''Ghostwriter'' is a children's mystery television series produced by

Sesame Workshop Sesame Workshop (SW), originally known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), is an American nonprofit organization that has been responsible for the production of several educational children's programs—including its first and best-know ...

and

Sinking Ship Entertainment Sinking Ship Entertainment is a Canadian-based production, distribution and interactive company specializing in kids' live-action CGI blended series. The company's headquarters are located in Toronto, Ontario. Since its founding in 2004, Sinking ...

as an original series for

Apple TV+ Apple TV is a digital media player and microconsole developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is a small network appliance hardware that plays received media data such as video and audio to a television set or external display. Since its secon ...

, and premiered on November 1, 2019, coinciding with the launch of the service. It is a revival of the 1992–1995 series of the same name. On August 29, 2022, it was announced the third season would premiere in October and would feature a new cast and characters. It premiered on October 21, 2022.

Premise

Seasons 1-2

Ruben struggles to fit in at his new middle school after he and his mother move to live with his grandfather, who lives above the bookstore he owns. Ghostwriter communicates with written messages and by creating manifestations of fictional characters, all of which only the four main characters can perceive. As they become friends and learn to work as a team, Ghostwriter sends them characters from stories with themes relevant to their lives.

Season 3

Some time after the previous two seasons, a new ghostwriter picks three children he had met in life to help return a scroll called the Eloquent Peasant back to Egypt where it was first found. As with the previous ghostwriter, he does this through bringing storybook characters to life.

Cast and characters

Main

* Isaac Arellanes as Ruben Reyna (seasons 1-2) * Amadi Chapata as Chevon Redmond (seasons 1-2) * Justin Sanchez as Curtis Palmer-Moreno (seasons 1-2) * Hannah Levinson as Donna Palmer-Moreno (seasons 1-2) * Nour Assaf as Samir Yousef (season 3) * Princess Mapp as Nia Joy Barnes (season 3) * Daire McLeod as Charli Allen (season 3) * Josette Halpert as Sydney Allen (season 3) * Romel De Silva as Oliver Ramos (season 3) * Tony Ofori as Malcolm (season 3)

Book Characters

* Devyn Nekoda as

Alice Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...

Neil Patrick Harris Neil Patrick Harris (born June 15, 1973) is an American actor, singer, writer, producer, and television host. Primarily known for his comedic television roles and dramatic and musical stage roles, he has received multiple accolades throughout ...

The White Rabbit The White Rabbit is a fictional and anthropomorphic character in Lewis Carroll's 1865 book ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''. He appears at the very beginning of the book, in chapter one, wearing a waistcoat, and muttering "Oh dear! Oh dear! ...

* Josh Cruddas as

The Mad Hatter The Hatter is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll's 1865 book ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' and its 1871 sequel ''Through the Looking-Glass''. He is very often referred to as the Mad Hatter, though this term was never used by Car ...

* Patrice Goodman as The Queen of Hearts * Julian Zane Chowdhury as

Mowgli Mowgli () is a fictional character and the protagonist of Rudyard Kipling's ''The Jungle Book'' stories. He is a feral boy from the Pench area in Seoni, Madhya Pradesh, India, who originally appeared in Kipling's short story "In the Rukh" (co ...

Aasif Mandvi Aasif Hakim Mandviwala (born March 5, 1966), known professionally as Aasif Mandvi (, ), is a British-American actor, comedian and author. He was a correspondent on ''The Daily Show'' from 2006 to 2017. Mandvi's other television work includes the ...

Bagheera Bagheera ( hi, बघीरा / ''Baghīrā'') is a fictional character in Rudyard Kipling's Mowgli stories in ''The Jungle Book'' (coll. 1894) and ''The Second Jungle Book'' (coll. 1895). He is a black panther ( melanistic Indian leopard) who ...

* Cameron Brodeur as The Camarillo Kid * Andrew Chown as Hitch * Louisa Zhu as Dale Sweet * Kiara Groulx as Raine Watson (from ''The Disappearance of Emily H.'') * Steven Yaffee as Dr. Victor Frankenstein * Stephen R. Hart as The Monster * Ess Hödlmoser as Female Monster * Chloe Ling as Dajie * Jeff Joseph as Frank Clemons * Camilla Arfwedson as Sherlock "Shirl" Holmes * Zoe Doyle as Dr. Joan Watson *

Brett Dalton Brett Patrick Dalton (born January 7, 1983) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Grant Ward and Hive in ABC's series ''Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'', as well as Michael Munroe in the 2015 video game ''Until Dawn''. Early life Dalton gr ...

as Captain Vincent (from the ''Time Castaways'' series) *

Chris Diamantopoulos Chris Diamantopoulos (born May 9, 1975) is a Canadian actor. He played Russ Hanneman in the HBO series ''Silicon Valley'' and starred in the film ''The Three Stooges'', and the TV series ''Good Girls Revolt''. He currently voices Mickey Mouse i ...

