Ghosts' Danielle Pinnock Is Just as Excited for Alberta and Pete as You Are

Ghosts' shippers rejoice: Bad boy-loving nightlife queen Alberta (Danielle Pinnock) has finally gone all in on a good — very, very good — boy, committing to the slow-burning romance with her fellow phantom Pete (Richie Moriarty)! And in the immediate wake of "Soul Custody," the fifth season premiere of CBS's spectral sitcom, Pinnock, spilled the tea with us about getting these two ghostly lovelorns together at long last. We also caught up with showrunners Joe Wiseman and Joe Port, who provided some insight into the premiere episode. You can see their comments at the bottom of this story.

When you first got a sense of what you were going to be doing in Season 5, what got you most excited?
Danielle Pinnock: Well, the first thing that I'm super excited about is working with Richie Moriarty, who plays Pete. As many of our fans know, they have been 'shipping this relationship between Alberta and Pete since Season 1, and so it will finally happen this season, which is so exciting, and not only will we get to learn more about who Pete is and his character, but we'll also get to see more of Alberta's vulnerability this season as well, which is really exciting. And she picks up a few fun skills along the way. 

I think the great thing about this show is that we will do a table read on a Friday and then by Monday we'll have to be experts in what these characters were experts in when they were alive. And so I've been building up my skills for the last five years. I've learned to sing, I've learned to dance, and there's some fun things happening in Season 5 for Alberta, so I can't wait till our fans see it, I'm so thrilled. 

And obviously we know that Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar) essentially sold his soul to the devil and it was my hope that the ghost will get to go to Hell and see what that is about, because just the constant sound of Chumbawamba, I just think it's the funniest thing.

ALSO READ: Ghost bosses say Pete and Alberta's romance isn't the only ghost ship coming this season

Tell me about when the writers came to you and said, "We're going for it. You guys are going to be able to jump into this relationship full-tilt."
Pinnock: It was so exciting because working with Richie is such a dream. He's such an incredible actor, so nuanced and so funny, and so being able to be in scenes with him really does feel like a masterclass for me as an actor. And it is rare that Alberta gets two-person scenes. Usually she is in the ensemble and coming in with those hot one-liner zingers, and so to be able to see this different shade of her is really exciting. And also for me as an actor who is a Black plus-size woman being able to be seen as a romantic lead, I'm so grateful to Joe Port and Joe Wiseman for just not making me the kind of funny, sassy character that just comes in with the one-liners, they're really giving her a fullness to this character, and so I'm just grateful to be seen in that way. Also for the entertainment industry as well, too.

And so I cannot wait for our fans to see this relationship. And something very interesting that Joe Port told me at the beginning of the season is that you really do find out who a character is based on the relationships that they're in. And so we know that Pete is such… I mean, he is a Boy Scout! He's incredible. He is very not Alberta who used to hang out with gangsters and mobsters and she's very eccentric and a hot mess with a heart of gold, and so I'm curious to see how this relationship pans out. I know this season we will also see where her hat came from, because Thorfinn (Devan Long) has been ragging her about this hat for the last four seasons, and so we'll get the origin story finally about where that hat came from and we'll get to go into her backstory a little bit more.

When they were finally greenlighting this relationship, were you ready? Were you and Richie thinking, "No, we love kind of teasing it," or were you, like, "We're ready to go for it?"
Pinnock: What I will say is at the season finale of Season 4, I was getting ready for the NAACP Image Awards at that time, and so I was back and forth to New York and three days before we shot the final episode, the Joes reached out and they said, :Hey, you're going to get a really big monologue. We think we're going to establish Pete and Alberta for next season." I was like, "Okay, cool!" And I was on the plane back from New York, then after my fitting and I saw that monologue, it was like this two-and-a-half-page monologue that felt very Game of Thrones-esque and I call it Alberta's Shame Speech, where she finally professes her love for Pete. And I was like, "Oh my gosh, we're really going to go through with this!"

And so Richie and I we're just so excited, and I love that we get these different flavors of these ghosts. We truly are bringing life into their afterlife, and I just love that Alberta is in her soft girl era. It's very like Nic and Olandria from Love Island: They're going to have a ball and a blast, and I can't wait to see all the shenanigans that they get into.

