According to Rebecca Wisocky, the writers of “Ghosts” took extra time to help her assemble Hetty’s arc. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in April, Wisocky was proud to announce that the show’s writing team involved her in the crafting of Hetty’s backstory, though she wasn’t expecting the truth about her death to be this tragic. “They’ve done some last-minute surprises on us in the past, and this one [came] about a month before we shot the episode. [Creators] Joe Port and Joe Wiseman came to me and said, “We think that this is the direction that makes sense to go in with this.” And I was blown away, I was not at all expecting it,” said Wisocky.
The actress added that she seeded Hetty’s fear of loneliness and abandonment throughout the first couple of seasons. She was pleased that the writer’s room picked up on it, as co-workers like Brandon Scott Jones noted she nailed Hetty’s character from the get-go. Wisocky said that this comes full circle for Hetty, who realizes that in revealing the truth of her death, she’s rescuing Flower, saving her from a life of loneliness. “For them to explore, after 150 years of close friendship with these ghosts, she’s going to reveal the secret to save Flower from being doomed to an eternity of abandonment and aloneness … It just was very moving to me.”
Though part of Hetty’s backstory is out there, Wisocky seems excited to see how Hetty’s story plays out in the years to come. And with “Ghosts” already renewed for a fourth season, fans will have fun finding out where those roads take them.