Ghost Nation Stars Open Up About Season 2 and Who Should Play Them in a Movie

Paranormal enthusiasts first met investigators Jason Hawes and Steve Gonsalves in the SYFY series Ghost Hunters, which paved the way for a renaissance of reality series featuring explorations of things that go bump in the night. The pair reunited for the new Travel Channel series Ghost Nation last year, bringing Ghost Hunters alum Dave Tango along for the ride, to continue to seek answers for seemingly unexplainable occurrences. As compared to other series out there, the Ghost Nation team always prioritizes debunking events that are much more rooted in reality in hopes of giving relief to homeowners, while also researching the history of the homes they are investigating.

"In this second season, we also wanted to maintain our original focus, which is taking on cases where we are actually helping people, not necessarily just running to try to get the best piece of paranormal evidence or piece of whatever's gonna push the field (forward)," Gonsalves shared during a press event in which ComicBook.com participated. "This was very much places that we could help, and impact the people and clients directly and the teams that need help around the countries. We wanted to make sure we were still getting cases from the teams, and not just chasing places ourselves."

The investigation methods might be similar in the upcoming season to what audiences have already seen, but the pair promise that they are always looking for the latest tech to help them with investigations.

"We're always testing out new pieces of equipment and trying to see how they could benefit us in the field and also help push the field forward," Hawes pointed out. "We're always working on new types of equipment. There's going to be some new pieces of equipment that we'll be introducing this season as well, because it's always about not sitting stagnant, it's always about trying to push the field forward. We're always looking for that new, epic piece of equipment."

The popularity of Ghost Hunters allowed the team access to previously unexplored places as the series progressed, with the Ghost Nation team expressing their excitement at the opportunities to go into places that teams have never gone before.

"I love going to the place we've never investigated before, because we're going in, there's no expectation of anything," Hawes admitted. "We're going in being the first and being able to get our hands on it. A place that's been investigated a thousand times really isn't that exciting to me. So many different people have either pulled out evidence or already have been able to figure out what's truly going on. Us going in first, no idea what we're gonna be dealing with, trying to figure all the answers ourselves, I think that's the most exciting ones."

Gonsalves echoed, "There's a different energy, and I don't mean a paranormal energy, I mean an energy amongst the investigators that — places that haven't been investigated before, especially by us, there's just a different excitement about them. But it has pros and cons, places that have been investigated and haven't. One of the trappings of investigating a place that has been investigated quite a bit is that half of the stories, or half of the claims, come from the paranormal teams. And you're not quite too sure of how strict their evidence collection is. You may be chasing around a voice of someone named 'Bob' who died in a certain room. But then maybe that team didn't do their proper research and that person never died in that room."

One of the joys of the Travel Channel series is, as the world is under quarantine, we can safely travel to these creepy locations. Given that they aren't watching their own series, the pair revealed what they've been consuming while self-isolating.

"For me, a lot of horror movies, the classics, watching some newer ones too, I've been liking those," Gonsalves detailed. "Free horror movies, TV shows, catching up on Better Call Saul's latest season. I like GLOW a lot, it's a lot of fun. Some of the paranormal shows, it's interesting because I know they do some really good history, and it's interesting to see. You know, there isn't anybody on paranormal television that I'm not talking to, so it becomes kind of weird sometimes. You turn the TV on, it's like, 'I talk to Amy [Bruni] and Adam [Berry] all the time, do I wanna watch them on television [in Kindred Spirits] too?' So we're not really doing that too much. I gotta get to the rest of Better Call Saul, I think that's where I'm at."

Hawes added, "I'm the same, I normally watch horror movies and, when it comes down to TV, I'll watch things like Shameless and things of that nature, but I honestly stick to some of the older shows, which I find that I'll watch over and over again everything from Justified to Boardwalk Empire, things like that. Those are my usual go-tos, Dexter, one of my favorite shows of all time."

The world of ghost hunting has regularly served as the setup for horror movies, and with reality series sometimes being adapted into other formats, the pair shared who they thought could potentially play them in a dramatization of Ghost Nation.

"I remember years ago, somebody kept on saying, well they were bringing it up and kept on saying that Michael Chiklis should be me," Hawes revealed.

Gonsalves joked, "I have a lot people, back when I was a little heavier, told me that Seth Rogen would be good. I guess we had a similar facial build. But I don't know, that's a good question. Maybe Nathan Lane, or somebody goofy."

Season Two of Ghost Nation premieres tonight on the Travel Channel at 8p.m. ET.

Are you looking forward to the series' return? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!