Ghostbusters: Afterlife’sEnding Begs to Be Discussed

If you ’re like me , you ca n’t stop consider about the third act of Jason Reitman ’s Ghostbusters : Afterlife . Heck , I first saw it back in Augustand I still ca n’t get it out of my pass . So much wild clobber happensand I ’m delight that with the film presently in theaters , I can eventually talk about all of it with you . Because there ’s a lot to talk about . plainly , mega spoiler follow

How does Ghostbusters: Afterlife end?

After a whole picture of endeavor to compute out why Egon Spengler depart his Ghostbusting friends in New York to move to Summerville , Oklahoma , his granddaughter Phoebe ( Mckenna Grace ) and her friends figure it all out . Egon gain Summerville would be the place Gozer — the net villain from the original Ghostbusters — could retort to take over the humanity . So he spend his life delaying that with elaborate engineering science , include a farm - sized ghost trap . However , he was unable to stop the event and died attempt to do so . Thankfully , Phoebe and her friends deliver the day , with thehelp of the original Ghostbusters .

Is Gozer in Ghostbusters: Afterlife?

Yes . The trailer had hinted at it , both with an ominous statue and arm — not to cite the cellular inclusion of Gozer ’s good pals , theTerror detent — but Gozer does come back in the film . And she ’s a smattering . However , many thing about the villain ’s return did n’t ride well with me . First of all , Gozer coming back undercuts the importance of the first film in a direction . If the Ghostbusters did n’t in reality defeat her , what was the full stop ? They just delayed her ? Afterlife intimate that she has proceed to come back over the century , including appearances in 1984 and 2021 . So is that lot ? Was she destined to be defeated all these times ? We get that it ’s nerveless to see this intimate villain again but it ’s badly perplexing .

It ’s also odd that while she repay the same room she did in the first movie , with theGatekeeper and the Keymaster(this time contract over Paul Rudd ’s Mr. Grooberson and Carrie Coon ’s Callie ) getting together , somehow she ’s more powerful now . When the original Ghostbusters regress and cross the streams to overcome her , it does n’t lick . She ’s somehow able-bodied to physically separate them . Is that because , for some ground , this time she did n’t countenance her foes prefer their destructor ? We do n’t lie with . And that ’s a problem .

Who played Gozer in Ghostbusters: Afterlife?

Though she ’s not actually credit , that is indeed Tron : Legacy headliner and Booksmart conductor Olivia Wilde in the part of Gozer this fourth dimension around .

What happened to the original Ghostbusters?

One of the biggest questions going into Afterlife is why are n’t the original Ghostbusters around anymore ? Well , there are lots of levels to that question . First of all , we receive out that after Egon left them and stole all their poppycock , the grouping kind of disbanded . Ray ( Dan Aykroyd ) went back to his Christian Bible shop , Peter ( Bill Murray ) became a professor of marketing , and Winston ( Ernie Hudson ) started some Brobdingnagian company and became ultra - rich . We assume it is n’t until Phoebe hollo Ray that they kind of reunite .

A question we had on top of that was , why did history forget them ? You would imagine action at law of the Ghostbusters in 1984 , and then again in 1989 , would have changed the world . They fundamentally rise there was liveliness after death and save all mankind from wipeout . And yet , none of these untested characters have heard of them ? The earthly concern does n’t study them ? We asked co - writer Gil Kenan about this . “ The case that remove position about Dana ’s apartment , the street of Manhattan , it ’s sort of ancient history in the style that a slew of global consequence are to a young hearing today , ” he said . “ It take a fresh story , a new focusing to make those things relevant and count . So part of it was just being aware we had an audience that is not growing up with this as an inevitableness , but that this is just part of the larger sweep of chronicle . And this is a way to allow youthful character like Phoebe and Trevor , Podcast , and Lucky to be able to come up to speed . ”

“ But the other part of it is there ’s a form of cool , flippant , Ghostbusters attitude about that , ” he continue . “ Which is you ’re in the present moment , it might seem like this is the end of the world but then a couple of years afterward a plane go down , something uncollectible happens , and history is like one of those gargantuan gumballs where you ’re just set up the next piece of manducate gum on it . And after 10 yr , 20 twelvemonth , let alone 37 , the spell of gum you put there in 1984 might be obscured by a few million other piece that have kind of gone up around it . ”

Just as Trevor looks under the hood of the Ecto-1, we look under the hood of Afterlife.

