Utkarsh Ambudkar Interview: Why He Almost Said No to Ghosts, Revisiting Pitch Perfect & More

Similar to Sheila Carrasco, I’ve been lucky enough to have many lovely short group conversations involving Utkarsh Ambudkar, but I’ve been itching for a longer one-on-one sit-down with the Ghosts star to discuss his journey in film and television, and it finally happened with the conclusion of the hit CBS show’s fourth season.Ambudkar’s Jay has been through a lot since Ghosts kicked off in October 2021. He learned his wife (Rose McIver) could see ghosts and powered through countless ghost-sparked shenanigans with Sam serving as the intermediary until he finally got the chance to see them for himself courtesy of an exorcism hiccup. On top of that, Jay’s also hit a number of key personal milestones. He opened a B&B with Sam, took a significant step forward with his father (Bernard White), and opened his dream restaurant. Trouble is, Jay also inadvertently signs a deal with the devil at the end of Season 4, a deal that will likely have Elias (Matt Walsh) out to kill him in Ghosts’ fifth season.There’s much to love about Ghosts, but one of the show’s greatest achievements is finding the ideal lead ensemble. Not only does every ghost actor play their role to perfection, but the show is expertly anchored by its living leads - Rose McIver and Utkarsh Ambudkar. In fact, the duo are so successful at making Sam and Jay so uniquely their own, it came as a shock when Ambudkar revealed that, initially, he passed on the project. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since the dawn of the genre, women have soared in horror. So, what better way to celebrate the return of one of its most iconic franchises than with a very special edition of Collider Ladies Night, hosted by the queen of screams herself, Perri Nemiroff? For this exclusive advanced screening edition of the interview series, Nemiroff spoke with the stars and longtime franchise producer Sheila Hanahan Taylor for Final Destination Bloodlines, the first sequel in 14 years, just in time for the 25th anniversary of the OG.After watching the movie, stars Brec Bassinger (Stargirl), Kaitlyn Santa Juana (The Friendship Game), Anna Lore (Gotham Knights), Rya Kihlstedt (Superman & Lois) and Taylor joined Nemiroff on stage for an in-depth conversation about the legacy of the Final Destination franchise, from the significance of casting lesser-known actors to bringing a very particular level of realism to this Death-defying narrative.In this discussion, Taylor, who has worked on every Final Destination film, spanning nearly three decades, talks about working with directors Adam Stein and Zach Lipovsky (Freaks), and explained why Bloodlines was a much different experience than the first film. The cast also discusses the inner workings of those gruesome Final Destination death sequences, the joys of working in horror, why certain deaths and even characters had to change from script to screen, and tons more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

[Editor's note: The following contains spoilers for Final Destination Bloodlines.]Brec Bassinger’s been racking up impressive film and television accomplishments since she was 13, but Final Destination Bloodlines is bound to send her star soaring even higher for a multitude of reasons.Bassinger is at the heart of one of the movie’s most highly anticipated set pieces - the opening premonition. As a young Iris, she takes us back to 1969 when her boyfriend, Max Lloyd-Jones’ Paul, attempts to whip up a very special night. He surprises Iris with a visit to the Skyview, a restaurant that sits atop a 500-foot steel-beamed tower, and proposes to her. However, soon after their magical moment, a penny sets off a chain reaction that ultimately kills everyone in the restaurant and brings the entire structure down.Due to the genius “bloodlines” concept, that’s the extent of Bassinger’s involvement in the movie. When the opening destruction concludes, the film shifts to the present day, where Kaitlyn Santa Juana’s Stefani experiences the Skyview disaster in the form of a nightmare. Yes, we do get an older version of Iris, played by Gabrielle Rose, but as far as Bassinger’s direct contribution to the movie goes, she gets a single sequence to make an impression - and she does, big time.Yes, the opening Skyview disaster is a production feat that’s packed to the brim with widely impressive effects and stunts, but a big reason why all of that work hits so hard is because Bassinger doesn’t waste a second filling out Iris’ world and sparking a meaningful connection with the viewer. That level of engagement ensures Final Destination Bloodlines' opening premonition isn’t just a cool horror set piece, but one with some real emotion and meaning.In celebration of Final Destination Bloodlines’ big release, Bassinger joined me for a Collider Ladies Night conversation to revisit her days on Nickelodeon, to discuss making DC’s Stargirl, and to dig into every ounce of her unforgettable Bloodlines performance. