No, Split River High in School Spirits is not a real school. It is a fictional location in Vancouver, Canada.
The 2023 series, School Spirit, is a high school drama based on an afterlife of students who passed away on the premises throughout a hundred years of its establishment.
The central character, Maddie, is a 16-year-old high school student whose spirit is trapped inside the campus. She enters school one day and realizes spirits are trapped inside the school.
She is accompanied by a fellow student, Charlie, played by Nick Pugliese, who is also her guide for the new spiritual world.
Soon, she comes across another student Rhonda (Sarah Yarkin), and the three become friends.
After realizing the situation of her existence, Maddie (Peyton List) decides to investigate her disappearance.
On the verge of seeking answers, she comes across the place of her disappearance and realizes that the truth of her demise was cruel than it looked.
Is Split River High In School Spirits A Real School?
Split River High is not a real school on School Spirits. The school was created from an old, renovated police training center.
The name of the school is also fictional. The school campus has all the recreational places and classrooms exactly how a typical school should look like.
Once you look at the scenes, it is hard not to mistake it for a real school.
As mentioned, this story is about an afterlife experience of a student who looks forward to solving her murder.
As shown in the trailer, she was shocked to learn about the parallel world, which used to be a non existing thought in a usual mindset.
Now, she’s in it and haunting her high school; it adds a more bizarre experience for her.
Although the school is fictional, it gives a good feeling of a real high school. And so does the actors; they have played their role so well in looking exactly like their given characters.
They look like real high school students from their get-ups to hairstyles and accents.
The school itself gives more definition to the story. As the actors are doing their best to represent the character, the school makes it more accurate and gives an authentic feel to the viewers.
As shown in the trailer, Maddie is victimized in the school’s boiler room. And the corridors leading up to the room also make it more interesting.
Overall, the campus around the school plays a significant role in the crime drama. It helps the audience connect to the scene.
Where was School Spirits Filmed?
School Spirits was filmed in a old training facility for the Canadian police in Vancouver, Canada.
The location was used as Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and Vancouver Police Department training centre before becoming the prime location for the series.
It is located around Heather Street between 33rd and 37th Avenues, Vancouver, Canada. The shooting was completed in November 2022.
In an interview with MTV News, Peyton revealed that, she, Nick Pugliese, and Sarah Yarkion had the whole area to themselves.
They had amazing time bonding around the vicinity and their hotel rooms.
The three of them wondered around the hallways and classroms and just goof around the school on their own.
The shooting wrapped up in Novemeber 2022.
Vancouver offers geographical diversity and efficiency and goverment subsidies for filming. Vancouver’s climate is also perfect for shooting, and the time zone matches with Los Angeles, California.
Hence, there are several movies and television shows shot in Canada. Big-budget production films like Deadpool, 50 Shades of Grey, and Star Trek were also shot in Vancouver.
Similarly, CW’s Batwoman, Nancy Drew, and Riverdale were also filmed in the same location.
School Spirits Casts
Actress Peyton List is the center of the series. She plays the character of Maddy, a young student who loses her life mysteriously in her school.
Similarly, she is met with a guide in her afterlife, a fellow student, Charlie, played by actor and producer Nick Pugliese. Nick is known for Dramarama, and 13 Reason Why.
Likewise, Sarah Yarkin is also in the series. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre actress portrays the role of Rhonda in the drama. Besides, she has acted in Happy Death Day 2U, and Eat, Brains, Love.
Besides these three main characters, we can see Milo Manheim as Wally Clark. Milo rose to fame after his character Zed in the Disney Original Movie Zombies franchise.
Is School Spirits Based On A Graphic Novel?
Yes, School Spirits 2023 is based on a graphic novel of the same name authored by Maria Nguyen, Nate and his sister Megan Trinrud.
Maria Nguyen is a comic artist and an illustrator from Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. She collaborated with the Trinruds for their forthcoming paranormal murder mystery novel.
The siblings were born and raised in Rock Island, Illinois, on the bank of the Mississippi river. Nate Trinrud is a trained actor and writer. He completed his bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University School of Communication.
Likewise, he earned his master’s degree in television production from the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
The siblings’ duo usually work together in film and television series. They co-authored the novel and created the TV show together.
Similarly, his sister Megan is a producer, professional writer and filmmaker. She has a Master’s in fine arts and a bachelor’s degree in English language and literature.
Per Deadline, the novel School Spirits will supposedly release in the fall of 2023.
Synopsis
Episode one, “My So-Called Death”, is the pilot of the story. In this episode, Madie goes missing, and everyone in the school gossips about her disappearance.
Meanwhile, her boyfriend Xavier is acting strange as he cheats on her with cheerleader Claire.
Although he is doing his best to provide the authorities with the possible suspects and answers, it is shown that his actions are weird and shallow.
Similarly, Madie’s best friends Nicole and Simon, who had a plan with her, are desperate to find their friends. The primary characters are introduced in this episode, and the story slowly builds up, leading to the actual incident.
At the end of episode one, Simon, who is very much alive, can see Maddie’s spirit, which progresses the story to the second episode.
While Maddie and Simon can communicate with each other, she realizes the timeline of her passing. Maddie remembers walking out of the boiler room to the hallway leading to the study hall, where her mother was waiting for her.
She remembers not knowing why her alcoholic mother visited her in school. Meanwhile, Xavier and Claire are talking to each other about Maddie’s death.
Although the killer is not revealed, it is shown that either Claire or Xavier might be the ones who hurt the poor girl.
While searching for clues on her murder, Simon and Maddie find a piece of her phone in Xavier’s old auto shop.
By the end of three episodes, it is established that something weird happened between Maddie, Xavier, and Claire.