Dan Aykroyd is not only one of the original stars of the Ghostbusters franchise, but also one of its creators and biggest champions, even through some of its rough moments. Despite having returned for both Ghostbusters: Afterlife and this year’s Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Aykroyd has now seemingly called time on both his and fellow OG star Bill Murray’s time as part of the Ghostbusters’ future.
Aykroyd’s candid comments came in an interview with Ghostbusters News, when he reflected on the way the franchise has evolved over the years. Although he played a larger part in Frozen Empire than Afterlife, it seems that the Ghostbusters franchise’s future will continue on without both him and the inimitable Murray. Asked about the chance of them both suiting up again, Aykroyd said:
“I don’t see that coming. I don’t see where they would need us to carry it on. They’ve got a whole new cast, and they’ve got whole new ideas.”
Aykroyd originally came up with the idea for the 1984 movie, and later reworked the idea to come up with the final script with the late Harold Ramis. Since then, Aykroyd has also been a part of the production team behind several video games and the 2016 reboot, but he now believes the time is right for things to move on. He added:
“I think probably they’re going to move on to advancing it beyond the originals, which they should.”
Ernie Hudson Has No Intention of Leaving the Ghostbusters Behind
While there will no doubt be many fans who are disappointed with this news, as Aykroyd says, time moves on, and it has been only through some kind of miracle that audiences have been able to see the surviving members of the original team come back together for two more adventures. Now it is time for the next generation to take the wheel, but perhaps they will not be entirely on their own.
Ernie Hudson is still set to be a huge part of the franchise going forward, and in a recent interview with ComingSoon.net, he even suggested that he could be returning very soon as Winston Zeddemore. He shared a conversation between himself and producer Jason Reitman about the upcoming animated Netflix series, saying:
“I told Jason, ‘Don’t ever let anybody do Winston’s voice unless I’m gone. Like, gone for real.’ Yeah, I don’t know what happened with the original [Real Ghostbusters] thing, there are a lot of stories or whatever. I believe the director wanted Arsenio [Hall], he was a friend of his. Maybe, I’m not sure, but the studio felt that none of us original Ghostbusters would even think of doing an animated [show.] That might be true for the other guys who made a lot more money than I did, but I love doing voice-over work and I’d be very heartbroken if anyone voiced Winston from this point moving forward.”
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Whether this offers a glimmer of hope for seeing Aykroyd and Murray also lending their voices to their respective characters of Ray Stantz and Peter Venkman is something that we don’t currently know. However, one thing that does seem certain is that the Ghostbusters franchise is here to stay, and will be around for some time to come.
- Release Date
- March 22, 2024
- Cast
- Mckenna Grace , Carrie Coon , Annie Potts , Paul Rudd , Emily Alyn Lind , Bill Murray , Finn Wolfhard , Ernie Hudson , Dan Aykroyd , Patton Oswalt , William Atherton , Kumail Nanjiani
- Studio
- BRON Studios, Columbia Pictures, Ghostcorps