What to Watch—and What You Missed on School Spirits
By Elizabeth Paige Richardson | January 21, 2026 | Best TV Shows of the Week, Celebrity & Culture
Nowadays, there are more hours of television than ever before—from prestige dramas to our favorite guilty-pleasure comedies—to sit back and binge. How is a diva supposed to keep track of who-kissed-who or which recurring characters bid goodbye last season? Not to worry, we’ve got all the facts right here to refresh your memory before the latest premieres hit streaming. Spoiler warning for newbies.
School Spirits (Seasons 1 & 2) Catch Up
What did we learn last season?
Season 1 had Maddie (Peyton List) struggle to come to terms with her new reality as a ghost, seemingly stuck on the grounds of Split River High forever with other students who died at the school until they can “cross over.” She struggles to embrace her new group of undead friends, including Wally (Milo Manheim), Rhonda (Sarah Yarkin), and Charley (Nick Pugliese).
On the side of the living, her friends Simon (Kristian Ventura) and Nicole (Kiara Pichardo) were getting their hands dirty while trying to piece together what happened to Maddie, who seemingly vanished without a trace. Connecting between realms revealed a killer secret: Maddie’s body was out on the run under the control of a soul that is not her own.
Season 2 kicked the stakes up another notch, with the seemingly supportive Mr. Martin (Josh Zuckerman) exposed as actually using the students to get back to Janet (Jess Gabor), the spirit in Maddie’s body. The veil thinned out enough that Xavier (Spencer MacPherson), Maddie’s former boyfriend, discovered a shocking family secret when he had a chance encounter with the spirit of Maddie’s father in the hospital.
Although Maddie is eventually made whole again in body and soul, not all is set right, as Simon is trapped in the afterlife. But with more living characters able to see and believe that spirits are real, there’s no doubt that Maddie will be fighting to set things back to normal (at least, as normal as things can be in Split River).
Who’s coming back in season 3?
Our day-one favorites are reprising their haunting roles at Split River, including stars Peyton List, Milo Manheim, Kristian Ventura, Rainbow Wedell, Spencer MacPherson, Kiara Pichardo, Sarah Yarkin, Nick Pugliese, and Josh Zuckerman.
There are a couple of guest stars set to be new fixtures this season, including Jennifer Tilly as Dr. Hunter-Price, Ari Dalbert as Kyle, and Erika Swayze as Livia.
What are we excited about this season?
Season 2 left us with a lot of nail-biting cliffhangers. There’s no telling what Maddie’s next move is going to be as she and Simon deal with their sudden role reversal, but either way, we’re rooting for them to one day be on the same side of the veil again. And we’re dying to know just what Wally decided to do about crossing over when he saw the glowing light at the end of season 2.
One thing we know for sure: these students may be stuck in the afterlife, but things are about to get a lot more dangerous for the dead and the living.
And now that you’re up to speed on the latest details, catch School Spirits season 3, streaming on Paramount+ on January 28.
