’t even have to come back this season.’ And I chose to, because I just couldn’t bear being away.”

When Carrasco returned to set, team Ghosts made sure she had everything she needed to live to the fullest in every respect.

“When I came back, my baby was like two and a half months old, but it was a safe time to fly with her, and production did everything from helping me set up the Airbnb I had rented with all the things that I had ordered, putting together the changing table and the crib so we could just land from the plane. That’s so much of the stress taken away.”

Image via CBS

Related

“A Huge Surprise”: ‘Ghosts’ Sheila Carrasco on Flower’s Backstory, Season 4’s “Terrifying” Finale, and Future Flashbacks

Carrasco also reveals her dream guest stars, what kind of episodes she wants more of, and her hopes to direct in the new seasons.

The support extended to Carrasco’s time on set in a multitude of ways, a big one being how the costumes department adjusted her wardrobe. She explained:

“Costumes had made my top completely snapped down, and that’s a really complicated top to re-figure because it’s all crocheted, so that I could pump or breastfeed when I needed to, and then I could take my pumping breaks when I needed to. When you’re that early in postpartum, a lot of that can be really overwhelming. It’s overwhelming no matter what, but they were so supportive in giving me the space and the time I needed.”

Carrasco went on to emphasize:

“Everything was truly my decision. When I came back to work, how I came back to work. And then the fact that they were able to write it so well into the script that no one even knew why I was gone and that it was for that reason, it just made sense story-wise, so that was all fantastic.”

Other Sets Should Take a Cue From ‘Ghosts’

“I’ve had guest stars come on and take a picture to be like, ‘Oh, this is like what I want for my kids.'”

Image via CBS

While progress has been made, film and television is still often considered an industry that isn’t as supportive of mothers and mothers-to-be as it should be. But clearly, that’s not the case with Ghosts. In fact, one would hope that Carrasco’s experience could serve as a blueprint for how other sets could support artists celebrating such a life milestone.

“I should mention that now we all have these small – well, not small – these dressing rooms that connect around our green room, and they’ve made my room into a little bit of a playroom/nursery room for all the other babies when they want to come hang out because I don’t work every day. Rose works every day, and I don’t really need that much space. So now we have this awesome play area and the babies come and they chill together, and I’m like, this could have never happened even 10 years ago, you know? And it should be a blueprint. I’ve had guest stars come on and take a picture to be like, ‘Oh, this is like what I want for my kids.'”

Looking for even more from Carrasco? Be sure to watch her full Collider Ladies Night interview in the video at the top of this article or listen to the conversation in podcast form below to learn all about her time studying directing, set design and acting at NYU and Harvard, what it was like having her big break at 38, how she feels about Flower’s unforgettable power plays in Ghosts Season 4, and what the future could hold for the character given Ghosts recently received a very well deserved double renewal.

Ghosts (US)

Release Date

October 7, 2021

Network

CBS

Directors

Christine Gernon, Jaime Eliezer Karas, Katie Locke O’Brien, Nick Wong, Jude Weng, Pete Chatmon, Richie Keen, Alex Hardcastle, Kimmy Gatewood, Matthew A. Cherry, Cortney Carrillo

Writers

Emily Schmidt, John Timothy, Lauren Bridges, Sophia Lear, Guy Endore-Kaiser, Rishi Chitkara, Julia Harter, Skander Halim, Zora Bikangaga

Rose McIver

Samantha Arondekar

Utkarsh Ambudkar

Jay Arondekar

Ghosts is available to stream on Paramount+.
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