The post-credits scene of Ghostbusters: Afterlife gives more hope for a different sequel, like the canceled project starring Chris Pratt and Channing Tatum. The Ghostbusters franchise has gone through a couple of ups and downs, and rebooting it hasn’t been easy. Paul Feig’s 2016 Ghostbusters movie wasn’t the expected success, and after many other plans to continue the franchise, a new chance arrived with Jason Reitman’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
Set 30 years after the events of Ghostbusters II, Ghostbusters: Afterlife follows single mother Callie (Carrie Coon) and her children Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and Phoebe (Mckenna Grace), who after being evicted from their home, are forced to move to a farm located in Summerville, Oklahoma, which Callie inherited from her late father – Harold Ramis’ Egon Spengler. When the town experiences unexplained earthquakes and other unusual activities, Phoebe discovers their family’s link to the original Ghostbusters team and alongside Trevor, decides to continue her grandfather’s legacy by taking care of what’s messing with Summerville. With the help of the old Ghostbusters’ equipment, Phoebe’s new friend Podcast (Logan Kim), Trevor’s love interest Lucky (Celeste O’Connor), and local seismologist and Phoebe’s teacher Mr. Grooberson (Paul Rudd), they discover a huge threat that is also connected to the original team.
The surviving members of the Ghostbusters team had a brief appearance in Ghostbusters: Afterlife and two of them showed up in the mid and post-credits scenes. First, Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) was subjected to the shock machine and ESP cards by Dana (Sigourney Weaver), and in the second scene, Janine (Annie Potts) visited Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson), who revealed that he has been maintaining the Ghostbusters’ properties all these years, taking viewers back to the firehouse, where a warning light in the ecto-containment unit started blinking. This leaves the door open to a proper return of a Ghostbusters team, though not exactly the one led by Phoebe, making it possible for a past sequel idea to finally come true – the one that could have been led by Christ Pratt and Channing Tatum.
When Paul Feig’s female-led Ghostbusters movie was in production, there were rumors about Ivan Reitman being involved in a new and all-male movie, and it was going to be led by Chris Pratt and Channing Tatum. Ivan Reitman later clarified that the project wasn’t what everyone thought, and while a writer was hired and they turned in a 30-page script, “it wasn’t very good”, and he had faith in Feig's project. Still, the idea of a new, grown-up team of Ghostbusters can be revived now thanks to the post-credits scene in Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which suggests Zeddemore wants to revive the business, and what better than with a brand new team. Surely, a sequel that follows the family team led by Phoebe would be interesting, but the best way to kickstart a new chapter in the Ghostbusters franchise would be with a new team created by Zeddemore, which in turn would leave the door open to the involvement of the other original Ghostbusters.
It might be too late, however, to have Chris Pratt and Channing Tatum leading the team now (and more so after the former’s popularity and acceptance by the audience has decreased), but the concept of a Ghostbusters sequel with a new team similar to the original one could be good for the franchise, which can have two different teams operating in different parts of the country and thus covering more than the original team could.