Ghosts ' Asher Grodman on the softer, yet still pantless, side of Trevor and that Tara Reid cameo

On CBS' hit sitcom Ghosts, Trevor Lefkowitz (Asher Grodman), the best jawline in the afterlife, came to a particularly brutal end after he accidentally overdosed and his body was dumped in the lake by his so-called bros. We learned of Trevor's death in last season's excellent "Trevor's Pants" episode, and in this season's "Trevor's Body," we get to meet his parents and... Tara Reid?

Once Trevor's skull is found, that chiseled mandible being a literal dead giveaway, his parents Esther (Laraine Newman) and Lenny (Chip Zein) arrive at Woodstone B&B to collect his remains. Trevor's initially happy to see them, until he realizes that his parents got divorced shortly after his untimely demise. Blaming himself, he enlists the help of Sam (Rose McIver) and the other ghosts to "Parent Trap" Esther and Lenny with a memorial for him, in hopes of getting them back together.

And as for Tara Reid? Well, she was Trevor's celebrity crush and hall pass, should he ever get into a serious relationship. In tonight's episode, Trevor's heretofore unseen brother sends Tara in his stead using an app called Pop-In, which is "kind of like Cameo but for in-person appearances." Trevor is, naturally, plotzing. In the pilot of Ghosts, Trevor delivers a monologue about going to Tara Reid's birthday in Montauk in 1998. Reid re-tweeted it, saying, "This show looks fun," and now a year and a half later, we've come full circle.

EW chatted with Grodman about playing everyone's favorite pantless phantom, working with the star of the Sharknado cinematic series, who he would love to play his brother (when and if he eventually shows up), and what to expect from the season finale of Ghosts.

Emily Assiran Asher Grodman

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I love Trevor because he's a douchebag, obviously, but a douchebag with heart. Is that what drew you to the character?

ASHER GRODMAN: When I first read the pilot, I thought this was the best pilot that I'd ever read. I was like, "This is amazing because you can do anything with it." Usually you get a pilot and it's very clear from the first episode where you're heading and what the second episode is going to look like. And this one, I was like, "Wow, you can go in any direction you want." But, I looked at [Trevor] and I thought these guys know exactly who this is. They know who this character is. The only thing that I wanted to add was I think a little bit of what you're alluding to, which is, for me, I call it like his "puppy-ish" side. Because at his core, he just wants everyone to be together partying and having a good time. So I think there's a fun balance between those two things. And if the puppy part is online, you actually can get away with saying worse things. So I think that's very important. And the puppy side of Trevor is on full display when Tara shows up, he's very excited.

Bertrand Calmeau/CBS

What was it like working with Tara Reid?

It was great. She's so sweet, very kind. It's a little surreal because we aired the pilot of this thing a year and a half ago, and I remember when we did it, the Tara Reid monologue that Trevor does was making its rounds on social media, and Tara Reid retweeted it. And I freaked out. I sent it to our showrunners, Joe Port and Joe Wiseman, and they freaked out. And we were like, "We got to get her on the show!" It was also great to hear her side of what she thinks happened with Trevor. And she's like, Well, clearly they spent the night together. And that's always fun to see how someone else's imagination carries it.

Interesting, she had her own backstory with Trevor. That's cool. What was your side of the story then?

I don't think Trevor is a stereotype, but there's certainly a kind of guy who tells these big stories. And one thing that's fun about Trevor is that all the stories are true. The things that most guys would lie about, he actually did. And the things that are the mundane things of just looking out for friends, that's the stuff he lies about. So for me, I don't know that they slept together, but I'm sure they had a flirtation and something happened that night of her birthday.

You were talking about Trevor's puppy side. We see that when his parents come and you get to have that emotional backstory. Can you talk about that, learning more about that side of Trevor?

I think something that the concept of the show does, and it's this brilliant BBC concept, is that we're all basically trapped in this house like we're children. We can't go anywhere. Sam is kind of our mom and tells us what we can and can't do, and we all lack the ability to do much of anything. So we live this kind of childish existence, but it's usually a joke.

In this episode, with having Trevor's parents show up, we kind of get another side, a deeper side of feeling like a child and the helplessness, because his parents have divorced, he sees how other people in his life have evolved since his death and he feels a responsibility. And so I think there's this helplessness that comes to the forefront that he didn't expect and is a different take on it and that's very exciting to play.

Bertrand Calmeau/CBS

So we get to meet his parents, but not his brother, Jeremy, who's around and usually just hanging out at home. Are we going to meet Trevor's brother eventually? And if we do, do you have an idea who it's going to be, or do you have an idea who you want it to be?

