Based on the early plot details centering on Ghostbusters: Afterlife, it looks very likely that Egon Spengler's family will be at the focus of the movie. Egon portrayed one of the original Ghostbusters in the first two films of the franchise. Not only did Harold Ramis star as the character, but he also wrote both Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II alongside co-star Dan Aykroyd. Ramis passed away in 2014 but our theory suggests that the character will live on through the next generation.
Ghostbusters debuted in 1984 and quickly became a pop culture phenomenon. The movie was directed by Ivan Reitman and starred Ramis, Aykroyd, Bill Murray, and Ernie Hudson as a team of ghostbusters who fight to protect New York City from supernatural threats. The success of the movie led to a sequel in 1989 featuring the return of Reitman and the core cast as new dangers arose in the realm of the paranormal. The franchise was rebooted in 2016 with Paul Feig's Ghostbusters featuring an all-female cast but it wasn't well-received by a segment of loyal supporters of the '80s installments.
Jason Reitman (Juno, Tully) will take over for his father and take another stab at reviving the Ghostbusters franchise. Unlike 2016's Ghostbusters, Afterlife will serve as a sequel to the first two films. As part of the first-look images, an insightful synopsis was also released. Afterlife is set to focus on a single mom named Callie (Carrie Coon) and her two children, Trevor and Phoebe (Finn Wolfhard and McKenna Grace), as they move to a small town in Oklahoma after inheriting property from a relative. That relative is said to be Callie's father who she never knew and the property she inherits just so happens to house the iconic Ecto-1 vehicle. The identity of Callie's father is unknown but all signs are pointing to him being Egon Spengler.
How Ghostbusters: Afterlife Could Honor Harold Ramis
Ghostbusters co-creator Dan Aykroyd confirmed last month that the majority of the original cast was returning for Ghostbusters: Afterlife. The list includes Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, and Annie Potts. Of course, Ramis is absent from the list due to his death, but the upcoming film will surely honor the man who helped create the beloved franchise. As part of the cast announcement, Aykroyd explained that the new installment features a "heartfelt script that takes the real DNA from the first two movies and transfers that directly to the third." The reference of DNA could be a key indicator in Egon's familial connections to the new characters.
Callie, Trevor, and Phoebe are expected to learn that their relative has a special connection to the original Ghostbusters who have since become a myth since the "Manhattan Crossrip of 1984." Paul Rudd's Mr. Grooberson will be present to put together the pieces of the puzzle, as will the involvement of the original ghostbusting team. By focusing on Egon's family, a piece of key character will live on. Reitman has teased the family's history and how the kids' appearance is significant. By the looks of Phoebe's Egon-like glasses, her interest in science might be more than a coincidence. The first trailer for Ghostbusters: Afterlife is expected to drop on Monday, December 9, 2019.
