Will Pete Ever Come Back? The Ghosts Season 5 Finale Just Changed Everything
TL;DR: The Season 5 finale of CBS's Ghosts (streaming May 22 on Paramount+) ended with fan-favourite Pete Martino vanishing completely after a London trip goes wrong. Star Richie Moriarty says he's genuinely uncertain about his character's fate, and the writers' room is still figuring it out. Here's what happened, why it matters, and what it could mean for Season 6.
Richie Moriarty has spent five years walking around with an arrow through his neck. That's the bit—Pete Martino, the earnest Pinecone Troopers scoutmaster who died in 1985 when one of his own kids accidentally shot him, is recognisable by silhouette alone. And now, after the two-part Season 5 finale aired on CBS on May 22 and landed on Paramount+ the same day, Moriarty doesn't know if he'll ever wear that prop again.
That uncertainty isn't a PR tease. It's real. Moriarty told Variety in a candid post-finale interview: "Everyone, the whole cast is a little nervous, including myself, obviously. We're five seasons into this show, and we haven't yet lost any of the main eight ghosts." There's something refreshingly honest about an actor genuinely unsure if his job exists next season—more interesting than any amount of studio spin.
What Actually Happened to Pete in the Finale
The two episodes, "Up the Creek" and "Across the Pond," open with an existential threat: Ever Creek Water, a conglomerate, has bought Woodstone Manor and wants to demolish it for a data facility. Sam (Rose McIver) and Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar) learn that securing a historic landmark designation is their only shot at stopping it.
Nancy (Betsy Sodaro), the cholera-victim ghost, drops a bombshell. She was actually a runaway princess, and there's a painting of her somewhere in the U.K. that could prove it. Pete—whose established ghost power lets him travel away from Woodstone temporarily—volunteers to go to London with Jay and Kyle (Ben Feldman) to find it. Sam stays behind to work on a Hollywood script pitch.
Here's the rule, established back in Season 3: the longer Pete stays away from Woodstone, the more his body fades. Last time he left, he was rushed back before anything permanent stuck. This time—and this is where the writers get you—they don't make it back in time.
He's down to just a floating head. Then he's gone entirely. No body. No arrow. No Pete. Just vanished.
Five Seasons of Character Work, Built Toward This Moment
What strikes me about this ending is how methodically the show's creators, showrunners Joe Port and Joe Wiseman, constructed Pete into someone worth losing. This wasn't a character who stayed static.
Here's the arc across five seasons:
- Season 1 (2021): Pete introduced as a 1985 travel agent and Pinecone Troopers leader, killed by accidental arrow at Woodstone.
- Season 2: His daughter Laura gets married at Woodstone. An emotional milestone. His ghost power to leave the estate is discovered.
- Season 3: His ex-wife Carol (Caroline Aaron) becomes a ghost. The power to leave is tested—first near-disappearance. He almost doesn't come back.
- Season 4: Pete and Alberta (Danielle Pinnock) share a kiss. His confidence grows through off-site missions.
- Season 5: Carol sacrifices herself—cuts a deal with demon Elias (Matt Walsh) to go to hell in Pete's place. Pete and Alberta are in a full relationship. Then this.
That's a complete story. Most coverage is treating Pete's vanishing as a cliffhanger mystery, but the more honest read is that Port and Wiseman have been writing a farewell arc in plain sight since Season 3—the travel power was always a ticking clock, and Carol's sacrifice in the penultimate episode cleared Pete's last piece of unfinished business. If he does come back, the writers will have to invent a new reason for him to exist in the ensemble, not just restore the old one.
What Richie Moriarty Actually Said (and What It Reveals)
Moriarty was careful but candid. "They got back in the writers' room about a week ago, and they're trying to figure it," he told Variety. "I hope for my sake that it's not Pete, but we'll see."
He also made a structural argument that's worth paying attention to: "I think at a certain point, as hard as it may be, you do kind of have to lose someone to keep the stakes of the show feeling real." That's an actor essentially making the creative case for his own character's permanent death. It takes some self-awareness.