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After four seasons worth of lovely, but short and sweet group conversations, the time has finally come - I got to sit down with Ghosts star Sheila Carrasco for a lengthy conversation about her journey to the hit CBS comedy, and to dig into all of the wonderful things she's already accomplished playing Flower on the show.While Carrasco's Flower remains an impossibly lovable hippy, Season 4 continues to remind us that while she may be forgetful, Flower is often the smartest in the room. She proves as much in Season 4, Episode 18 when she outwits Trevor (Asher Grodman) and Hetty (Rebecca Wisocky) and winds up doubling the $5,000 Trevor gives to her. On top of that, we mustn't forget, while living, Flower attended law school and that could make her the ghost who's best suited to help Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar) with that Season 4 finale cliffhanger.Check out Sheila's Collider Ladies Night interview for loads of information on that, some of Flower's biggest Season 4 moments, and also a breakdown of her journey from being an NYU student to a series regular on a beloved CBS show. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

[Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for Thunderbolts*.]One of the very best parts of having a returning guest on Collider Ladies Night? Realizing how much they’ve accomplished during such a short period of time. Geraldine Viswanathan made her first Ladies Night appearance in 2020 for The Broken Hearts Gallery and since has completed a four-season run on Miracle Workers, starred opposite Zach Galifianakis, Elizabeth Banks and Sarah Snook in The Beanie Bubble, headlined Drive-Away Dolls with Margaret Qualley, made Oh, Hi! with Molly Gordon which secured distribution out of Sundance 2025, and now she’s part of one of the biggest film franchises of all time, the Marvel Cinematic Universe.Viswanathan makes her first MCU appearance as Mel in Thunderbolts*. She’s Valentina Allegra de Fontaine’s (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) extremely attentive and diligent assistant. Initially, she seems quite loyal too, but when Bucky (Sebastian Stan) suggests Mel secretly slip him information on Val in hopes of having her impeached, eventually, Mel concedes. While that choice may suggest Mel’s willingness to double-cross her boss, ultimately, she changes course again, pushing the button that saves Val’s life from the Sentry (Lewis Pullman).So where does Mel stand? Does she skew more villain than hero? Does she still admire Valentina? That’s exactly what I dug into with Viswanathan during her second Collider Ladies Night interview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Yvonne Strahovski says it herself. “She's hateable.” Serena’s run throughout The Handmaid’s Tale is absolutely littered with questionable and, in some cases, heinous decisions. But, this is the power of a force like Strahovski. Sometimes, in between terrible choices, Serena will get an opportunity to turn to the light, and even after everything she’s done, you can’t help but hope she finally reaches out, takes the lifeline, and forges a better path forward. However, time and time again, she back pedals and becomes consumed by self-righteousness, often at others’ expense, and Season 6 is no different.At the top of the Emmy-winning series’ sixth and final season, Serena was close to finding a way out. She winds up on a train to Alaska with June (Elisabeth Moss) where she can get a fresh start with Noah. However, old habits die hard and her behavior ultimately exposes her identity and turns the train passengers into an angry mob. Thanks to June, she manages to escape the riot, but rather than continue her pursuit of a new path forward, she returns to Gilead to settle in Commander Lawrence’s (Bradley Whitford) New Bethlehem. While she’s promised things will be different there, it quickly becomes clear that that’s not the case, something Serena’s own leadership tactics perpetuate.With The Handmaid’s Tale nearing its big finish, Strahovski returned to Collider Ladies Night to dig into some of Serena’s biggest moments in this final go-around, and to reflect on her experience tackling the character for six seasons. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Yellowjackets features some of the very best ensemble casting across the board, but there’s no denying we got an extra special duo in Liv Hewson and Lauren Ambrose. At the start of the Showtime and Paramount+ series, Van Palmer was not meant to make it out of the wilderness alive. However, thanks to Hewson’s screen presence and creative spark, it became abundantly clear that they deserved more time to shine. Not only did the showrunners shift gears and have Van survive the wolf attack in Season 1, Episode 7, but at the start of Season 2, they revealed that Van makes it home from wilderness with the introduction of Ambrose’s present-day version of the character. From that point on, we’ve enjoyed a breathtaking level of connectivity between the two actors.However, as of Season 3, Episode 9, “How the Story Ends,” the time of Van Palmer being a dual