In the most recent episode of Ghosts, Thorfinn (Devan Chandler Long) begins to connect the dots after Todd (Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll) reveals something strange.
According to Todd, the mansion’s beloved singer, Alberta Haynes (Danielle Pinnock), doesn’t appear in any records before 1923. This revelation confuses the Viking ghost, so he confronts his fellow resident, who admits that Alberta is just an alias. Her real name is Esther Greene. Apparently, before pursuing a career in jazz, she was a ventriloquist. She only turned to music after a traumatizing incident that killed her puppet, Murray.
In an interview with TVLine, Pinnock revealed her reaction after she found out who her character truly was. The actress said she was shocked and thought it was hilarious. She admitted that she did want the show to do something "weird" with Alberta to spice things up a little bit. And, in her opinion, the writers of Ghosts did a fantastic job.
I was like, 'What? This is nuts!' We've done these really beautiful flashbacks for her in these last four seasons and now for Season 5, I was like, 'Can I do a little something weird?' And this episode, [writer/producer] Emily Schmidt knocked it out of the park. When I got this script, I was like, 'Puppet?! What's happening?'
Pinnock also worked with a ventriloquist coach during the table read for the episode, where they rehearsed with two puppets. The actress said she had a really fun time working with the coach and learning how to throw her voice. She explained how it was a bit stressful because she only had 4 days to learn how to be a ventriloquist, which took a lot of time and effort. However, despite her nerves, she ended up nailing it. And, she is also happy to have another skill under her belt.
The actress also offered her own thoughts regarding her puppet's "death." While Pinnock is sad that Murray is gone, she said that it was what led her to pursue her true dreams as a musician. So, the tragedy ultimately led to something good for Alberta. "Sadly, Murray is now deceased, but it's really due to her wanting to be reborn into this incredible jazz singer that she knew she was destined to be," she explained.
Ghosts airs new episodes on Thursdays at 8:30 PM ET and 5:30 PM PT on CBS.