Now you and Richie have been working together for five seasons and you've been building this chemistry. When you finally got to go for it, was there almost like jitters, when you've been dating somebody for a minute and you're getting to that turning point where things get physical?
Pinnock: I think the thing for Alberta specifically is that her trying to wrap her head around being with a nice guy was probably the hardest thing for that character, because I believe that Alberta is definitely someone who benefits from a dopamine hit [laughs]. And Pete, he is a sweetheart. He is honest, and I do believe that Alberta in some ways felt like she wasn't deserving of someone like Pete as well. 

And so in that final episode of Season 4, when they finally kissed, I think she was shocked that Pete felt the same way about her. You also have to remember, Pete had face-palmed Alberta as well, so it's like she did to him a couple of seasons ago, and he face-palmed her back, so she was like, "I don't even know if this man wants me or not." And so yes, I do believe that the characters definitely had nervous jitters, but for me and Richie, we're professional actors. This is just a part of the gig. So we weren't nervous, we were just excited for these characters that we get to now explore a new adventure for them.

Tease us a little bit about, now that the ghost group is going to know about this, what was fun about adding them into the mix of this brand new relationship?
Pinnock: I think the thing that I'm most excited about is how their relationship may or may not annoy the other ghosts [laughs]. Because I know where Hetty and Trevor were together, we were like, "Gosh, please get it over with y'all!" And so I'm excited to see what ghosts are really excited about Alberta, Pete, and who are the ghosts that are just like, "Gosh, just get over it. We know that you love each other, we know that you like each other." 

Something I can tease is that there is an episode that is coming up where Alberta and Pete are trying to find a space in the house that is quiet enough for them to make out in. And so those kind of episodes, I'm just so thrilled to just expand the relationship and see how far we end up taking it, but I can't wait. There's so many possibilities.

I feel like after four seasons you've probably gotten a good chance to work with everybody, but is there somebody else in Season 5 that Alberta's going to be paired with a little more often than the past that's been fun for you to explore?
Pinnock: I will say that Alberta and Throfinn, that's probably one of my favorite pairings because I love working with Devan Long. Devan Long is like my brother in real life, and he is so funny. He is the actor that makes me break the most on set and this rivalry that the Joes and our writers have created for Alberta and Thorfinn is so funny because they are so petty towards each other and they've just turned to such bullies. And so you will be seeing a lot of them coming up in this season, especially in these earlier episodes. And there's something that was established in Season 4 where we find out that Alberta had missed Thorfinn's 1000th birthday, and so they have this petty kind of rivalry about that, and so it will pop back up early in these episodes.

I imagine on day one when you started the series, you got that outfit on and you're like, "This is amazing. This helps me totally get this character."  But five seasons in, are you desperate for a wardrobe change, like a flashback, anything?
Pinnock: You know what? It's so funny because I was actually just telling a friend of mine. She asked, "When you're about to get to work, what is the thing that makes you feel like, 'Oh, I'm back in Alberta?'" And I would have to say it is the burgundy nail color because I'm in that nail color for seven to eight months out of the year. And so I think that is the thing that drops me into the character the most, and I'm not over the costume at all! I actually love it, because I'm not an actor who loves to do a lot of fittings anyway, and so it's become my uniform. I think we would all attest to that, like this is our uniform when we're getting in there. 

And it also just really establishes the character in such a great way for me, touching the velvet, I'm like, "OK, yes, I'm back in the 1920s." And I do love that costume so much. And the great thing is because Alberta has a flashback coming up, you will see her in other costumes as well, too. And so I can't wait for it. And Hetty has a beautiful flashback that's coming up as well, and so we do get those opportunities to wear something else when we go back in time, which is also very exciting. But no, that's my jam! I love that costume! I do, even five years later — I love it! I love routine and so I'm like, I know I am going to have my slip and my dress and my overcoat and my nails and the eyebrows and my hair and my hat. It all works for me.