as Owen Quinn * Kate Drummond as Genevieve Marcus * Steve Valentine as Jimmy Bones * Alain Goulem as Sergeant Belson * Rachel Wilson as Linda Quinn * Aviv Cohen as Jean Belson * Jacob Boose as The Scarecrow * Esther Ming Li as The Tin Girl *

Randall Park Randall may refer to the following: Places United States *Randall, California, former name of White Hall, California, an unincorporated community * Randall, Indiana, a former town *Randall, Iowa, a city *Randall, Kansas, a city *Randall, Minnesot ...

as The Cowardly Lion * Noah Lamanna as

The Wicked Witch of the West The Wicked Witch of the West is a fictional character who appears in the classic children's novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900), created by American author L. Frank Baum. In Baum's subsequent ''Oz'' novels, it is the Nome King who is th ...

* Joshua Zaharia as Leo El Magnifico *

Jay Baruchel Jonathan Adam Saunders Baruchel (; born April 9, 1982) is a Canadian actor, comedian, director and screenwriter. He is known for his voice role as Hiccup Haddock in the ''How to Train Your Dragon'' franchise, and for his roles in comedy movies ...

Ralph S. Mouse ''Ralph S. Mouse'' is the third in a children's novel trilogy that was written by Beverly Cleary. It features Ralph, a mouse with the ability to speak, but only with certain people, who tend to be loners. It was first published in 1982, illustrat ...

* Sydney Kuhne as

Rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...

Jean Smart Jean Elizabeth Smart (born September 13, 1951) is an American actress. After beginning her career in regional theater in the Pacific Northwest, she appeared on Broadway in 1981 as Marlene Dietrich in the biographical play '' Piaf''. Smart was l ...

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

Iain Armitage Iain Armitage (; born July 15, 2008) is an American child actor. He is known for starring as Sheldon Cooper in ''Young Sheldon'', a prequel to ''The Big Bang Theory'', and Ziggy Chapman in '' Big Little Lies''. In 2018, Armitage received the You ...

as Wilbur * Darrin Baker as Homer Zuckerman * Evan Annisette as Lurvy * Amy O'Grady as

The Sheep The Sheep is a character (arts), character, created by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a.k.a. Lewis Carroll. It appeared in Dodgson's 1871 book, ''Through the Looking-Glass'', the sequel to his 1865 book ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.'' Stor ...

* Teresa Pavlinek as

The Goose "The Goose" is a song by the funk band Parliament. It was released as a two-part single, the group's first on their new label Casablanca Records. It was also a track on their 1974 album '' Up for the Down Stroke''. The song failed to chart. L ...

* Jewelle Blackman as

Mami Wata Mami Wata (Mammy Water), or La Sirene, is a water spirit venerated in West, Central, and Southern Africa and in the African diaspora in the Americas. Mami Wata spirits are usually female but are sometimes male., p. 1. Attributes Appearance T ...

(from '' Bayou Magic'') * Farhang Ghajar as Khun-Anup

Episodes

Season 1 (2019–20)

Season 2 (2020–21)

Season 3 (2022)

Production

Development

On September 10, 2019, it was announced that Apple had picked up the revival of the 1992 series ''

Ghostwriter A ghostwriter is hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are officially credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often h ...

''. The series was written and directed by Luke Matheny, and is executive produced by J.J. Johnson, Andrew Orenstein, and Christin Simms.

Filming

Principal photography and videography of the series commenced in December 2018, and concluded during Summer 2019. Filming took place in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Bonus videos

On March 5, 2021, it was announced that a series of bonus videos called ''Ghostwriter: Beyond the Page'', would premiere on April 1, 2021.

Reception

Critical reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, season one of ''Ghostwriter'' has a 100% approval rating, with an average score of 9.5/10 based on 6 reviews.

Accolades

References

External links

* – official site
Press site
* {{Daytime Emmy Award Outstanding Children's Series 2010s American children's television series 2010s American mystery television series 2010s American school television series 2019 American television series debuts 2022 American television series endings 2020s American children's television series 2020s American mystery television series 2020s American school television series American children's fantasy television series American children's mystery television series American children's education television series American television shows based on children's books American time travel television series Apple TV+ original programming Middle school television series Reading and literacy television series Television series about children Television series about ghosts Television series by Sesame Workshop Television series reboots Television shows filmed in Hamilton, Ontario 2010s Canadian children's television series 2019 Canadian television series debuts 2020s Canadian children's television series Canadian children's fantasy television series Canadian children's mystery television series Canadian children's education television series Canadian television shows based on children's books Canadian time travel television series Apple TV+ children's programming