Ghosts: Asher Grodman on the Poignancy of Trevor’s Missing Pants [Interview] (2024)

Please note this interview contains spoilers for Ghosts Season 1 Episode 16.

Ghosts‘ reign has been unprecedented, with the spooky sitcom offering viewers the finest chaos and comedic timing on television. Yet, the mystery surrounding one particular spirit and his unfortunate lack of pants has haunted fans for months.

So, how did Trevor lose his pants? As it turns out, the answer is far more poignant than we could have expected.

It was not an out-of-control rager or a supermodel threesome but a scared friend in need that led Trevor to sacrifice his pants before his demise. It seemed a fitting reveal for the character, who was never quite what his party persona suggested.

At first glance, Asher Grodman’s Trevor Lefkowitz seems like a stereotypical finance fraternity-bro, and the ghost would tell you as much. But thanks to this in-depth character study and a moving performance from Grodman, we now know Trevor’s missing pants are more than a fleeting punchline.

I had the opportunity to discuss the exposing nature of this Trevor-centric episode with T-Money himself, the comforts of acting without pants, and the importance of cultural identity onscreen.

However, it was castmate Brandon Scott Jones’ praise for the actor’s performance that Grodman and I touched on first.

In a recent interview with us, Jones couldn’t say enough kind things about Trevor’s upcoming mystery, praising co-star Grodman as a “talented, amazing, funny actor, and so technically great” who gave “an amazing performance.”

“Yeah, he’s an asshole,” Grodman joked before touching on how meaningful their offscreen bond has been. “I love him, and we got a chance to go to the Super Bowl together, which was also a lot of fun. He is, all kidding aside, one of my favorite people on the planet.”

“Brandon is a dear friend that someone immediately admires. I was so touched by what he said — I was just glowing.”

Those bonds proved vital when getting Ghosts off the ground amidst a raging global pandemic, and Grodman assures the camaraderie amongst the cast has made the experience an unforgettable one.

“We were supposed to shoot this pilot in March of 2020, and then the world shut down. So going through living in the uncertainty of the pandemic and wondering if we were ever going to make this show that we all thought was really special, that was difficult,” he admitted.

“This cast was the light at the end of the tunnel for each other. So to go through this journey in making the show and then experiencing the fan reception makes it so much more meaningful. We’ve become this family, and we have a blast. So I feel like I’ve got a ten-person family. I’m really lucky to have them.”

And it stands to reason the characters and the cast’s onscreen chemistry have thrived thanks to the collaborative nature of this close-knit group.

“As the season goes on, you see how we get to know each other as a cast. The writers also get to know us, and specific flares from the actors end up in the characters. So it becomes this dance between the actor and the writer, which is so much fun to be part of.”

“Trevor’s Pants” finally provided answers as to where Trevor’s trousers went with a character study that explored a very different group dynamic than fans are used to seeing.

“We spent the build-up to shooting the season investigating what is this family dynamic of the ghosts because they’ve been together for so long. So, how do they relate to each other? What are the relationships that exist within them? This episode was a chance for me, especially, to start exploring how Trevor fit into the family with which he lived,” Grodman clarified.

“So it’s a whole new dynamic, and with TV, we shoot fast. So it was this rollercoaster through another dynamic, and the guest stars in this episode are amazing — Rob Huebel is so good. Then you get Julius Cho, Brian Cook, Robert Bazzocchi, and Blair Penner also rounding out the group.”

The reveal that Trevor didn’t lose his pants having limousine sex, but rather, during a moment of generosity helping a friend is shocking in its sweet simplicity. The twist was something Grodman and the creators had toyed with for some time.

“Our showrunners, Joe Port and Joe Wiseman, had asked me, ‘How do you think he lost the pants? How do you think he died?’ I pitched them some ideas, and I am so glad that they ignored all of them because what they came up with is so much better,” he remarked. “Joe and Joe are so good at taking these things, these funny moments, and turning them on a dime into something that’s poignant.”

“They found a way to make a missing pair of pants a commentary on hazing, bullying, and how group dynamics can be supportive and destructive.”

As for Trevor’s choice to condemn hazing in his final moments alive, there is a larger story to undress there.

“The inspiration for this episode actually came because Joe Port’s father was the pledge master at his fraternity at UPenn. And he, in the sixties, outlawed hazing,” Grodman revealed.

“That was an unpopular move at the time. His frat was not thrilled with it because a lot of them, as you see in the episode, were like, ‘Wait, I had to go through this. These new guys should have to go through it, too’ but he stood on principle. So the episode in many ways was inspired by Joe’s father.”

Trevor walks the line as the sitcom’s stereotypical dude-bro, but Ghosts refuses to indulge in the typical character trappings associated with that persona. For Grodman, avoiding those same archetypes in his audition was crucial.

“When I first like got the audition, I had the script, and the writing was so good, but I kind of saw where I think a lot of people who auditioned for it would go and play up the douchiness, play up the finance kind of fratty, party-it-up nature of him — and my take was kinda like, that’s there. The writing is so good, and I don’t have to worry about that all that much.”

When establishing his take, Grodman viewed Trevor as more of a puppy because “he’s always looking for a good time.”

“He’s really loyal as you see in his episode, he’s loyal — almost to a fault. He is looking to connect with everyone in the room. So I tried to bring more of that little brother energy to him, which hopefully has added layers,” he said.

Now that Ghosts has secured that well-deserved Season 2 renewal, Grodman will be spending a lot more time in Trevor’s wardrobe, or lack thereof. It is a fact he feels he is at “peace” with, “In the beginning, it was a comfort because I had never done a comedy before. So, I was like, ‘Well, if I’m not funny, at least I won’t be wearing any pants.'”

The ironic depth Trevor’s lack of clothes brings to the character is something Grodman embraces: “There’s freedom in the fact that this guy who says these things that can be very objectifying, he is already objectified, right? So he’s brought down a few pegs and is somewhat harmless.”

“It gets cold, and there are lots of bugs when we’re shooting outside — but I’m still at peace with it. There’s also a comfort, and I shouldn’t say comfort, but as an actor, you gotta take risks every day — got to try stuff — and it’s very hard to sleepwalk through your job if you don’t have pants on,” he confessed.

“So it’s always like an espresso shot in the morning taking ’em off.”

The most prominent mystery of Trevor Lefkowitz’s identity has been solved, but Grodman confirmed the ghost’s trajectory would continue to surprise us. “I say that because I know what is coming up, but also I know I’m working with some great people,” he explained.

“I had been doing this for 18 years before this show came along, and so I’ve read a lot of pilots. Typically, you read the pilot, like, ‘Okay, I know where you’re going with this.’ When I read Ghosts, there was an infinite number of possibilities; you cannot predict where our writers are going. When you have good writing, that’s a perk, and I think you will keep being surprised.”

There is one particular aspect of Trevor’s identity, one fans may overlook, that the actor was grateful to bring to life. “It’s also really thrilling for me to play a character who’s Jewish, but not like the stereotype, which I think adds another layer to him as well.”

“Usually, there’s a Jewish character in a project, and their Judaism is what defines them, right. You’re in a world where everyone’s Jewish. So for me, like, and I remember when I was a kid, wishing that Batman or Indiana Jones was secretly Jewish. I feel so lucky that I get to play this character who I identify with from a cultural standpoint, but also is more than just that culture.”

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Ghosts airs Thursdays at 9/8c on CBS and is available to stream on Paramount+.

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Ghosts Solves the Season’s Biggest Mystery — What Happened to Trevor’s Pants?