Ghosts: Román Zaragoza discusses popcorn, acting with his dad, and more

When it comes to new comedies, Ghosts on CBS immediately stood out. Román Zaragoza took the time to chat with us about the series.

Ghosts is based on the UK series of the same name. Like many other shows that have made it across the pond, like The Office, Being Human, and Shameless, the new comedy has taken off. Granted, there were likely a lot of iZombie fans immediately tuning in for Rose McIver, but there are plenty of others to stay tuned for.

Each of the ghosts in the house have their own personalities, interests, and dreams. They come from different time periods, and one of the oldest in the house is Zaragoza’s Sasappis. He quickly made it clear that he is a cynical Lenape man who enjoys pizza, but we learned there were far more layers to him.

Román Zaragoza discusses the research into the character

It’s extremely important to portray characters of other races and from history as accurately as possible. The world of TV is stepping away from the many stereotypes we’ve seen in the past, and that’s something Ghosts manages extremely well.

When talking about the move away from stereotypes, Zaragoza shared that it was one of the “amazing parts of my character that I fell in love with right away.” From the moment of auditioning, the series made it clear that this character was not going to be a stereotype.

"“They didn’t want him to speak in an accent or present in a certain way…they wanted the actors to speak in their normal voice. They wanted the actors to bring their contemporary self to it. [Sasappis] has been dead for 500 years…he’s a smart guy, adapted to his surroundings and the people he’s living with. So, I think one of the best parts of playing him is I just really bring myself to him and I don’t have to put on some accent. I can just use my voice and react the way I react. It’s one of the coolest things about [the show].”"

There are certainly some history lessons within the series. Very early on, Sas would jump in with one-liners about the things Native American people were responsible for. That includes popcorn. Yes, I even double-checked that as soon as it was mentioned on the TV series.

Who came up with the one-liners? That is all the writers’ job, although Zaragoza wishes he could take credit.

"“They were very late to the game. The script was written in a different way. They’ll literally, as we’re shooing the scene, be like ‘try this line.’ It’s so fun to have those little one-liners at the end of the scene. I love it.”"

Ghosts returns with more focus on Sasappis

Sas hasn’t had that much attention during the first season of Ghosts so far. We know there’s a Lenape woman who Sas was in love with. It doesn’t look like things are working out the way Sas would like, but it has been 500 years.

However, we have had the chance to see him be a friend, and we’ll get to see more of that when it comes to a little more backstory on Trevor in a later episode.

Tonight’s (Feb. 24) all-new episode is going to be an important one for both Sas and Zaragoza. During the episode, Sas offers to help Sam create the website for the B&B. We’ll get to know a little more about his past, and that includes seeing Sas’s father.

It turns out that Sas’s father is going to be played by Zaragoza’s own father, Gregory Zaragoza. What type of man will Naxasi be? That’s something we’ll have to wait and see, but we did get to ask about what it was like for Zaragoza to act alongside his father.

"“It was an incredible experience. My dad and I actually haven’t worked together much professionally. There was only one other time, and it was in 2019 on Stumptown where he played my uncle. [Ghosts] was really fun and it was just an incredible day that we had. I don’t want to talk about it too much, but it was just an amazing experience. My dad was so proud, and I was able to show him around and bring him into the world.”"

It was certainly a big experience for Zaragoza. His dad is his biggest inspiration and the reason he got into acting in the first place. Having one of your biggest supporters on set is certainly going to bring multiple emotions.

What about Ghosts Season 2?

We now know that Ghosts Season 2 is happening. It’s been one of the first shows renewed at CBS for the 2022–2023 season, and we can’t wait.  What was it like for the cast?

They had a moment that was a surprise to them. They were supposed to record a video for Valentine’s Day, and they were told while recording it that they would announce they got a second season.

Can we expect more of Sas during the second season? Zaragoza doesn’t know anything about the second season just yet. The cast is fishing for information though, and “strategizing” to get “storylines that we want.”

For now, Zaragoza is enjoying some downtime while he also works on a project of his own that is currently in post-production and being submitted to festivals. We’re certainly excited to learn more about that.

Ghosts airs Thursdays at 9/8c on CBS. Catch up on the season on Paramount+.