Heat ’em up! After a thirty year absence, the original Ghostbusters are back. Well the original timeline is, at least, in this first trailer for Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
While this direct sequel to Ghostbusters 2 will reunite original cast members Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, and Annie Potts (but not Harold Ramis, who passed away in 2014), the first trailer for this modern day reboot doesn’t show them. Instead, it lays the groundwork for the premise: a struggling single mother (Carrie Coon) moves to rural Oklahoma with her two kids (Captain Marvel’s Mckenna Grace and Stranger Things’ Finn Wolfhard) when a farm property is left to her by a now-deceased father she never knew (it’s safe to assume that father would be Ramis’s Dr. Egon Spengler).
There, strange paranormal activity starts to happen. Before long, the kids discover the original Ecto-1 Ghostbusters car hidden in a barn and, joined by a local teacher (Paul Rudd) who’s been obsessed with the Ghostbusters since he was a kid, some horror-action ensues. (The comedy, apparently, will be forthcoming in another trailer…right?)
Directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Jason Reitman (Juno, Up In The Air), son of original series director Ivan Reitman, this new entry back into the original timeline (that ignores the events of the all-female Ghostbusters from 2016) looks to lean into the supernatural genre elements as intensely as the first two films did, all with a modern style.
This trailer also reveals a fun casting addition: Tracy Letts. The Lady Bird and Ford v Ferrari actor has two neat tie-ins to the material: he’s a native of rural Oklahoma and he’s married to star Carrie Coon.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife opens next summer on July 10, 2020.
