Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire director Gil Kenan says the upcoming sequel to 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife will leave the past behind and set the course for a brand-new mythology.
“Because the Spengler family story drove the narrative in Afterlife, bringing Gozer back to center-stage was a natural way to close the book on the past,” Kenan explained in an exclusive interview with Empire. “But we are now in the post-Gozerian era of the Ghostbusters saga, so that means we’re able to stretch out and create an entirely new mythology. And that’s thrilling as a storyteller, because there are all-new and terrifying stakes with fresh visual references to draw on.”
Kenan inherits the Ghostbusters franchise from Afterlife director Jason Reitman (son of the late original Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman), who returns in a producer and co-screenwriter capacity. Though the sequel continues the adventures of the Spengler family, the legacy Ghostbusters team played by Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, and Annie Potts return as they continue to lend their support to the new generation. For Kenan, working with such legends was the thrill of a lifetime.
“I remember there was a moment halfway through the first morning of directing one of the big scenes where I looked at the monitor, and just caught myself with the biggest grin ever,” Kenan recalled. “Finally, it dawned on me that I was calling ‘Action!’ and ‘Cut!’ on some of my very favorite characters in movies, working on a big cinematic scale on something that I really cared about. I try to hold on to that feeling. I still have it now, finishing the film.”
What is Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire about?
“In Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, the Spengler family returns to where it all started – the iconic New York City firehouse – to team up with the original Ghostbusters, who’ve developed a top-secret research lab to take busting ghosts to the next level,” reads the movie’s official synopsis. “But when the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an evil force, Ghostbusters new and old must join forces to protect their home and save the world from a second Ice Age.”
Directed by Kenan, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire stars Carrie Coon, Mckenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard, and Paul Rudd. New additions to the franchise include Patton Oswalt, Kumail Nanjiani, James Acaster, and Emily Alyn Lind. Murray, Aykroyd, Hudson, and Potts reprise their roles from 1984’s Ghostbusters and 1989’s Ghostbusters II alongside William Atherton as the villainous bureaucrat Walter Peck from the original movie.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is scheduled for release in theaters on March 29, 2024.
