Who Is Patience? Mary Holland Cast as Puritan Spirit, Dean Norris as Sam’s Dad

Ghosts fans were gifted a not-so-spooky surprise during the show’s San Diego Comic-Con panel as it was announced that Mary Holland and Dean Norris will guest star in the fourth season as Puritan ghost Patience and Sam’s (Rose McIver) father, Frank.

As fans will recall, Season 3 concluded with a major cliffhanger surrounding Revolutionary War ghost Isaac (Brandon Scott Jones) who was snatched out of Woodstone’s basement by the vengeful Patience who he’d previously ditched in the dirt years before. With CBS’s casting announcement comes a deeper understanding of who Patience is.

According to the network, Puritan Patience died in the late 1600s and while alive, she was exceedingly severe and judgemental even by Puritan standards. As such, she was expelled from her village for “being a bit too much.” After being dead for a couple hundred years, she was unexpectedly abandoned by Isaac underground, as mentioned above, and has since become a feral creature “roaming the dirt” since 1895. Holland’s guest-starring gig will come in the form of a recurring Season 4 role.

CBS

In Season 4’s premiere, fans will officially meet Patience and find out her plans for Isaac. Meanwhile, Norris’ character Frank will arrive for his first visit with daughter Sam in years, bringing his new girlfriend along for the stop at Woodstone. Frank and Sam have struggled to stay close since Frank divorced Sam’s mom when Sam was just 10 years old.

While Frank and Sam maintain a cordial relationship on the surface, deep down she resents her father for being absent. After decades of insisting “everything was fine,” Sam is finally compelled to confront her feelings when a new ghost at Woodstone forces her into an awkward conversation with Frank.

The panel where this news was announced featured stars Utkarsh Ambudkar, Richie Moriarty, Román Zaragoza, and Rebecca Wisocky alongside showrunners and executive producers Joe Port and Joe Wiseman. As previously revealed, Season 4 of Ghosts will premiere on Thursday, October 17 at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.

For those less familiar with the fan-favorite comedy, Ghosts tells the story of Sam and Jay (Ambudkar) who inherit the rundown mansion known as Woostone in upstate New York, which they decide to transform into a bed & breakfast. After a near-death experience, Sam has a sudden ability to see ghosts, uncovering an eclectic group of spirits within the home, among which are Isaac, Pete (Moriarty), Alberta (Danielle Pinnock), Trevor (Asher Grodman), Sasappis (Zaragoza), Flower (Sheila Carrasco), Hetty (Wisocky), and Thorfinn (Devan Chandler Long).

Don’t miss what’s next for them all with the addition of these new guest stars and let us know what you think about these Season 4 reveals, below.

Ghosts, Season 4 Premiere, Thursday, October 17, 8:30 p.m. ET/PT, CBS