Something strange is happening in the neighborhood. Time to call the Ghostbusters. Sony has just released the final trailer for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. While it’s been addressed in past trailers and TV spots that this new evil entity that is taking over New York City can scare people to death, and there’s been a mention of a “ghost army,” this final trailer emphasizes that every ghost that the Ghostbusters have ever caught will be unleashed. This provides an opportunity for the film to showcase old fan favorites as well as make references to the wild, unique ghosts of The Real Ghostbusters cartoon and toy line. The notion of “every ghost they ever caught” sounds like an ultimate final conflict, but director Gil Kenan has stated that he already has ideas for sequels beyond Frozen Empire.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife stars Finn Wolfhard and Mckenna Grace are back for the sequel, reprising the roles of Trevor and Phoebe. They’re joined in the cast by Carrie Coon, playing Trevor and Phoebe’s mom Callie; Paul Rudd, back as his Afterlife character Gary Grooberson; William Atherton as Walter Peck, the antagonistic EPA inspector from the first Ghostbusters film; Celeste O’Connor as Trevor’s friend Lucky Domingo; Logan Kim as Phoebe’s friend Podcast; Annie Potts as Janine Melnitz; and new additions Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick), Patton Oswalt (The King of Queens), James Acaster (Hypothetical), and Emily Alyn Lind (Doctor Sleep). And yes, original Ghostbusters Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Ernie Hudson are in the film as well, and it looks like they have more prominent roles than they had in the previous movie – in fact, the director has said they’re “actual characters” in this one.
At first, Afterlife director Jason Reitman was expected to take the helm of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, once again directing from a screenplay he was writing with Gil Kenan – but then it was revealed that Kenan would actually be directing the new film. He previously directed the animated movie Monster House, the live-action films City of Ember, A Boy Called Christmas, and the remake of Poltergeist, and an episode of the Scream TV series. Kenan has said that he drew inspiration from the Real Ghostbusters animated series and its willingness to be weird and wild when they were coming up with the ghostly threats in this film.