Just as Trevor looks under the hood of the Ecto-1, we look under the hood of Afterlife.Image: Sony Pictures

Why don’t we see more of the Ghostbusters in the film?

Obviously , if you were going to let in them , we would have loved to see more of the original Ghostbusters in the movie — but it ’s not their floor . We experience this story through the middle of Phoebe . However , as a result , when Peter , Ray , and Winston magically look at the goal , it feel kind of jarring , despite the other set - up . atomic number 27 - author Gil Kenan told io9 about it . “ We want to check that that the audience did n’t have more information than Phoebe and her crew , ” Kenan pronounce . “ So it ’s important that their relationship with Egon is touch on on but beyond that , the remainder is sort of the audience ’s kinship with them over the years . The less we articulate that and the more we leave it for the audience to fill in the blanks , it leaves elbow room for the intelligence operation of the fan to build it up in their own imagination . ” look , did he say Egon ?

Does Egon appear in Ghostbusters: Afterlife?

Arguably the most shocking reveal in Ghostbusters : Afterlife is that , yes , we see ( but do n’t hear ) the ghost of Egon , play by the late Harold Ramis . To be fair , his presence plays a monolithic role in the flick up to that point . For example , in the very first scene , Egon gets killed , and right before we see the film ’s title card , we see the PKE Meter illumination up . Egon is there as a ghost , hence : “ Afterlife . ” He then not only plays chess with Phoebe and helps her prepare the proton pack , but he helps Trevor ( Finn Wolfhard ) with the Ecto-1 , and leads Callie ( Carrie Coon ) into the basement to show he bonk her . So when we ultimately see Egon materialise to help Phoebe defeat Gozer it ’s not exactly a surprise in the context of the film itself , but it certainly might be a surprise as an interview member .

Of course , the master reasonableness it would be a surprisal is that Ramis reach out in 2014 . That was really one of themany reasons a Ghostbusters continuation like this took so long ; he co - make the dealership with Akyroyd and so it take on age for the people involve to OK a return to this mankind . Once they did , they made a movie that ’s about him , his family , and perish on the bequest . It ’s literally dedicated to his memory . The appearance is plain done with the farthest esteem and admiration and is meant to be touching … but , I do n’t know . It just felt weird to see the ghost of a man who was actually beat , peculiarly since it was done so far after his death and made to look like he might have looked at the time of his passage . The effects are great , it ’s care tastefully , but it just leave me sense like Afterlife fit one footprint too far into the nostalgia . Many rooter will plausibly disagree .

Does Rick Moranis show up in Ghostbusters: Afterlife?

Though the moving-picture show ’s trailers bring out Annie Potts was return at Janine , and rumor were that Sigourney Weaver would come out as well , one person we were n’t sure of was Rick Moranis as Louis Tully . Well , unfortunately , Moranis is not back , though his helmet from the first pic does make a cameo .

Who else cameos in Ghostbusters: Afterlife?

You mean besides the ghost of Harold Ramis and Olivia Wilde ? Yes , there are a few more cameos . First up is Oscar - achiever J.K. Simmons as Ivo Shandor , a crucial figure in Ghostbusters lore ; he ’s the man who built Dana ’s building in the first moving picture , which was meant to assist summon Gozer . In this film , we learn the material for the construction came from Summerville . He also build the whole townspeople , which is why Egon move there . In fact , his trunk is still in the quite a little cave where Gozer ’s gate is and , somehow , remains in fantabulous experimental condition . He even comes back to life once Gozer returns but she does n’t care about this follower of hers . She rips him in half .

Casting such an unbelievable role player in such a all important role only for him to be dispatched almost instantly sure score it seem like there may have been a more elaborate backstory or subplot cut out . But both Kenan and Reitman told us that ’s not the case . “ Nothing was cut out , ” Reitman told io9 . “ It is a complicated endeavor to take on this franchise , which mean so many different things to different hoi polloi . And as a resultant role , we are trying to address the desire and want of every type of somebody who is going to see this pic . And at the same time , try out to just have a ripe metre , examine to come up at it with just pleasure all the time and affect the hoi polloi that we love working with . ” That obviously use to Simmons , who has now seem in eight of Reitman ’s nine features .

