Richie Moriarty’s Pete has gone through quite the evolution on Ghosts thus far, but Season 2, Episode 19, “Ghost Father of the Bride,” includes an especially big life (afterlife?) event for the character, one that could impact him considerably going forward.

But before we get to any Season 2 spoilers, this is your regular reminder that if you’re not watching Ghosts on CBS and Paramount+, you’re missing out on the ultimate mood-booster, heart-filler, and all-around good time. Inspired by the British sitcom of the same name, Joe Port and Joe Wiseman’s Ghosts sees a couple, Sam (Rose McIver) and Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar), move into Woodstone Mansion, a property Sam inherits from a distant relative. Soon after moving in, there’s an accident and after that incident, Sam discovers she can see ghosts — specifically ghosts of people who have died on the property including Moriarty’s Pete Martino, a super congenial Pinecone Trooper leader who died when one of his scouts accidentally shot him in the neck with an arrow.
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During a recent interview tied to “Ghost Father of the Bride,” Moriarty took the time to look back on Pete’s transformation from audition to where he is at the end of this particular episode.

Image via CBS

Here’s what Moriarty had to say about his very first interpretation of the character when he auditioned for the role in New York City:

“This was pre-pandemic, so we went in in person to the CBS building in New York and I read for the role with a casting director. I read the scenes that I was given once as I interpreted the character, and then their only note to me was, ‘Great, let’s do one more and just make it bigger. Just go bigger with it.’ So I did another version that was way bigger, bigger energy, probably closer to the Pete you’re seeing on screen today.”

Those two versions of Pete were enough to score Moriarty an invitation to travel to Los Angeles to test for the role. But, before he went through that testing process, he wanted additional feedback in order to figure out which of those two versions he should lean towards more. Moriarty continued:

“I said to my manager, ‘Could you ask them which take they preferred because I did two very different reads on this character.’ So my manager went back to casting and casting said the second take, the bigger take. So I was like, ‘Great,’ and it’s funny because I forget if this was when I was testing or if it was right before we shot the pilot, but Joe Port, one of the showrunners, said to me, ‘Hey, we’ve been using Ned Flanders as a touchstone for this character. We imagine this guy as very Flanders-esque.’ I was seeing him much more as kind of my dad who’s a little more understated and smaller. Still chipper and happy, but not quite Flanders level. So that really informed how I played it because anytime you hear from the showrunner, ‘Hey, this is how we’re envisioning a thing,’ it’s like, ‘Oh, great. Let me see your vision to fruition as much as I can.’ So I think Pete is much more — he’s turned up to 11. He is Flanders in a lot of ways.”

Image via Fox Television Animation

In came a Ned Flanders-like Pete Martino for the pilot episode, but then, as the series progressed, Pete would find himself in a few situations that’d significantly change how he’d view himself and how he’d operate in general.

During our San Diego Comic-Con conversation back in the summer of 2022, Moriarty emphasized how discovering that Pete’s wife, Carol (Caroline Aaron), cheated on him changed everything for Pete. When asked for a Season 2 scene that he found heavily redefining the character for him, Moriarty pinpointed a moment that focused not on Pete’s living family, but rather, his ghost family. He explained:

“I think the ghost hunter scene where Flower and Thorfinn end up in the ghost trap, and basically Thorfinn ends up in there because Pete chickens out and doesn’t want to touch the trap, and Pete does have to have this come to Jesus moment where he’s like, ‘Hey, are you gonna sacrifice yourself to save your friends or are you gonna stand by and watch idly while they potentially perish?’ So that was a big scene I think for Pete. Pete over the course of Season 2 especially has learned lessons but seemingly forgot them very quickly. He’s been on this roller coaster of figuring out how to truly stand up for himself and get some gumption and actually do the hard work of being a good friend and supporting the people around you. So I think that was a really defining moment for him where he kind of said, ‘Okay, I’m gonna go into this ghost trap. I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but it’s time for me to step up.’”

Not only does Pete step up for the other ghosts in Season 2, but he’s also there for his daughter Laura (Holly Gauthier-Frankel) in a very big way as well; Pete does everything in his power and then some to give her the wedding of her dreams. Cue the Season 2, Episode 19 spoiler warning.

Image via CBS

[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Ghosts, Season 2, Episode 19, “Ghost Father of the Bride.”]It takes a lot for tension and frustration to get the better of Pete, but we see that happen in this episode after wedding negotiations with Carol result in all of Pete’s requests getting denied. Where exactly is that anger coming from for Pete? Is it mainly a fear of a subpar wedding for Laura or is there still lasting resentment over his relationship with Carol? Here’s Moriarty’s take on the matter:

“I think it’s certainly a combination of both. I think with some distance, he now has like 40 years since he was a married man, and especially in this wedding planning process with his ex-wife, he’s being reminded of all the reasons why this was not a great relationship, you know? He was not in a marriage that worked that well. There was a lot of sniping when they were alive and there’s even sniping now that he’s dead. I think there’s a lot of frustration there, especially because he is seeing some of these moments as a barrier to potentially having the wedding that he wants to have for his daughter. Some of it too is just frustration of being dead, right? He wants to be able to voice these things to the people that can actually affect the change. So I think a lot of it too is just that frustration, of not being fully present in the way that people who are living are. And then, of course, he adores his daughter more than anything in the world, so he wants to be able to share this moment with her, and when it seems like that’s slipping through his fingers he’s I think terrified and really sad. To think that there is an opportunity to potentially see your daughter get married when you’re dead is incredible to him, and to see that potentially slipping away I think is heartbreaking.”

Image via CBS

Fortunately Pete, Sam, and co. are able to turn things around and Pete gets to “live” his dream in what some might consider one of the most moving and heartening scenes of the entire series thus far. Pete walks Laura down the aisle at her wedding. The experience means a lot to Pete personally, but Moriarty also loves how that particular moment could strike a chord with countless viewers who can directly connect with this situation:

“The nice thing about seeing that scene on the page and getting to perform it is that we all have experiences where we’ve either been to weddings of friends or gotten married ourselves and haven’t been able to have loved ones with us. My wife’s mom wasn’t able to come to our wedding because she was too sick to travel, and she actually passed away the day after we got married. There are I think real significant moments like that for everybody, so to be able to sort of play out this fantasy in a lot of ways where even though your loved one has passed, we all hope they’re there in presence somehow, so to be able to sort of show that, show what so many people hope for I think in moments like that was really so cool. I hope that that moment for Pete brings a lot of closure in a lot of ways for his family. Again, these moments when his family are at the mansion are so special and critical and give him a window into this world that continues without him, but in that scene, he was able to be part of it again for a minute, even though he’s yelping in pain for half of it because he’s linking his arm with hers. That’s one of those monumental life moments that you think about, being able to see your kids get married and for him to be able to be a part of that I think was really special and hopefully provided some closure for him in his relationship with his daughter.”

Looking for even more from Moriarty on “Ghost Father of the Bride” and his experience making Ghosts thus far? You can catch our full 33-minute conversation in the video interview at the top of this article!

And stay tuned, we’ll have more Ghosts Season 2 interviews for you soon.