Ghostbusters 2020 Passes the Torch to “Actual Descendants” of Original Ghostbusters

Jason Reitman’s Ghostbusters 2020, sequel to father Ivan Reitman’s original Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II, will hand the mantle to a new generation and the “actual descendants” of the original Ghostbusters, reveals producer Dan Aykroyd.

“Well, we really need to hand it to a new generation, and we didn’t do that,” Aykroyd told ET Canada of Paul Feig’s female-led reboot. “And although the girls’ movie kept the concept and the ideas alive — it was really good, they were great in it — it wasn’t like giving it to the new generation, the actual descendants of the original Ghostbusters. So we’re going to link to the DNA, old and new there.”

Ivan Reitman, also involved as producer, says his son’s sequel will “expand” the original iteration of the franchise with a return to the continuity established in 1984’s Ghostbusters.

“I think it’s a wonderful story that people continue to be interested in, 35 years after we came out with the first one,” Reitman said. “And I think we’re trying to expand it a little bit, and I think Jason’s movie does that.”

Unlike the reboot — led by Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon as the new foursome of Ghostbusters — this third entry in the franchise is about a family.

“We don’t have four new men. No, this is a story about a family,” Reitman said, adding, “I don’t think gender is going to be an issue in this movie at all.”

GB20 instead focuses on a small town family, comprised of characters played by Mckenna Grace (Captain Marvel), Finn Wolfhard (IT Chapter Two) and Carrie Coon (Avengers: Endgame).

Writer-director Jason Reitman previously teased the family has a mysterious connection to the original Ghostbusters, saying at Fan Fest in June, “You don’t know their connection, and they don’t know their connection yet either.”

After Reitman published the first on-set cast photo at the start of shooting in mid-July, Twitter users were quick to notice the round glasses worn by Grace’s character bear a striking resemblance to the pair worn by founding Ghostbuster Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) — leading to suspicions the family are related to Egon.

“Jason came up with this idea, which is just so good, everybody got it right away and understood. It will connect, better than anything, to the first movie,” Aykroyd previously told GameSpot. “That’s about all I can say about it, but the two movies will connect, in a way that hasn’t been done before.”

Aykroyd has since confirmed his return as Ray Stantz in the new movie. Also confirmed to return is Ernie Hudson as Winston Zeddemore.

Franchise newcomer Paul Rudd will play a seismologist and part-time summer school teacher drawn to the family’s small town by “mysterious earthquakes,” the elder Reitman said when revealing new story details.

Sony Pictures opens Ghostbusters 2020 July 10, 2020.