Elvira Shares How the Vampy 'Mistress of the Dark' Really Celebrates Halloween (Exclusive)

Forget The Great Pumpkin, Cassandra Peterson thinks her iconic character Elvira is becoming the Spooky Season’s equivalent of Santa.

On Saturday, Oct. 19, the actress, 73, was among the Groundlings alumni at the legendary improv troupe’s 50th anniversary celebration in Los Angeles, where she spoke with PEOPLE about her hopes for Elvira’s lasting legacy.

“There’s a lot of new stuff coming in 2025,” Peterson revealed. “I have two books and two movies and maybe I’m exaggerating, but somehow I have the feeling that Elvira is getting into Santa Claus mode and that [she] maybe just around every Halloween with or without me.”

Cassandra Peterson in March 2024 and as Elvira in 1983.

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic; Aaron Rapoport/Getty

Peterson created a sexy goth persona back in 1981, when she was hired to host a weekend horror program for LA TV station KHJ-TV. Peterson’s weird commentary and jokes about the B-movies shown on the show backfired Elvira’s cinematic macabre became a hit and launched the character to stardom. She starred in two feature films based on that character in 1988 Elvira: Mistress of Darkness and in 2001 Elvira’s Haunted Hillsas well as multiple TV revivals of her original horror hostess format.

Over the decades, Elvira has become a camp cult icon, and Peterson hopes her character will outlive her.

“I feel like the Elvira brand is kind of set, and I hope it’s going to be around long after I’m gone,” she told PEOPLE.

Elvira says her worst encounter as a celebrity was with Ariana Grande

Cassandra Peterson as Elvira in 2013.

Barry King/WireImage

At the same time, Peterson suggested that the character could be inextricably linked to her, noting that she tried to pass the torch to her 2007 reality series. The search for the next Elvira.

“It was a huge bomb and it didn’t work!” Peterson said. “We chose someone who was very funny and very sweet, and no one wanted to hire her. It was kind of sad. I thought, ‘What a brilliant idea. Get someone younger and go outside and play [Elvira].’ It just didn’t work.”

The winner of ‘The Search for the Next Elvira’ April Wahlin 2019.

Daniel Knighton/FilmMagic

Ariana Grande ‘disheartened’ by Elvira’s inappropriate behavior years ago, recalls having an ‘anxiety attack’

Never miss a story — subscribe to PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Elvira has really become a Halloween staple, with celebrities like Kylie Jenner and Lizzo masquerading as the Mistress of Darkness in recent years.

But for her part, Peterson said she’s looking forward to a “calm” Halloween this year. “When Halloween falls on a weeknight, I’m lucky enough to stay home on Halloween and actually see trick-or-treating,” she said. “For the last three years, I was able to do that for the first time ever. So, I love it.”

“When it’s a weekday, Halloween is the weekend before,” she explained. “So, of course I’m working that weekend, but I’m going to stay home [on Oct. 31]. I decorated my house and then waited for trick-or-treating.”

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education