Having the opportunity to talk to actors is one thing. Getting to interview your favorite characters from a project you love is another. It’s even better when they’re proud of their work, happy to be a part of a special show like School Spirits, and understand the importance of what they’re doing. That’s where Sarah Yarkin (Rhonda) and Nick Pugliese (Charley) come in.
Before season 3 of School Spirits began, I was fortunate enough to speak to them about the direction of their characters and what they were proud of.
“In the previous two seasons, we’ve seen Charley work through a lot of persona trauma, and we (the characters) all have. We may have assumed that he’s gotten to the other end of it. And people are like, ‘Why isn’t he moving on?’ And I think this season we explore more of it, and we see how it’s not fully fleshed out, and he started to take it out on people around him. He makes some mistakes and has to make some apologies. I’m excited to show that side of him," Pugliese reflected of how Charley still has a lot of growth left.
As for Rhonda (my favorite character), Sarah Yarkin says that, by the end of the season, old Rhonda won’t believe how far she’s come as a person.
“I don’t think season 1 Rhonda would recognize where we end up with Rhonda in season 3. She feels like she gets to really push through these walls she’s built up for so many years and kind of see what it’s like to connect with someone and actually be vulnerable for one of the first times in a really long time.”
Yarkin furthers the character development by talking about trauma from Rhonda’s perspective and how School Spirits sheds light on how important it is to confront it.
“I think what the show does an amazing job of, in such a nuanced way, and metaphorically as well, is this idea that you can’t just forget trauma and put it away and try to forget it. You have to work through it. And I think in every season, the creators of the show, Megan and Nate Trinrud, have done such an amazing job of dealing with that in different ways."
“And I think Rhonda, for sixty years, has tried not to think about this. And you see that not serving her in season 1, and that continues to not serve her in season 2. And I think, as she continues to have to talk about it, and has to go back to that place, you see her forced to reckon with this. And learn not blame herself in this journey that she has with this," she continued talking about Rhonda not dealing with her past,
One of the great things about School Spirits is the conversations that are had about how people from the LGBTQ+ community were treated throughout the years.
“I think what’s really important, also, to recognize is that it’s not easy, still, today in most places. And so, people might be streaming this show in a neighborhood or a city or a town or country where it’s not ‘normal’ or as easily accepted or digestible," Pugliese noted, touching on an amazing point of what the show does. "So I think seeing a character who has identified with that struggle, but nobody around him is attaching that to him. He’s not this struggle of coming out, this struggle of homophobia. It’s just inconsequential for everybody else except for him because he was the one who went through it.
"And I think for the people living in more accepting areas, it’s a reminder that, ‘Oh, it hasn’t always been this easy.’ And people did have to struggle and pave a way to get easier, and there’s always work to do."Nick Pugliese
"I think that it’s so exciting that we’re on a show that celebrates that," Yarkin echoed. "When I was younger, I don’t think that there were shows with queer characters where that was a normal thing. And we get a lot of messages cheering on Quinn and Rhonda, and Charley and Yuri, and it’s unbelievable that there are these examples right now. And I want to make more work like that.”