Stirring New “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” Trailer Brings The Ghouls & The Feels

If you grew up in the 1980s, the release of Ivan Reitman’s Ghostbusters in 1984 was likely a major, major moment in your childhood. Now, this Thanksgiving, the late, great Ivan Reitman’s son Jason Reitman is delivering a new installment in the franchise from his own original script. A brand new trailer from Sony Pictures ties the legacy of his father’s films to his own and manages to portion out nostalgia and fresh wonders.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife will directly connect to the events in Ivan Reitman’s two-film franchise, which last saw the original stars in character in 1989’s Ghostbusters II. (They appeared in Paul Feig’s 2016 reboot, but as themselves.) The latest trailer introduces to the new cast, including Carrie Coon as mom Callie, Finn Wolfhard as her son Trevor, and McKenna Grace as her nerdy, slightly distant daughter Phoebe. When the family moves to a farm in Nebraska once owned by none other than Egon Spengler (the late Harold Ramis), their fortunes are about to change forever. They find a lab in the basement, as well as the iconic Ecto-1, the 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Futura Duplex that became such a totem of the 1980s and one of the best cinematic automobiles of the decade, sparring with the Batmobile from Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman. Of course, they haven’t only discovered the lab, but an entire supernatural world they never knew existed.

Once Egon’s lab is discovered—and a local teacher played by Paul Rudd becomes involved—the new trailer begins to spill its delights. Those include two of the original film’s most famous creations, Slimer the goblin, and multiple miniature versions of the Stay Puft Marshmallow man.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife was originally scheduled to premiere in 2020, but the pandemic scuttled those plans. Now, Reitman’s passion project will come in just time for the holiday season.

Check out the trailer below. Ghostbusters: Afterlife hits theaters on November 11.

Featured image: The theatrical poster for Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Courtesy Sony Pictures