Ghostbusters without Bill Murray? Is that even possible? It’s a question the comedy actor has been asked again and again throughout his career as Sony has tried to keep the franchise afloat. The actor had a cameo role in Paul Feig’s 2016 reboot as a talk show “expert,” but this time, Dr. Peter Venkman is coming back for the first time in over 30 years for Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
While Vanity Fair was on the set of Ghostbusters: Afterlife during its fall shoot in Canada, Bill Murray’s participation in the summer flick was confirmed. He reportedly visited the set multiple times in the same week and took part in exclusive interviews with the publication. Here’s what Bill Murray said:
The script is good. It’s got lots of emotion in it. It’s got lots of family in it, with through lines that are really interesting. It’s gonna work.
It sounds like Ghostbusters: Afterlife writer/director Jason Reitman made the right call. Bill Murray will be joined by a slew of his original Ghostbusters cast-mates too, including Dan Aykroyd’s Ray Stantz, Ernie Hudson’s Winston Zeddermore, Annie Pott’s Janine Melnitz and Sigourney Weaver’s Dana Barrett. That’s just about everyone!
The only notable absences from the big Ghostbusters reunion is Rick Moranis’ Louis Tully, as Moranis hasn’t appeared in a movie in twenty years, and Harold Ramis’ Egon Spengler, who died back in 2014. Bill Murray spoke about the fallen Ghostbuster in the on-set interview with these words:
Well, we are a man down. That’s the deal. And that’s the story that we’re telling, that’s the story they’ve written.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife will certainly be connected to the original movies and serve as a direct sequel to the 1989 sequel – where we last saw the gang of ghost hunters all together. They don’t have main roles in this new movie, but rather “meaningful” ones. Dan Aykroyd previously teased just how intertwined the summer release is. He said the new generation are “the actual descendants of the original Ghostbusters.”
The blockbuster is helmed by Jason Reitman, the son of the director of the original pair of movies, who is calling Ghostbusters: Afterlife a “love letter” to the ‘80s classics. The movie will center on a family consisting of single mother (played by Carrie Coon) and her two kids Trevor and Phoebe (played by Captain Marvel’s Mckenna Grace and Stranger Things’ Finn Wolfhard).
Since the two kids have curly hair reminiscent of Egon Spengler, many fans believe they’ll be related to the late Ghostbuster. Paul Rudd is also part of the cast, playing a teacher named Mr. Grooberson who has documented the Ghostbusters phenomena. The plot of Ghostbusters: Afterlife involves a series of unexplained quakes in an Oklahoma town.
Get excited to see Bill Murray in Ghostbusters: Afterlife in theaters on July 10.
