Sam needs help. In a new clip from the two-part Season 5 finale of Ghosts, she and Jay turn to the town historian, Joe, played by James Austin Johnson, as they try to designate Woodstone Mansion a historical landmark to save it from demolition.
The plea comes after Woodstone was sold to what Sam calls an "evil water conglomerate," and the house now faces what the show calls an "uncertain future." The finale, split into episodes titled "Up the Creek" and "Across the Pond," airs Thursday night, May 21, 2026, at 9 p.m. ET on CBS.
Johnson’s Joe gives the pair a blunt reception. In the clip, the historian sizes up Woodstone and calls it "run of the mill" for mansions in that area — a single line that raises the bar for Sam and Jay's plan and makes the stakes concrete: if the town won’t see the house as special, a legal landmark route becomes harder to win.
The numbers and names in the episode reinforce the squeeze on Woodstone. Ghosts has been on the air since 2021; the show’s Wednesday-night comic machinery has spent five seasons building the mansion and its residents into something viewers care about. The Season 5 finale is a direct bid to protect that setting, and the episode brings back Ben Feldman as Kyle Rosenblat, with Rose Abdoo guest-starring as TV producer Paula.
Context matters here: Ghosts revolves around Sam and Jay, a couple who inherited a rundown house in upstate New York and converted it into a bed & breakfast. After a near-death experience, Sam can see the ghosts that inhabit Woodstone, and the house itself is the show’s central character. That history is what pushes Sam to pursue a landmark designation now — if Woodstone is to survive, she believes the town must legally recognize its value.
The tension is baked into the situation. Joe’s assessment — "run of the mill" — undercuts the emotional case Sam and Jay can make. At the same time Sam is fighting to halt demolition, she will be embarking on a major out-of-town work opportunity that requires her to recruit help dealing with the ghosts in her absence. That split responsibility raises the immediate question: can the couple find the allies they need in time, or will Sam’s job pull her away at the precise moment Woodstone needs her most?
The two-part structure promises an answer on screen. "Up the Creek" and "Across the Pond" will dramatize the landmark attempt, Joe’s skepticism, and Sam’s effort to marshal assistance before she leaves town. The episodes air May 21, 2026, at 9 p.m. ET on CBS, and they will show whether the landmark strategy and Sam’s hastily assembled backup can keep the mansion intact.
Beyond the finale, the show has already been renewed for season 6, which is set to premiere sometime in the winter of 2027. That renewal means Woodstone’s fate in this two-part ending matters not only as a cliffhanger but as the hinge for the next season: if the mansion survives legally and logistically, the show continues from home base; if it doesn’t, the cast and the ghosts will have to find a new way into season 6. For now, viewers will get their first verdict Thursday night, when Sam’s plan and Joe’s verdict collide on screen.