role has ended. The character doesn’t succumb to her cancer diagnosis, but rather, is stabbed by Hilary Swank’s present-day Melissa. It’s a crushing end for a fan-favorite character, one that Ambrose admits, doesn’t offer closure, but because it was never meant to. However, Ambrose herself has found peace in the feeling that she “was just handing [Van] back to Liv.”With all of Yellowjackets Season 3 available to stream on Paramount+, and with the show’s Emmy campaign picking up steam, I got the opportunity to welcome Ambrose to Collider Ladies Night. During our 40-minute chat, we revisited some pivotal moments of her career, many of which pointed toward a deep appreciation of the rehearsal process. And, it turns out, that love of rehearsing is what helped her and Swank figure out how to play Van’s death and deliver a scene that feels “crackling and real and exciting and weird.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Yellowjackets has a phenomenal team at the helm. Showrunners Ashley Lyle, Bart Nickerson and Jonathan Lisco do a top-tier job steering the ship. However, one thing that’s been apparent since the very beginning is how much their ensemble cares about their characters. It’s a level of passion, dedication and collaboration that undoubtedly bolsters their presence in the show and their impact on the narrative. A prime example of that? How Liv Hewson changed the game for their character, Van Palmer.In May 2023, Hewson became the very first guest on Collider Forces, a show they inspired. Collider Forces is a Collider Ladies Night spin-off series designed to use a similar style of conversation to highlight even more need-to-know voices in this industry, ones that are changing it for the better. Hewson’s inspired significant change in recent years. Change for themself, change for non-binary representation in Hollywood, and also a significant change to the Yellowjackets narrative. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sophie Nélisse’s Shauna Shipman has been through quite a bit since crashing in the wilderness at the start of Yellowjackets, and in Season 3, all of that heartbreak, fear, and anger comes to a head in a very dangerous way for everyone around her. After losing Jackie (Ella Purnell) and her baby, Shauna is consumed with rage, and discovers she has a taste for power, the dangers of the wilderness, and the blood-soaked thrills it offers. That results in her consistently hurting other characters to get what she wants.Just to name a few, she has it out for Mari (Alexa Barajas) all season, she essentially bullies the other Yellowjackets into voting Coach Scott (Steven Krueger) guilty of burning down the cabin, and in one of the most crushing scenes of the season, she shatters Melissa’s (Jenna Burgess) heart, putting an end to the ShaunaHat romance. It’s cruel and often unforgivable behavior, however, Nélisse insists that she’s still rooting for Shauna, and her reasoning ties to an essential building block of a good villain figure. “You see all of her roots and all of the reasons that led her to the person that she is in the third season.” She added, “I wouldn't say that everything that she's done is obviously forgivable, but I understand where it all stems from.”During her visit to Collider Ladies Night, Nélisse weighed in on the fan reaction to Shauna’s behavior in Yellowjackets Season 3, shared her devastating take on the demise of ShaunaHat, and also revealed what 90s Shauna would think of who Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) is in the present day. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Courtney Eaton’s Lottie Matthews continues to be one of the most enigmatic characters in the Yellowjackets ensemble, making her one of the most exciting to track. And while it’s nearly impossible to explain away all of Lottie’s choices and actions, especially in Season 3, the character is still shockingly grounded courtesy of the fact that Eaton understands her and has successfully established an anchor for the character via her own intuition and instincts as an actor.As Eaton noted during her first Collider Ladies Night appearance for Yellowjackets Season 2, “Lottie does everything from the best place. She's trying to give her heart to everyone. It might not come across in the right way sometimes, but she's always well intentioned.” Does that thinking still apply when it comes to axe murder, ruining the group’s chance of recuse, pushing Travis (Kevin Alves) to the brink, and then some in Season 3? Eaton does, indeed, hold tight to that mentality. “[Lottie] knows that the best version of herself is once she's connected [to the wilderness] and that can help the group.”During her second go-around on Collider Ladies Night, Eaton digs into how that thinking influenced Lottie's choices this season, offers her thoughts on Lottie possibly being the one who burned down the cabin, confirms how far Lottie walked over the pit during that scene with Travis, reveals if Lottie was really trying to help Mari during the hunt, and so much more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.