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Tell me a little bit more about your relationship with the fans. I mean, the show is phenomenally popular, and you were clearly a breakout favorite early on. Tell me about what's great when you get to interact with them, hear their questions, hear what they're longing for, rooting for…?
Pinnock: What I would say going to Comic-Con this year was so incredible. Our panel, it was completely sold out. And seeing our fans dress up as the characters, it means so much to us because we filmed this in Montreal, and when we come back stateside, when we're home for our hiatuses, anytime someone comes up to me and asks me for a selfie or an autograph or they say how much this character means to them and how much this show means to them, it is quite literally the reason why we do this. And I do believe it is the reason we are still on the air and that we've gotten a two-season pickup. We are so grateful to our fans, and to be working now, in this climate in the industry, is such an incredible blessing. 

And I have to say, though, the biggest fan I think is my mom [laughs]. Because my mother, my goodness, today, I think half of Jamaica knows about this show because of my mom. She is doing a watch party for the premiere. She has all these cakes and these ghosts emblem things that she's made. And so yeah, I think for the number one fan, it's my mom!

That delights me!
Pinnock: Oh yeah, she knows everything. She knows everything about these characters and she's always trying to get the tease. She's like, "OK, so what episode are you shooting now?" I'm like, "I'm not telling you. You have to be surprised every week like the rest of America."

It's not like the show doesn't have insane ratings, but I can imagine that shooting in Canada you do feel like a little bit in a bubble away from how exactly how popular the show really is.
Pinnock: Yeah, no, we are, and I think that works for us because these ghosts are also essentially quarantined together as well, in their afterlife. And so as actors here in Montreal, the beauty is there's a new show on CBS, DMV, and so our cast has been having a blast with that cast as well too. But for the first four years it was just us. And I think that chemistry works and that's what you're seeing on screen. We are family for real. We really are. And even at Season 5, it's like, these are my sisters, these are my brothers, these are my aunties. We know each other's kids, we know each other's parents, and everyone's always checking on each other. 

And I think the beauty of the show also is at lunchtime, we have this really long Thanksgiving-esque table that we, every day at lunch, we're still there commuting together, we're going out on the weekends together. And so I just feel so blessed to be a part of a show where we all still like each other [laughs]! Because sometimes it's not the same after a Season 5, but we are the luckiest, luckiest folks on network TV. We really are.

More tidbits about the Ghosts Season 5 premiere from showrunners Joe Port and Joe Wiseman:

Was there a possible version of the episode where Jay really did go to Hell?
Joe Wiseman: We did talk about that when we did the cliffhanger. We had a fairly good idea what we wanted to do, but it wasn't written, wasn't decided. So we spent a good amount of time talking about various things. Like, "Yeah, what if he did go to Hell, what if someone else did," etc., etc. And so yeah, it was something that we went down that road a little bit. Ultimately, I think we were a little worried about venturing too far from the Ghosts mythology… It felt like kind of a big leap.

Joe Port: Yeah, I think we were more interested in exploring what would happen if a ghost were in Hell than Jay being in Hell. And that's not even off the table completely. It might happen at some point.

How'd the switcheroo where instead of annoyingly pious Patience (Mary Holland) it was Carol (Caroline Aaron) who saved Jay — and Pete — come about?
Wiseman: Well, some of it was organic. We felt Patience was the one in the previous season's finale who sniffed out Elias and the presence of the devil, so we knew that she had to be back, and we were thinking what could be sort of a little arc for her and she would start to question why she hasn't been sucked off. So that one felt very organic. And then we've been talking for a while about the Carol character and wanting to redeem her. She's been mostly a villain. She was unfaithful to Pete, and so it's something that's come up a lot. It's like, "Okay, how could we redeem her?" And this felt like a story that lent to that.

Port: Yeah, we started to take steps in that direction of redeeming her last season in the episode that Rose McIver directed, the GhostFellas episode, where Carol helped Pete and she helped Jay and Sam defeat the Mafia people that had come to take over their restaurant. So we saw glimpses of the good side of Carol, and we wanted to see more of that.

Should we take the outcome as a commitment to Patience being a presumably permanent part of the Ghosts family?
Wiseman: Yeah, she'll be around!

Port: Yeah, We love Mary Holland. And similar to Carol, it's fun to set people up as villains and then start to see a more nuanced side of them as you explore their character.

Ghosts airs Thursdays at 8:30/7:30c on CBS.