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Here is what we all know about the Ghostbusters: 1) they ain’t ‘fraid of no ghosts; 2) bustin’ makes them feel good; 3) their names are Ray Stantz, Peter Venkman, Egon Spengler, and Winston Zeddemore. Certainly, the franchise has tried several times over the past 40 years to change point number three, most obviously with the 2016 reboot movie, but also with the addition of Egon’s family members in the recent movies Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. But in every case, audiences largely rejected anyone who wasn’t part of the team that took down Gozer in 1984.
The upcoming animated series Ghostbusters: Night Shift might be the franchise’s best chance to finally move beyond the original. According to the synopsis that Sony Animation posted to their Instagram, the series takes place in 1994, when “a group of scrappy New Yorkers must suit up, face their fears, and bust some ghosts.”
The nature of that threat isn’t clear yet, but one of the images included with the post might give us some clues. We see a massive humanoid with flames leaping from his head (think DC Comics‘ Firestorm, but the Blackest Night version). It sits in the middle of New York City, dangling what appears to be a citizen in its hand.
If ghosts such as this are popping up, then it’s easy to see why citizens would be strapping on proton packs to help. But who are these citizens? Again, the Instagram post provides the only information we have thus far. We see six figures walking away from the camera, all with the traditional Ghostbusters work suit and gear. At least two appear to be people of color, while the one tossing a ball to a dog looks like a child, while another riding on a skateboard presents as a teenager or a young adult.
Despite the lack of detail, we can tell one thing about these characters: they aren’t Ray, Winston, Egon, or Venkman and that could be a problem. Even though Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Harold Ramis, and even Bill Murray have had some involvement in each of the sequel and reboot movies, their limited screen appearance has not yet functioned as a proper hand-off. In fact, the only iteration of the franchise since the first movie was the animated series The Real Ghostbusters, which featured stylized versions of the core four. As soon as the continuation Extreme Ghostbusters tried to branch out into new characters, the series met a quick end.
However, Night Shift‘s setting may allow Ghostbusters to move on from the original characters while still retaining some of the first movie’s strength. The series takes place five years after Ghostbusters II, the same amount of time that elapsed between the first two films. That means that we’re only a decade after the founding of the Ghostbusters, and the quartet can still be around instead of scattered to parts unknown, as is the case for the recent movies. Yet, that’s also enough time for a new generation to come in right behind them, making for a cleaner line of succession.
Will that proximity to the originals be enough for audiences to accept this new cast? We can’t tell, but if the franchise wants to be anything more than an ’80s spirit haunting the new millennium, then Ghostbusters has to show us something we don’t know already.
Ghostbusters: Night Shift streams on Netflix in 2027.
The post Ghostbusters: Night Shift Can Move the Franchise Beyond the Core Four appeared first on Den of Geek.
