‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ trailer blends new generation with nods to original

Ghostbusters: Afterlife
(Image credit: Sony Pictures)

Cue the theme song, because the Ghostbusters are back with a new film, Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Fans get their best look yet at the franchise reboot with the latest trailer, which does a good job of blending the new characters that will serve as the focal point of the story while also making plenty of call backs to the original films from the 1980s. 

In Ghostbusters: Afterlife, a single mom and her two kids move to a small town in the house that their grandfather left them. Little do they know that their grandfather was Egon Spengler, one of the original Ghostbusters. As ghosts start to emerge in the town, the kids find the Ecto-1 and other classic Ghostbuster gadgets to take the ghouls on.

Director Jason Reitman is filling the shoes of his dad, Ivan Reitman, and helming this new generation of Ghostbusters (Ivan Reitman is serving as a producer). The cast, meanwhile, is led by Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard, McKenna Grace, Carrie Coon and Paul Rudd.

The kids are definitely the stars of this reboot to the Ghostbusters franchise, but the trailer previews many great nods to the original films, including Annie Potts as loyal Ghostbuster secretary Janine Melnitz, some tiny Stay Puft Marshmallow Men as well as other familiar ghost faces like a Zuul dog and possibly Slimer (though he's not green, so who knows). You’ll also probably recognize the voice that comes in at the very end of the trailer.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife is set to play exclusively in theaters on Nov. 11.

This is the second reboot attempt of the Ghostbusters franchise in recent years. Back in 2016, Paul Feig directed a female-led Ghostbusters film featuring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones. The film certainly wasn’t beloved, especially compared to the 1984 original, but it unfortunately got a lot of toxic backlash at the time regarding its all female cast.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife reverts back to the original storyline and characters, just fast forwarding to the present day. It’s also nice that the film is staying in the family with Reitman’s involvement.

All of the previous Ghostbuster films are available to rent online.

Michael Balderston

Michael Balderston is a DC-based entertainment and assistant managing editor for What to Watch, who has previously written about the TV and movies with TV Technology, Awards Circuit and regional publications. Spending most of his time watching new movies at the theater or classics on TCM, some of Michael's favorite movies include Casablanca, Moulin Rouge!, Silence of the Lambs, Children of Men, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Star Wars. On the TV side he enjoys Only Murders in the Building, Yellowstone, The Boys, Game of Thrones and is always up for a Seinfeld rerun. Follow on Letterboxd.