It would be an understatement to say that the last time the Ghostbusters appeared on the big screen, the reactions were a little divided. Paul Feig’s female-driven reboot turned out to be one of the most contentious movies of the decade, and when it bombed at the box office it appeared that the trolls had won, especially when the cast and crew weren’t shy in admitting that the backlash greatly hurt Answer the Call’s chances of success.
Those same fans are now firmly back on board for Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which will act as a direct continuation of Ivan Reitman’s first two installments, with his son Jason behind the camera to keep it in the family. The first trailer promised a balance between relying on nostalgia and bringing something fresh and exciting to a franchise that’s been around for over 35 years, but audiences will have to wait a whole lot longer to see for themselves what’s in store after the Coronavirus pandemic saw the movie pushed back by eight months to March 2021.
After the strange creative choice to have all of the returning cast members play completely different characters when they appeared in Feig’s reboot, Afterlife will be getting the gang back together for real this time, and in a recent interview, Dan Akroyd promised that the movie will honor the memory of original star and co-creator Harold Ramis, who passed away in 2014.
“To have that formation without that man standing right there on the line with us was a pretty serious adjustment. He will be very well represented in the new film, I can tell you that. He’s very honorably represented. It’s just a lot of fun to see these terrific young actors slinging the old Cadillac around and having the equipment in their hands. The story that develops from that is scary and funny, and heartfelt and also funny. And it feeds into the possibility of having more follow-ups with this group, and with others who want to join.”
Based on the footage we’ve seen and the official synopsis, it looks as though the small-town farm that the new characters move into will have belonged to Ramis’ Egon Spengler, which seems like a hugely fitting way to both honor his contributions to the franchise and provide the connective tissue, while still allowing Ghostbusters: Afterlife to stand on its own merits and expand the mythology even further.