Spencer Macpherson On Curse Of The Pond In The Way Home and Near Death Experiences In School Spirits
Spencer Macpherson is starting the year off strong with TWO shows airing at once! His character Jacob is struggling with life in modern day after growing up in the 1800s in The Way Home season 3, while Xavier faces a near death experience in School Spirits season 2. Pop Culture Planet’s Kristen Maldonado spoke with him about all things time travel and ghosts.
Ironically while both shows are airing at the same time, Macpherson even filmed them together. “I was simultaneously jumping back and forth between School Spirits and The Way Home, so I had to shave my beard,” he told me about filming the second half of his reunion with Del (Andie MacDowell) for season 3. “We had this incredible craftswoman named Faye who came in and hand glued yak hair to my face so that we could match that.”
Jacob and Xavier might seem pretty different, but they have more in common than you’d image. “In my mind, all characters have to come from a place within you so finding that truth […] is my anchor, always. It's interesting because there's certain elements from both characters that cross-pollinate, I find,” he explained. “For me, at least, I enjoy how some of the humor and some elements of the characters are similar in a lot of ways because they're both coming from me. It was really cool, but a lot of work I must say. In retrospect, I don't know how we how we managed to juggle all that.”
When we return to The Way Home, Jacob has already been living in modern times for nine months, which meant skipping some of the fun discoveries for him like how to use a cell phone. “There's a couple moments that still make it through,” Macpherson laughed. “There's one moment where he sees Elliot's coffee machine and he's enamored by that.”
Macpherson shouted out the incredible writing team for making it so easy to slip back into Jacob’s mindset. “They really craft together some beautiful words for us to bring to life and a lot of it's on the page,” he shared. “I also love a lot of the humor they brought to Jacob in the front half of the season. There's so much to play with there with him getting drunk at the bar and revealing too much.”
While Del isn’t ready to give up her little boy, it’s clear Jacob isn’t the kid we remember. “There's a scene in episode two where he tries to have an open conversation with Del. He lets her know, ‘I was a bad person in 1814. I stole. I should have been in jail. I did things I can't take back,’” he revealed. “I think the subtext for that is like him and Thomas had to do some pretty bad stuff.”
“Jacob maybe had to take a life. He's had to do some some things that maybe made sense in that era, but now that he's confronted with the modern world it feels completely crazy […] to even conceive of. Once he's back he warned them all in the second episode, but there's another side to him, a darker side,” Macpherson said. “A side that's capable of doing things that we wouldn't think of now and you get to see that in the sixth episode kind of rear its head. Jacob has a lot of demons.”
This season Kat (Chyler Leigh) and Alice (Sadie LaFlamme-Snow) finally reveal to Del and Jacob the impact they had on Colton’s (Jefferson Brown) death in the past. “The ground is so shaky that he stands on. He's so fragile that these revelations affect him in ways that we're not prepared for,” shared Macpherson about filming his argument with Kat that finds him staying in the 1800s. “That sequence was really interesting to film because the original version of the scene had him going [off] a lot more. Like yelling at her and he shoved her in the pond. On the day, it felt maybe a little Jekyll and Hyde. Where we landed was something a bit more internal. She tries to pull him in and he wretches away. Hopefully that translates as less jarring and hopefully there's a world where he can find his way back from a pretty ruthless action on his part. I'm really interested to see how people react to him moving forward because Jacob has a maybe a slightly villainous streak.”
The pond has ripped so much from Jacob, but at the same time he learns that there could be potential to reclaim more time with loved ones when he learns that Elliot (Evan Williams) has also time traveled. “I would love to see Jacob make his peace with the pond. I think it took so much from him so it's difficult for him to see it as an adventure. It's more of a curse to him. But his relationship with Elliot really progresses throughout the season. They have that common ground because Colton was a father to Elliot as well. They're essentially like brothers,” he shared. “As the story progresses, if Jacob finds his way and finds his peace with this thing that brought him so much turmoil I would love to see him travel to… what's an era I love? I love the Roaring 20s. I think that would be a really interesting era for him to go to.”
