Turns out that bustin’ still makes Bill Murray feel good. The longtime holdout for the Ghostbusters series has been officially confirmed to be returning for Ghostbusters: Afterlife alongside nearly all his other co-stars from the original films. The news dropped with a massive interview with the actor that Vanity Fair did on the set of the new film.
Rumors of Bill Murray returning had, of course, swirled since the movie was announced last year. The actor had been a sticking point for decades in making a sequel as he claimed he wanted the script to be just right. He even held out for the all-female version until the last minute. However, with this film being a direct sequel to the first two movies and featuring Jason Reitman directing with stars Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, and Sigourney Weaver all returning, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that he too would return — except no word had come until now.
Murray explained why he chose to finally come back to the role and it’s partly because he’s known Reitman, the son of original Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman, since he was a kid, so he agreed to look at the script. “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,” Murray said. “It’s gonna work.”
How exactly it will work is still up in the air. The plot of the film can be seen in the latest trailer as the grandchildren of Egon Spengler find their deceased grandfather’s ghostbusting equipment in the basement of his old farmhouse. How the original cast play into the film is still a mystery, though Variety says their roles will be important. The movie will focus on family and legacy, especially since Harold Ramis, the actor who played Egon, has passed.
“Well, we are a man down. That’s the deal,” Murray told Variety. “And that’s the story that we’re telling, that’s the story they’ve written.”
Ghostbusters: Afterlife will release on July 10, 2020.