I have no idea who it will be. I hope that it's Zach Braff. I would love for that. Scrubs was the last network television show that I watched, like really watched. And I remember being in high school and running home to see it because I just thought it was brilliant and it made me giddy watching it. So that would be amazing. And I mean, you're right, the Jeremy thing is so much fun and it's a real testament to our writers' room that they can in just a couple lines — I mean, there's really very little about Jeremy in there, but it paints so much with so little, with those few pieces of dialogue. So I hope he gets his day in the sun.

And where are things with Trevor and Hetty (Rebecca Wisocky)? Last we saw them they were getting a little hot and heavy.

There's a lot going on with Trevor and Hetty. It's funny, when we first started, before we shot the first season, our writers invited us into the writers' room to do pitches, to pitch the writers' room if we had ideas, and I didn't know this at the time, but both Rebecca and I walked into those meetings separately, but with the same pitch, which was, you got to do a Trevor and Hetty entanglement. We were not asking for a romantic thing. And we're thrilled that it's not a romantic thing, but it is certainly a sexual thing. And those two, they come from the same world, just a hundred years apart, where money and hierarchy rules. For her, it's about power, and for him, it's usually about respect and fun and what that money can buy you.

But they're on completely opposite ends of the sexually liberated spectrum. And so yeah, there are ways that they're very similar, ways that they're polar opposites. I mean, if Hetty's not so hot on the Irish, imagine what she thinks about the Jews. So that's a fun thing, too. There's so much fun to be played in it and even though they would butt heads and she tried to send me to hell, and I've tried to destroy her monopoly and all that stuff, they're also two people who would connive together, who would work together to manipulate a situation and enjoy the strategy of it. So there's just so much to mine and play with. And getting to work with Rebecca is so much fun, so I'm glad that we got to walk down this path. There's a lot more coming.

Bertrand Calmeau/CBS

Can you tell me a bit more about what's coming with Trevor's character in general?

The transactional nature of [Trevor and Hetty's] sexual liaison will continue and develop. I think that the two of them would've had a lot of fun in a House of Cards set-up. So some of the house politics and maneuvering and manipulating will play out as well. And there'll be some twists and turns.

Where do you hope things will go with Trevor? Or what do you hope to do with Trevor in the future?

Exploring the years where Trevor was brand new to the house and still learning the ropes, I find that to be very exciting. If there were years when Trevor first died and everyone hated him... I want to know how the group dynamics have shifted over time.

I asked Rose [McIver] this question so I'm interested to ask you as well. What ghost in the show do you relate to most as Asher? Which ghost do you see yourself in?

Oh God. I mean, I guess Trevor. Obviously there is a lot of overlap there and there's a lot of differences, but there is a lot of overlap there. I also got a little bit of Pete (Richie Moriarty) in me, I got a little bit of Isaac (Brandon Scott Jones) in me. Who else do I have? Yeah, I would say between Trevor, Pete, and Isaac, that's mostly where I live in that area.

Bertrand Calmeau/CBS

Any teasers for the finale?

How to phrase this? I think that there's going to be some big changes. There's a big cliffhanger headed your way, and we might even scare some people.

Any guest stars coming up in the next episodes?

Aside from legendary Laraine Newman and Chip Zein, who are playing my parents, and Tara Reid in this episode, who are all amazing — who else? Stephanie (Odessa A'zion) is coming back, the attic ghost, we're going to have some other people from last season come back. Hetty's husband (Matt Walsh) is going to return. I don't know if I can reveal anything else at this moment.

And besides Zach Braff, do you have an ideal guest star for the show?

I mean, it's hard to not want Mark Hamill to show up because he's a Ghosts fan. I mean, that would be amazing. I'm a big George Clooney fan. I would love if Clooney showed up. That's highly unlikely, but man, that would be fun.

Hey, you never know. But that's a pretty good top two. Anything else you want to say?

Yeah, I'll say this just because it's special to me. I'm really thrilled that Trevor is a character who is Jewish but is not defined by his Judaism. You'll mention eight things about Trevor to describe him before you'll get to the fact that he's Jewish. And I think that's — as anyone who's from any demographic or group or faith or culture — that's often how we would like to be seen, as who we are first. And so I love the fact that, and Trevor's got a lot of very un-redeeming qualities, but the fact that he gets to lead with that kind of stuff is a lot of fun. And there's a nuance in that. And something that's very fun in this episode that you get to see is how the rest of the house has started to learn some Yiddish. We've all rubbed off on each other a little bit.

It's also great to see how all these ghosts have been around a couple for the first time, maybe in a very long time, and now we're all coupling off, like children who are having a behavior modeled for us. We're like, "Oh, this is cool. Let's try dating now!" There is something very innocent and fun in that, that we get to explore this season, which we're enjoying.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

Ghosts airs Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. on CBS.

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