Jason Reitman’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife has become the latest franchise blockbuster to find critics and fans in complete disagreement, with the 63% score awarded to the hybrid of sequel and reboot being comfortably dwarfed by a 95% user rating, so audiences clearly got exactly the movie they were expecting.
The most succinct way to describe the third canonical installment in the series would be as the Star Wars: The Force Awakens of the Ghostbusters universe, in that it relies heavily on nostalgia and callbacks to what came before, while telling a brand new story that’s still regularly and heavily indebted to the opening installment.
Crowds went wild when Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and Bill Murray showed up in Afterlife, even though we’ve known for over two years it was happening, which is a testament to the enduring popularity of the supernatural investigators. The second post-credits scene set Hudson’s Winston Zeddemore up for a return in a sequel, and in an interview with Yahoo! Movies, the veteran actor outlined his hopes for what comes next.
“Clearly, it’s a new family’s movie so I don’t know if any of the old Ghostbusters can be major players – but being involved as mentors in some way would be a lot of fun. He understands the Ghostbusters better than anyone. He’s almost like Sam Jackson’s character in the Marvel Universe. Whatever comes out of it, I’d love to see Winston connected to it.”
It’s revealed in Ghostbusters: Afterlife that Winston has become a successful and very wealthy businessman, and having returned to the original team’s HQ at the end of the film, he’s well-placed to oversee the next generation.