Ghostbusters: Afterlife will focus on a single mom and kids with a 'connection' to the original characters
The Ghostbusters franchise is getting its very own Star Wars: The Force Awakens, from the sound of it.
Vanity Fair on Friday revealed a first look at Jason Reitman's upcoming Ghostbusters movie, which has now been given the official title Ghostbusters: Afterlife. It takes place in the same universe as the original film, not the universe of the most recent 2016 reboot. Though original stars are expected to return, the film will also introduce new characters: Carrie Coon as a single mother, Callie, and Mckenna Grace and Finn Wolfhard as her two children, the "science-obsessed" Phoebe and the "gearhead" Trevor.
"They have left everything they know and moved to a small town in Oklahoma after inheriting property from the father she didn't know," the report says.
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Reitman teases that these characters will soon "discover their connection to the original Ghostbusters." That connection hasn't been made clear, but speculation has emerged that Callie is the daughter of Egon, played by Harold Ramis in the original.
Paul Rudd's role has also been revealed: he's playing a summer school teacher who was a kid when the events of the original film occurred, and "although later generations may think of it as a myth, or not think of it at all, he remembers it obsessively and is excited to pass on what he knows." That calls to mind The Force Awakens, in which the new characters are also initially unsure whether the events of the original films are myths, and at least one is a descendent of someone from the original series.
This new direction for Ghostbusters comes after the 2016 reboot was a financial disappointment, evidently prompting Sony to apply the "legacyquel" formula in this new attempt. A trailer for Afterlife is set to debut on Monday.
