Who killed Maddie Nears on School Spirits?
By Sabrina Reed
The School Spirits season 1 finale, “Madison’s Body,” answered the season long question of who killed Maddie Nears. This murder mystery has one by one eliminated suspects with major reveals that changed the plot entirely. At first, it was believed that her boyfriend Xavier had something to do with her death, but it turned out he’d only had her phone because he was trying to erase the evidence that he was cheating on her with the cheerleader Claire.
She’d also been believed to have done the deed because of her past with Maddie. They’d been childhood friends until their friendship fell apart over Maddie not being there for her when she needed her. It’d happened because Maddie had been trying to hide her mother’s drunken meltdown in the kitchen when Claire needed a place to stay because her parents were arguing. Claire didn’t know that, she thought she’d been let down and their bond was poisoned over it.
Mr. Anderson was linked to Maddie’s disappearance because of the money he’d stolen from the boosters when he was supposed to be purchasing new band uniforms. He thought he’d given a portion of his score to Maddie to keep her from blackmailing him and Claire. The cheerleader had threatened to expose his theft if he didn’t give her an A on all her essays for the year, and she was the one who suggested paying Maddie off when they received the video of their argument in the parking lot. But he didn’t kill her either.
Neither did Mr. South, the maintenance man who would have had access to the tool believed to be the murder weapon, but he lacked a motive. Nicole had one as she had been jacking Maddie’s style and was called out on it by Simon and Maddie, but she wasn’t holding onto that resentment and didn’t harm her friend. In fact, she was being weird because she was the one actually behind extorting Mr. Anderson and Claire, Maddie wasn’t connected at all.
Nicole wasn’t aware that only Maddie had their English teacher’s number, but when she realized what her actions could have led to, she started trying to erase her involvement until Simon, Claire, and Xavier caught onto her.
Then that left Maddie’s mom, Sandra, as a suspect but that was cleared up when Maddie got her memories back. The two had been at odds because Sandra used the college fund her husband had sat aside for Maddie in order to by a cabin. They argued, but it didn’t get physical and Sandra left with the knowledge that she’d hurt her daughter deeply with her actions.
But if none of these characters killed Maddie, who did? Well, it’s a twist no one saw coming!
Who killed Maddie on School Spirits?
Technically, Maddie might not even be dead. After arguing with her mom in the maintenance room, she heard voices coming from the fallout shelter in the boiler room. When she opened the door, she found Mr. Martin and Janet having their own argument which is surprising because they’re both ghosts. Once the door opened, Janet went running toward Maddie and it appears her spirit went into the teen’s body.
As such, Maddie’s “death” is more of an astral misplacement. She was shoved out of her body by a ghost so her flesh is possessed while her spirit is trapped in Split River High as if she’s dead. We’ll need a season 2 to untangle this shocking plot considering now Simon’s under the belief that Maddie is a figment of his grief and isn’t actually a ghost. This is due to Nicole sending him a photo of Maddie driving off from the abandoned house where she hit Xavier with his truck and left Nicole and Claire staring after her.
Down an ally in the living world, Maddie’s going to have a tough time tracking down Janet considering the former ghost hopped a bus to Detroit using the money she’d stolen from Nicole. Talk about a plot twist!
Stay tuned to Hidden Remote for more School Spirits news and coverage! All eight episodes are available to stream now on Paramount+. We’ll keep you posted on whether there will be a season 2 for the series.