‘Goosebumps' returns to Disney+ for a second season this week and the new season tells a completely new story.
Titled ‘Goosebumps: The Vanishing', the season focuses on twins Cece (Jayden Bartels) and Devin (Sam McCarthy) who spend the summer with their father (David Schwimmer). They soon find themselves entangled in the mystery of four teenagers who mysteriously vanished in 1994.
Ahead of the series premiere, I spoke to Jayden and Sam to find out more about their characters, discuss working with TV legends David Schwimmer and Ana Ortiz, and to discuss their favourite parts of filming…
Hello Sam and Jayden, how are you guys?
Sam: Hey man!
Jayden: Great, how are you?
I'm good, thank you. I've seen six episodes of the new season of ‘Goosebumps' and it's so good. You guys play twins Cece and Devin. Jayden – what do we need to know about Cece going into the series?
Jayden: When you first meet Devin and Cece, it's pretty apparent (they have) differing personalities. Cece has got her goals set, she's big into school, she' s determined, she's hard on herself, she has big expectations for herself and I think she's just been a one-track mind person her whole life. She's envisioned her life the way that she wants it to go and nothing really is gonna get in her way until all of the mysteries and monsters do get in her way. Cece definitely goes through a lot of self-realisation this season and she goes through finding out what's truly important to her and what truly is her self worth; finding out who she is. I think that on the outside, the twins are very different, but to their core they're very, very brave and they understand each other in a weird way, even though they're very different.
And Sam, what do we need to know about Devin?
Sam: Where we meet Devin, I think he's up in the air a little bit. I think he doesn't really know where his place is in his family or where his place is out in the world. I think he's a little bit, ‘oh wow, I don't really have a place to land here'. Over the season we see him settle in himself in the challenges. There's something about difficulty and hardship that eventually can ground us so I think we perhaps see that in him over the course of the season.
You are so believable as twins in the show and the chemistry is strong. What did you do to foster that so it appears realistic on screen?
Jayden: To be honest, it wasn't like we were like, ‘okay. How do we do this? How do we be twins?' We didn't really do that. But I do remember it was maybe the first or second day, we shot something outside and we were walking and just talking and getting to know each other. Already if we had a differing opinion, there was that bickering and that energy that siblings have where it's like, ‘I'm not mad at you, like whatever, but you're wrong. I'm right. You're wrong'. From the start, I don't know why, but we had that and it just worked. It played into it so that was a big thing.
Sam: I wish I could give you like a concoction of like, ‘here's three hairs of a lamb's tail and you have your twins'.
(Jayden laughs)
Jayden: I took one of his hairs! (laughs)
Sam: I think that's why you do a chemistry read, and pray that it works out, I guess.
Jayden: I also think it's being on set and taking time with each other between scenes to get to know each other beyond Cece and Devin. I talked a lot with him about acting and our processes and stuff. It was cool. It was really fun.
David Schwimmer plays your dad in the show. What was it like working with him?
Jayden: He's so grounded and calming to be around.
Sam: He was a balm on the whole thing. It's a big deal, well I guess it's not for him anymore, if you're number one (on the call sheet). He's kind of a leader and he would have been anyway had he not been number one, but he came in there and he was generous with us and generous with the crew and gentle and…
Jayden: … collaborative.
Sam: Yeah. It can be stressful for people, the crew and everybody trying to film a TV show, and he was a bit easier.
Not only do you have David, who is TV royalty, you've got Ana Ortiz too (best-known for ‘Ugly Betty') who plays a big role this season too. What was she like to work with?
Jayden: Yeah. We unfortunately didn't have as much work with her as we did David, obviously. I had a little bit more just because of our roles and how the storyline goes. But just knowing that these people that have had such amazing careers and know so much, and that we've learned so much from, it was like an honour. Even if we didn't have a scene together, just seeing her walk by on set was an honour. I learned so much from just seeing how they hold themselves and how they bring themselves to set. I think that if people have watched them in anything else, they'll be really excited to see them in this too.
There's so much going on this season and the show is so layered. What was your favourite part of filming?
Jayden: There's so many.
Sam: Favourite day?
Jayden: Favourite hour? (laughs) For me, that's so hard because like, I could say New York, the stunts, the friends… there's so many different things. I would say, there's not just a one favourite, but one of the big ones was the energy that New York brought to the show and filming there. Also being able to w rap and then walk to a deli, even though that to New Yorkers sounds stupid, but to someone from LA that's crazy. It was really fun.
Sam: I mean, I'm from New York, so the New York thing was cool…
Jayden: In a different way?
Sam: Yeah. We didn't shoot in Manhattan very often, but whenever we did shoot in Manhattan, I would just bike home and refuse the transportation. Favourite parts? It's hard because it's an intense, consuming experience. It's incredible and stressful and wonderful and sometimes disorienting and tiring and great.
Jayden: All the things.
Sam: It's hard to tell you because it's kind of a soup, but lot of it was awesome.
You really do both get to do so much in the show. One of the moments that sticks out for me is the car scene with you Jayden. Did you get to do any of your own stunts?
Jayden: So, actually for the car scene, for a lot of it you're not moving. You're in a completely still car, literally going like this (wobbling around) to make it look like the car is moving. That was fun and really cool. Honestly, I'm trying to remember if we did any (stunts). I think we did do a couple where the car would move slightly, but they drive very, very slow and then they take you out and put in the stunt doubles. I did get to do a lot of my own stunt work for some other (scenes) but not for that. Even just being in the car with a green screen was fun. It is pretty funny when you're in a car that's completely still, and there are people literally just shaking the car from the bottom to make it look like (it's moving), I swear to God.
Sam: People were shaking it ?
Jayden: Yeah, there's no mechanic to do that? They would just take the wheels and shake it. It was pretty funny. It's fun.
What's the one thing that you learned while making the show that you'll take away with you?
Sam: I'm going to kind of cheat. I couldn't give you a soundbitey answer on that. The thing is, you learn how to be a professional in a certain way and show up for things on a series and then you learn your creative process. It's kind of like run and gun filmmaking here. You learn what that means and you learn where the professional and the creative come together.
Jayden: It teaches you a lot about yourself. Being on a set and in the experience, teaches you so much, just as much as like a class would. It teaches you about yourself…
Sam: …more than a class.
Jayden: Yeah, sometimes and how you relate to the craft. I retweet what (Sam) just said.
‘Goosebumps: The Vanishing' premieres on Disney+ on 10th January 2025. Watch the trailer below:
