Ghosts is turning the spotlight on Hetty.
On Thursday's episode, "The Vault," the ghost of Hetty's husband, Elias (guest star Matt Walsh), pays an unexpected visit when he's released from an impenetrable vault at Woodstone Mansion, wreaking havoc on her plans.
"Hetty is shocked and amazed and horrified to find that there is, not only a room in the house that she is not aware of, but that it is impenetrable to ghosts and it contains her dead philandering, robber baron husband," Ghosts star Rebecca Wisocky told ET. "I think Hetty has taken little tiny baby steps towards female empowerment over the last hundred or so years. But she's shocked to realize just how much she's changed when confronted with the gaze and the opinion of her judgmental husband. And she gathers the strength to finally stand up to him, which she never had the courage to do in life, and with rather explosive results."
Ahead of Thursday's episode, the actress opens up about Ghosts' growing fanbase, Hetty's fraught reunion with her late dead husband, her favorite episodes so far (hint: Hetty's possession of Jay is up there!) and her feelings on a season 2 pickup.
ET: It's an interesting group of characters, but somehow they all completely work together and complement each other. Did you feel that kind of immediacy in the scripts and on set?
Rebecca Wisocky: Yes, and with the casting. Liz Barnes and Tannis Vallely are the casting directors and they just hit the nail on the head. Each one of these characters are very clear archetypes of these periods in American history and we all bump up against each other in these very idiosyncratic, specific, defined ways. It feels like an old school ensemble comedy, which you don't get to do very often. Certainly not on television. And those big group scenes are crazy and they're so much fun. That's a testament to our directors, our writers and the way in which Liz and Tannis cast the show.
Your character, Hetty, stands out. She's so defined and singular with your performance. What was your approach in figuring out how to play her?
I love playing her, I love her so much. There's so many ways in which she is hypocritical. You think of her as living in a time in which she was repressed and constrained and had this very overbearing husband, but she was guilty of a lot of flawed ways of thinking as well. And she, along with all the rest of the ghosts, will slowly start to change and soften and there's a real musicality with the way I see this character being written and that I've enjoyed playing. And the costume certainly helps a lot. I like to say of her that she is a woman of leisure who is doomed to be uncomfortable at all times. And that says a lot about her. It says a lot about that period of history for women and it says a lot about the physical restraints that I, as an actor, am dealing with, wearing a corset and big skirts and a bustle. That helps me get into character very, very much.
Tonight's episode is a pretty significant one for Hetty. What can you preview?
Hetty is shocked and amazed and horrified to find that there is, not only a room in the house that she is not aware of, but that it is impenetrable to ghosts and it contains her dead philandering, robber baron husband. I think Hetty has taken little tiny baby steps towards female empowerment over the last hundred or so years. But she's shocked to realize just how much she's changed when confronted with the gaze and the opinion of her judgmental husband. And she gathers the strength to finally stand up to him, which she never had the courage to do in life, and with rather explosive results.
What can you tease in terms of their reunion? Are sparks going to fly?
Something that's very interesting and blew all of our minds when we first read the script is that something happens in this episode that changes the world of possibility for ghosts forever. And it's a pretty extraordinary turn of events.
You're also working with Matt Walsh, who is amazingly funny as Hetty's husband. What was your working relationship like?
Again, so perfectly cast. One of the things that's been so great about this show being received so well is that there's incredibly talented comedians that have been excited to come and play with us. Rob Huebel coming up in a couple weeks, Betsy Sodaro we've had for a couple episodes, Rachael Harris and [to]night's episode, obviously, is Matt Walsh. It's such a defined, horrible character that gets played with such subtlety by Matt. I was very, very excited to hear that he was going to come and play my husband/first cousin. Particularly enjoyable and horrible that we kind of do look like we could be related.
Do you have a favorite episode that stands out so far from the season? I still love when Hetty possesses Jay. That episode really stays in my brain.
I'm a fan of all of them, even the few that I was not in. I'll mention the few that seem to pave the way for Hetty to make real change in her point of view. I think it begins with Alberta showing her that women might have actually, the capacity and responsibility to vote. That happens in the "Viking Funeral" episode. There's the lovely exchange with Thorfinn in "Alberta's Fan," in which Hetty realized that the only true person to ever really care for her and be generous with her was a ghost -- the ghost of a dead Viking at that. And then, of course, the possession episode where -- huge shout-out to Utkarsh [Ambudkar], who played and channeled a dead, fancy, Gilded Age lady so, so, so, so well. There were things that we were able to reveal about Hetty and her sense of loss that we couldn't have done with me just standing there delivering a monologue about it. It was so beautifully constructed and played so wonderfully. That episode made me very happy. And of course, it brings Hetty closer together to Samantha and that lovely mother-daughter relationship that's forming.
Is there anything coming up that you're really excited for fans to keep an eye out for or that you're personally excited for?
Well, the one thing coming to my mind for sure is you'll see a deeper friendship develop between Hetty and Isaac. They'll have some interesting things to do together that are fun and heartbreaking and very, very funny. I love Brandon Scott Jones so much, so I love any chance to get to work with him more. Also, everyone's been clamoring to know whether we'll find out about Trevor's pants.
It's a big mystery for all of us. It's mythology now at this point.
Yes. So you will 100 percent find out how, where, when and why Trevor lost his pants. I'll tease this, there is an ancestor of mine that was in the room when it happened.
How are you feeling about getting a season 2 pickup? Are you confident?
We would all be delighted. We have no actual gossip to share at this point, but if people keep tuning in and the numbers that they have been, I think that makes a pretty sound case for CBS to continue telling the Ghosts story. There are so many more stories that we can tell and that we're dying to tell, so I really do hope we get the chance.
Is there anything you would like to explore if there was another season, anything that's on your personal wishlist?
The flashbacks are always a lot of fun. I would love to meet Hetty's children in that time period. I have a fantasy of Rose [McIver] playing young Hetty. A very young Hetty way, way, way back when. I'm not saying that's going to happen, but wouldn't that be fun?
I would not put it past the show to do something like that. That seems like inspired casting actually.
To see more of how the house was built. My character and her sense of legacy and purpose and value is so deeply connected to Woodstone Mansion, for better and for worse, that I would love to tell more stories about the house itself.
Ghosts airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. For more, watch below.
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