Peyton List is living in the afterlife—twice. Not only is she back for season two of School Spirits, but she also recently starred in Girl Haunts Boy, giving her a surprising back-to-back run of playing ghosts. “I don’t know why both of these scripts were sent to me, but I really liked them,” she laughs. “I didn’t want to have to choose.”
Of course, School Spirits isn’t your typical ghost story. Season one set up a mystery that unraveled into an even bigger twist: Maddie, List’s character, wasn’t just dead—her body was possessed by someone else entirely. That revelation makes season two even trickier, as List is essentially playing two roles. “We had to create this 1950s girl who’s been stuck in the school for decades,” she explains. “Jessica Bore, who plays Janet, and I had to figure out the body language, the mannerisms—it was just hoping it would work.”
Staying in character proved to be a challenge when switching between Maddie and Janet, but List had some help. “The wardrobe and makeup helped,” she says. “For Maddie, we’d completely Mattify my face, but for Janet, I could be greasy and sweaty. Just having that physical process each morning helped me get into it.”
The series also continues to expand its own ghostly mythology, much to List’s delight. “We all sit around and poke holes in the rules,” she admits. “We want to catch anything the audience might question. But there’s definitely a set of rules now. We all just know them.” That includes a particularly fun nod to Ghost, the classic 1990 film starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. “It’s definitely an Easter egg,” List confirms. “And it only gets more obvious.”
As if School Spirits wasn’t keeping her busy enough, List also wrapped filming on the final season of Cobra Kai, bringing an end to her long-running role as Tori Nichols. “I wasn’t expecting to care so much, but I went to the writers about the ending,” she admits. “I just wanted a few answers, to wrap it up in a way that made sense for Tori. That’s the only time I ever felt the need to go to them about something.”
Looking back, List has a newfound appreciation for Tori’s character arc. “She’s got a lot more heart than I ever could’ve imagined,” she says. “I saw her one way in the beginning, and now I see so much potential in her.” Despite the challenges, she doesn’t find playing such intense roles exhausting. If anything, she finds it liberating. “It’s actually a cathartic release,” she explains. “In real life, you can’t react the way Tori does. But I love that if someone pisses her off, she’s going to fight them immediately.”
Now, with Cobra Kai ending and School Spirits riding high, List is looking forward to what’s next. “I have a movie coming up this year that I’m really excited about,” she teases. “It’s kind of a dream come true, so I’m just waiting until I can talk about it.”
Until then, she’s happy to keep haunting our screens—at least for a little while longer.
Watch the full interview above and check out the trailers below.