Speaking of more time, we are teased that Jacob has connected with teen Colton already. There is a drawing in the 1800s that features both of them together and Jacob recognizes a photo of young Colton in modern day. “I love that picture that the art department put together. It's always so funny when you see how the different departments come together and that's a really cool tease. The way it all ties in… it's coming up and it's really, really well done. If I could say one thing about it is that I love the actor Jordan [Doww] who plays young Colton,” he teased. “If we did or if we did not have a scene together, I think it would be a pretty interesting encounter.”
While Jacob is busy with time travel adventures, Macpherson’s character Xavier from the way home is on his own journey of self discovery in School Spirits. “It's beautiful the way they evolved all of our connections. For a lot of the alive cast, we've really come together. The show has taken place over a few weeks so you're seeing these relationships forged in real time and I love how we all have our respective place in the Scooby gang,” he shared. “With the developments that happened at the end of the first episode, [Xavier] really has something to believe in for the first time, which is really great to see for him because he was so lost before. He feels like he's found a tribe and he's found a purpose.”
The big development being Xavier’s near death experience, which opened his character up in so many ways, but especially to ghostly phenomenon. “That reveal about the fisherman [was] crazy and I knew about that before we started shooting so I was sitting on that information,” he revealed about Xavier seeing a ghostly fisherman who turned out to be Maddie’s (Peyton List) late father. “What that means as far as the larger plot is Xavier has a way to help Maddie heal from whatever trauma she had, if he can manage to access that other side again.”
“His eyes have been opened up. I did a lot of research before season 2 about people who have these near death experiences and how they describe their lives as before and after. Xavier had this rebirth and he's born again. He's excited and he's hungry to help and try his best to be a better person,” he continued. “That bond he has with Simon, the only other person who's really experienced that, is was an interesting thing to play.”
Does this mean Xavier can see ghosts now, or maybe has a spidey sense when it comes to the supernatural? “When we were shooting, we played it both ways. We played it [in] a way where he can see them, [a] way where he can't, and then a way that's more ambiguous just to see how people […] perceive that,” Macpherson revealed. “I think fans are going to be excited to see how that unfolds, that kind of awakening he's had.”
“When I was filming, I would actually draw. [I’d] take all these notes […] that you can't see in those scenes in my book. In my head canon, Xavier's just been deep online. He's been researching all of these different religions and cultures way of communicating with the beyond. He’s a deep Reddit obsessive when it comes to this stuff,” he continued. “That's where that whole salt thing comes [from] where he's throwing things at the wall and if they connect they connect, but maybe if the werewolf has the silver bullet and Dracula has garlic…”
In the first season, Xavier was very detached and difficult to get to know, but these new revelations have opened him up to both the other characters and the audience as well. “Selfishly, I think that Xavier needs to find himself before he enters another relationship. He doesn't necessarily have the best track record. I think that connection with Nicole, how that manifests remains to be seen, but he's definitely opened up with someone, which is a huge step for him,” Macpherson said. “In episode six, you get […] drip-fed information about him that as the audience you don't really know because he's so aloof and withholding. To see that he's a nerd beneath all that, it's refreshing.”
Not only did the School Spirits season 2 premiere week see a 104% increase from season 1, but it’s clear Paramount+ believes in the show. They put together a robust campaign sending out clue boxes each week for fans to try to piece together the secrets before the episodes drop. We’ve been unboxing them here at Pop Culture Planet and having a blast! “It's such a genius idea to get people to actually get involved in where the story is going,” said Macpherson.
Last year, Macpherson told us about how the first season shocked the cast just as much as it did the audience, but what can we expect at the end of season 2? “The final three episodes [are] really good TV,” Macpherson teased. “I don't think people are going to necessarily predict where it goes, but I really hope we get to do a third season because there's some interesting things left unresolved shall we say.”
New episodes of School Spirits season 2 drop Thursdays on Paramount+, while episodes of The Way Home season 3 hit Hallmark Channel every Friday.
