With Ghostbusters: Afterlife set to bring the iconic franchise next year, new details have started to emerge about the film and its relationship to the larger Ghostbusters world. With the first trailer for the film set to be released next week, several photos and details about the plot have been officially released, and they're starting to paint a revealing picture of the upcoming film.
As confirmed by Vanity Fair, the film is set in the continuity of director Ivan Reitman's original 1984 film, unlike the 2016 Paul Feig directed reboot which set its action in a different universe. In the upcoming film, director Jason Reitman will pick up on one of the threads from the original movie, the Manhattan Crossrip. From the giant Stay-Puft Marshmellow Man to the stream-crossing final act that saved the day, the climax of the original film will have some sort of connection to the new movie, which takes place 36 years later.
While the Manhattan Crossrip will have a presence in the film, Afterlife won't be set in New York. As early teasers have suggested, the film will primarily take place in a more rural area with plenty of farmland. The film will follow a family that includes mother Callie (The Leftovers’ Carrie Coon), her son Trevor (Stranger Things' Finn Wolfhard), and her daughter Phoebe (I, Tonya’s McKenna Grace). While the farm has some ties to the family, it's also where the Ecto-1, the iconic Ghostbusters van is ended up in a state of disrepair.
Reitman strongly suggested that Callie is the daughter of one of the original four Ghostbusters.
“As the family arrives at an old farm, they begin to discover their connection to the original Ghostbusters,” Jason Reitman told Vanity Fair. “Trevor and Phoebe are about to find out who their grandfather was and whether they’re ready to pick up the proton pack themselves.”
While the director didn't say who the family was related to, it's worth noting though, that Coon, Wolfhard and Grace all bear a resemblance to the original film’s Egon, portrayed by the late Harold Ramis. Since Ramis co-wrote the film with Dan Akroyd, this could be a way to address his missing presence.
Ernie Hudson, Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, Sigourney Weaver and Annie Potts are all confirmed to be reprising their roles, while Rick Moranis (whose acting credits have mainly been limited to voice-over roles the last few years) isn’t likely to be returning.
While the article doesn’t reveal if these ghost-busting Manhattanites will travel to the old farm town, it offers an intriguing take on how modern people view the Manhattan Crossrip. Apparently younger generations aren’t entirely sure it even happened, but there will be another new character in Ghostbusters: Aftermath who has a link to the incident.
Paul Rudd will play Mr. Grooberson, Trevor and Phoebe's teacher who has a fixation with the Manhattan Crossrip. He was a kid when it happened, but thinks about it constantly and wants to pass on what he remembers to younger generations. One picture even shows him holding an authentic. antique ghost trap, which clearly hasn’t been used for decades.
At the moment, it's not clear if this film simply isn't addressing the events of Ghostbusters II or ignoring that film altogether, Afterlife seems to be actively trying to summon the spirit of the original film/
Ghostbusters: Afterlife is directed by Jason Reitman, who also co-wrote the film with Gil Kenan. Starring Finn Wolfhard, Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd and Mckenna Grace, the film arrives in theaters July 10, 2020.