The other big cameo is Sigourney Weaver . She does n’t appear in the text of the moving picture but has her name in the credits which , of course , gets a reaction from the audience because we have n’t seen her yet . That brings us to …

Graphic: Jim Cooke

Image: Sony Pictures

Does Ghostbusters: Afterlife have post-credit scenes?

Ghostbusters : Afterlife has two post - credit scenes . The first post - credit sequence sees Dana Barrett , played by Weaver , administering the same test Peter Venkman give to his students in the first Ghostbusters , to Venkman himself . It ’s a very cunning conniption that has zero bearing on the plot and only nurture unanswerable questions for the time to come . Are these two together now ? Are they just friends ? Where ’s Dana ’s son , Oscar ? We do n’t know and the flick does n’t tell us .

The 2nd post - credit scene is arguably more perplexing . It begins with a blue-pencil scene from the original Ghostbusters , now restored and install here , with Janine giving Egon part of a gift before they battled Gozer . In the nowadays , she still has one-half of the talent and is play with it while reminiscing with Winston in his plush office . We determine that he ’s become so successful he still pays for Ray ’s rental and that all his success never made him palpate as good as his sentence as a Ghostbuster . abbreviate to the old Fire House which , it seems , Winston now owns and the Ecto-1 rolls in from Summerville . He promises to add it back to full condition and then we see a carmine lighter blinking in the ghost containment system of rules on a lower floor . The implications here are fairly obvious . Winston might try and bring back the Ghostbusters in New York in some form . And the flushed blinking Inner Light paint a picture that there could still a ghost or two linger in the containment center . Or something . We ’re not 100 % sure . But the roundabout , blanket implication is “ More Ghostbusters come . ”

What about those new Ghostbusters?

Ah yes , the new part . By the end of Afterlife , Phoebe at least , but maybe also Trevor , Podcast ( Logan Kim ) and Lucky ( Celeste O’Connor ) have kind of become Ghostbusters , thanks to the blessing of Venkman . But all we have sex about what ’s next for them is it seems they give the Ecto-1 back to Winston . The pic grant very little stoppage on their story except that Phoebe and Trevor finally know their grandfather loved them and they were able-bodied to action his wishes in saving the world from Gozer . Which should be enough but , after expend a whole movie with these characters , we sure would have loved a scene or two of them decompressing after what just happened .

Will there be a Ghostbusters Afterlife 2 / Ghostbusters 4?

After its very impressive opening weekend ? It seems likely . The question is , which story will it peck up ? The one in Summerville or the one in New York ? Jason Reitman says his movie is meant to set all that up and more . “ One matter I wanted to do is set the table for Ghostbusters as a franchise to have all variety of movies , ” Reitman told io9 . “ I want to see all those motion-picture show . And we need to do something that really was about setting a foundation and get the original 1984 history to a stead so that other stories could bloom . I want to see the scary movies , the curious films . I want to see movies involving the original plaster bandage . I need to see more pic imply people we have n’t even seen yet . I desire to go to novel dimensions . I require to go to other cultures and land . There ’s so many places for Ghostbusters to go . And the question is , what ’s the starting place ? That ’s what Afterlife is about . It ’s about these multiplication ca-ca indemnity with each other in a style that bring one story to close and get going another one . ”

What questions do we have after watching Ghostbusters: Afterlife?

candidly ? So , so many . Who is Phoebe and Trevor ’s dada ? Who is Callie ’s mom ? What did she see in Egon ? Why did Egon make all those upgrades to the Ecto-1 if he was by himself ? Why was it important to remain out of touch with everyone ? Will Gozer be back again since she come back this meter ? Why did the Stay Puft Marshmallows become mini Stay Puft Marshmallow man in the Wal - Mart when none of the other food did ? We could go on and on .

finger detached to talk about any of those and more below . Ghostbusters Afterlife is now in theater only .

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Image: Sony Pictures