It's very cool that we're getting a follow-up to director Ivan Reitman's GHOSTBUSTERS and GHOSTBUSTERS II, and that it's the director's son Jason Reitman who has taken the helm of the new sequel, GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE. Original Ghostbusters Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Ernie Hudson are confirmed to be in AFTERLIFE, as are their co-stars Sigourney Weaver and Annie Potts. But there is a touch of sadness to this long-awaited return of the original characters, because there's one Ghostbuster missing – Harold Ramis, who played Egon Spengler. Ramis passed away in 2014.
If you've watched the trailer for AFTERLIFE (and if you haven't, it's embedded above), it is pretty clear that Jason Reitman and co-writer Gil Kenan have made sure that the absence of Egon and the memory of him will be an important part of the film. There's even a shot of his Ghostbusters jumpsuit in there.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Aykroyd said,
To have that formation without (Ramis) 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."
The new film stars Mckenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard, and Carrie Coon as a family that
moves back home to a small town. While there, they begin to learn more about who they are and the secrets of the town itself.
The trailer has some strong hints as to how this family is connected to the original Ghostbusters. Akyroyd told EW that Jason Reitman is
passing the DNA of the first two movies directly to the new generation. 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 more follow-ups with this group and with others who want to join."
Also in the cast are Paul Rudd, Bokeem Woodbine, Celeste O'Connor, Logan Kim, and Oliver Cooper.
GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE had been scheduled to reach theatres on July 10th, but it was pushed back to March 5, 2021 due to the pandemic.
In the meantime, Aykroyd has a documentary series called Hotel Paranormal that's scheduled to premiere on the Travel Channel on July 11th.