Original Ghostbusters Star Ernie Hudson Says Sony Made a “Mistake” Rebooting the Franchise in 2016

Original Ghostbusters star Ernie Hudson believes Sony Pictures made a “mistake” rebooting the franchise in 2016’s Ghostbusters: Answer the Call. The Paul Feig-directed remake of the 1984 classic comedy re-imagined the Ghostbusters as new characters Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig), Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy), Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon), and Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones), a team operating in modern-day New York City. Hudson and his Ghostbusters castmates, except Rick Moranis and the late Harold Ramis, made cameo appearances as all-new characters, different from the original roles they will reprise in director Jason Reitman’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

“[Afterlife is] not a reboot. Because when you say reboot, which is the third movie, the one with the ladies – that I actually liked a lot. I definitely loved everybody who was in it,” Hudson told Living Life Fearless. “Paul Feig, I’m still fans of theirs – they tried to do a reboot. And a reboot, to me, means you’re trying to do the movie over. Another version of what we already did. And I think that was a mistake. It wasn’t a continuation or an extension of [the original].”

Hudson continued, “It was somehow a different universe there. You know what I mean? It’s kind of like us, but it’s us, but not us. In that universe, they’re women. I don’t know. That was a choice that was made.”

Hudson appears in the 2016 film as “Uncle Bill,” a funeral home operator and the uncle of Jones’ character. In Afterlife, set 30 years after Ghostbusters II, Hudson reprises his role as Winston Zeddemore opposite Dan Aykroyd’s Ray Stantz and Bill Murray’s Peter Venkman.

“This is Ghostbusters,” Hudson stresses about the new movie from Jason Reitman, son of original Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman. “As we move on through the world, 20, 30 years later, it’s still within the same universe. And the other was Ghostbusters. But like I said, it just felt like a retelling of the same story, which automatically causes comparisons that you really don’t need to be doing. I’m saying this is how I feel like. But this is Ghostbusters later. It’s been 30-35 years since we did the Ghostbusters’. And so this is years later. But definitely, it’s the same universe.”

Sigourney Weaver and Annie Potts reprise their roles as Dana Barrett and Janine Melnitz, respectively, as part of a cast that includes franchise newcomers Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Celeste O’Connor, Logan Kim, and Paul Rudd.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife opens in theaters on November 11.