Finn Wolfhard Worried He’d Miss Out on Ghostbusters 2020 Because of Stranger Things

Finn Wolfhard initially worried his time as a pretend Ghostbuster in Season 2 of Stranger Things meant Ghostbusters 2020 director Jason Reitman wouldn’t consider his audition tape.

“I was auditioning, and for that exact reason, I thought, ‘Jason Reitman is probably not even going to look at my tape because I’ve already done it in Stranger Things,’” Wolfhard told The Hollywood Reporter. “I guess he just identified a lot with my tape, and it ended up working out for the best.”

Reitman has since debuted the first photo from his sequel to father Ivan Reitman’s 1984 and 1989 franchise entries, showing Wolfhard posed alongside co-stars Mckenna Grace (Captain Marvel) and Carrie Coon (Avengers: Infinity War), who comprise a small family with a mysterious connection to the original Ghostbusters.

“Finn Wolfhard, what more can I say about Finn Wolfhard than who he already is? He’s perfect,” Reitman said at Ghostbusters Fan Fest in June, where he revealed first details behind his core cast of characters.

“It’s very hard for me to articulate right now because I can’t tell you anything about what the movie is about. There’s ghosts, there’s ghostbusting, it’s also very scary.”

Early audition tapes and character descriptions that surfaced online in 2018 described a central character as a 13-year-old boy who is a “conspiracy theorist”-type that is deeply into fantasy. The main character is a 12-year-old girl (Grace), described as a “science kid” who has difficulties connecting emotionally.

Grace, who is a Ghostbusters super-fan, won her role on the spot.

“We had a really sweet moment, actually. I’ve always seen that audition tape where [Steven] Spielberg is auditioning Henry Thomas for Elliott [in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial], and he tells him he got the role, and Henry Thomas just starts crying. And I had a similar moment with Mckenna, where I just told her,” Reitman said at Fan Fest.

“Which is a rare occurrence, oddly, you rarely get to tell the actor face-to-face, ‘Hey, you’re it.’ And I had that moment with Mckenna, and she just started crying. And she was so thrilled and she immediately started painting Ghostbusters paintings for our office. If you’re looking for a Ghostbusters fan, there isn’t a bigger one than Mckenna Grace. I’m really thrilled that she’s at the center of this movie.”

Other roles, similarly being kept under wraps, will be filled by Marvel star Paul Rudd and fresh faces Celeste O’Connor and Logan Kim.

Sony Pictures has dated GB20 July 10, 2020.