Right now, McIver is actively filming Season 2 of Ghosts, which is based on the British show of the same name. According to the actor, the roadmap for both shows is the same, with the same premise and some of the same characters. However, any opportunities they had to ground in their own truths and ideas would just help creative ownership over the characters.
“I’ve watched the first few episodes of the original British series. At some point I’m going to dive in and finish it, but I really wanted to have some good momentum going with what we were creating, without feeling like we were just trying to do an imitation. I’m a huge fan of the first few that I’ve seen, but I just didn’t want to psych myself out too much by watching Charlotte [Ritchie] absolutely nail the performance the way she does. I wanted to build my own thing,” said McIver.
When it came to making the character her own and differentiating Sam from the original series’ Alison (Ritchie), McIver said that she doesn’t think of it as becoming somebody else. For her, that adds an extra layer of work she doesn’t feel she needs. Instead, McIver likes to strip away what doesn’t serve Sam in Rose. Such as identifying with Sam’s need to be a people pleaser.
“I’ll come to the character and be like, ‘Which parts of Rose really resonate with Sam? What can I kind of hone in on in myself that feels like her?’”
One way that Sam and Allison differ is that Sam has a whole episode focused on her mom, who has become a ghost herself. McIver approached shooting that with the mind frame that Sam, whose always wrapped up in fixing everybody else problems, hasn’t been able to make peace with the dynamic she had with her mother. This is why Sam having Jay is so vital for her.
“I think she has found this incredible rock in Jay, who is so deeply supportive. We always talk about how if the ghosts each have a superpower, Jay’s superpower as a ghost would just be just unconditional love. He stays with her despite — I mean, we know what the premise of this show is. It’s outrageous that he just sticks around, really. And I think she knows that, and he’s probably been the key to her being able to develop trust and intimate and meaningful relationships in her life, and very much a key for how she relates to the ghosts as well.”
“[ Ghosts ] has made me process some things for myself on a deeper level, and I really hope it does that for the audience as well. We’ve had some pretty amazing interactions with fans. Conversations about mortality or things that you don’t expect to come up in a half-hour sitcom have really been provoked through the show that I get to be a part of. It’s been a huge gift. I’m just very grateful that we get to come back and make more of it.”