He did flag the Flower precedent—in Season 2, Sheila Carrasco's character appeared sucked off to the afterlife, only for Season 3 to reveal she'd just fallen in a well. But Moriarty was clear he doesn't think that kind of fakeout works twice: "I think it starts to feel cheap if you do it too much."
Movie OTT's audience tracker has been monitoring reaction to the finale across regions, and the Pete storyline is generating serious engagement—particularly from viewers who've followed the show since its 2021 premiere.
Why Ghosts Has Actually Lasted Five Seasons
Ghosts is adapted from the BBC original (2019). The American version—developed by Port and Wiseman for CBS—had a rockier road than people remember. The pilot was retooled. Early ratings were modest. But by Season 2 it was pulling roughly 7 million same-day viewers and climbing, making it CBS's strongest new comedy launch since The Neighborhood in 2018 (and, from what I gather, the reason Paramount kept the show's streaming window tight to Paramount+ rather than licensing it out early). By Season 3, it had locked in a four-season renewal, a rare vote of confidence for any broadcast comedy in a landscape where most don't survive past two.
The show shoots with straightforward multi-camera aesthetics, but the writers treat ghost lore with genuine internal consistency. Rules matter: ghosts can only be seen by people who've nearly died, certain ghosts have specific powers, and leaving Woodstone has real consequences. That consistency is what makes Pete's disappearance land emotionally rather than feeling like a cheap cliffhanger.
Think of it this way—if Brooklyn Nine-Nine eventually proved that procedural format could be a vehicle for genuine character growth, Ghosts operates the same way. The haunted-house comedy is the wrapper. The actual content is about loss, legacy, and what it means to be seen.
Where to Watch Ghosts Right Now
- United States: CBS (linear broadcast) and Paramount+ (same-day streaming, Season 5 finale May 22, 2026)
- United Kingdom: Channel 4 and All 4 streaming (check current availability)
- India: No confirmed dedicated OTT home as of now. Paramount+ doesn't operate standalone in India. CBS content occasionally surfaces on JioCinema or SonyLIV through licensing deals, but Ghosts Season 5 hasn't been confirmed on either platform. Movie OTT's where-to-watch tracker refreshes regional availability as licensing windows shift—worth checking if you're in India.
- Spain: Paramount+ is available standalone or through Amazon Prime Video Channels.
For Indian audiences who followed Brooklyn Nine-Nine or The Good Place on Netflix, this is the natural next watch. The warmth and increasingly serialised storytelling translate well across markets.
The Spinoff Pitch Nobody Expected
Moriarty has actually pitched Port and Wiseman on a spinoff concept—and honestly, it's good. A comedic crime-procedural where Pete uses his ability to travel and communicate with other ghosts to solve mysteries. "Send Pete to Dallas to find out who really shot JFK," he told Variety. "He'd chat with the other Dallas ghosts, and they'd help him solve mysteries."
That's genuinely more interesting than half the things in development at network TV right now. A half-hour procedural comedy where a 1985 travel agent ghost solves cold cases? I'd watch three seasons of that. Though that part is still rumour—no studio or network has confirmed anything, and I hear the concept hasn't gone beyond a casual conversation between Moriarty and the showrunners.
What we do know: Ghosts Season 6 is happening. The show will film its 100th episode a few months into production, a significant milestone for any network series. The writers' room reconvened roughly a week after the finale aired, according to Variety.
What Happens Next (And When)
The core cast—Rose McIver, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Richie Moriarty, Danielle Pinnock, Sheila Carrasco, Asher Grodman, Román Zaragoza, Rebecca Wisocky, and Brandon Scott Jones—are all "a little nervous" about what the writers decide. Expect casting news and a Season 6 premiere date announcement from CBS sometime in summer 2026. The show typically returns in the fall.
Whether Pete returns, stays gone, or finds some third option the writers haven't telegraphed will likely be confirmed before production wraps. Movie OTT will update streaming availability as confirmed release windows are announced.
The bigger question isn't really whether Pete survives. It's whether Ghosts has the nerve to follow through on what would be a genuinely bold choice for a warm-hearted network comedy. Five seasons of emotional investment in a character, cashed in. That's not nothing.
