Ghostbusters: Afterlife’s post-credits scenes, in-jokes, and a secret cameo

Post-credits scenes was once a rare fun bonus for the cinematic believers who stood out the entire credits, but Marvel Cinematic Universe films almost made them a commitment to fandom-friendly films. And other creators are taking up not only the MCU’s habit of adding credits scenes but the specific way MCU movies use them now, with a middle credits scene to add a little button to the movie’s story and an ending scene that shifts the focus to the future of a hoped-for franchise.

That’s exactly what director Jason Reitman does Ghostbusters: Afterlife, its direct sequel from 1989 Ghostbusters II, and his continuation of the work of his father, Ivan Reitman, in directing the two original Ghostbusters films. Ghostbusters: Afterlife has two bonus scenes – one just before the credits and one after. The mid-credits scene is an expanded joke for fans of the 1984 Ghostbusters, but the post-credits scene specifically teases a possible sequel at a later date.

[Ed. note: Gigantic spoilers for Ghostbusters: Afterlife ahead.]

Will Bill Murray be there? Ghostbusters: Afterlife?

Most of the major lineups from 1984 Ghost hunters appears for this third entry in the trilogy. Ghostbusters’ secretary, Janine (Annie Potts) shows up early in the film to check on Egon Spengler’s old home, where his grown-up daughter Callie (Carrie Coon) and their children Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) have come after Living Egon’s death. In the middle of the film, Phoebe begins to understand who her grandfather was and the threats he inherited from the Callie rural Oklahoma farmhouse. She calls the old Ghostbusters phone number from her 1984 ads and speaks to Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), who informs her long before Egon’s death about what broke up the Ghostbusters.

And when Phoebe, Trevor and their friends try to fight the Sumerian god Gozer, who arrived in New York in the first film, all three surviving Ghostbusters – Ray, Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) and Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson)) emerge in their old suits and gear to take part in the battle. Egon’s ghost emerges to help them defeat Gozer, they all emotionally say goodbye to their silent ghost friend and he disappears.

So wait, there’s an afterlife in Ghostbusters: Afterlife?

It is strange. It’s incredibly unclear what ghosts on this series are – whether sticky monster ghosts like Ghost hunters‘Slimmer and Ghostbusters: AfterlifeMuncher’s equivalent creatures are the ghosts of dead people, or “ghosts” in this world are mostly just strange spectral creatures or whatever. The greatest enemy of the Ghostbusters in the live-action films isn’t even a ghost, she’s a god. Given the shape of so many traditional ghost stories, we can surmise that Egon hung around the earth with unfinished business and when his grandchildren defeated his mortal enemy (Immortal enemy? She certainly hasn’t gotten as old) as everyone else since 1980s), he could move on to whatever comes next. But human spirits fighting gods and hugging their children is certainly a new twist for a Ghostbusters story.

What does “For Harold” mean at the end of the film?

It pays homage to Harold Ramis, who played Egon Spengler in the original films, co-wrote both original Ghostbusters scripts and was a celebrated comedian and filmmaker himself. (He wrote and directed Groundhog Day, among other films.) He died in 2014.

What happens in Ghostbusters: Afterlife‘s mid-credits scene?

The credits run as expected until they get a loan for Sigourney Weaver, one of the stars of the 1984 Ghost huntersthat has not yet appeared in the film at the time. Reitman gives the audience just enough time to say, “Wait, she’s not there-” before moving on to her character, Dana Barrett, who is holding up a series of Zener cards to Peter Venkman to see if he can psychologically recognize can see what symbol it is on the side of the card that he cannot see. He always guesses correctly, but she has him plugged into a device that will deliver electric shocks and she continues to shock him until he admits he marked the cards so he would know what they were.

Like so much of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, this scene is just a big reference gag for fans of 1984 Ghost hunters. It’s a call back to Peter Venkman’s original introduction, in which he ran tests on university students, ostensibly to research psychological phenomena, though the scene also shows he’s a bastard who doesn’t hesitate to use the test to deal with his Flirting female subjects and torturing the male for fun. Dana shocking him for lying is a small reward for this earlier scene after 37 years.

Are Dana and Peter still together all these years later? It’s hard to tell – she’s wearing a wedding ring, she’s kind of loving it, and they seem to be in a private home rather than an institutional setting. But they don’t mention their relationship, they don’t exchange caresses, and she seems complacent about seeing through him more than she seems to love. Plus, he’s just as grubby with her as he was in the 1980s – it’s impressively clear that he hasn’t changed much. The question also arises as to why, after decades of their relationship, she picks him up on electrodes to see if he’s mental. It’s another scene that works better as a fan recall than a meaningful part of the story.

What happens in Ghostbusters: Afterlife‘s post-credits scene?

The sequence after the credits is interesting. First there is a short scene in which the 1980s Egon sets out to fight Gozer and Janine offers him a lucky coin to take with him. There’s not much about this sequence – it’s a deleted scene from the 1984 film that is included as an Easter egg but doesn’t have much meaning to the rest of the film.

After jumping back to the present, Janine seems to be interviewing Winston about what he’s been up to since the 1980s. Audiences already know from Ray’s recap at the beginning of the film that Winston went into business for himself and became a very successful businessman, but the film doesn’t offer them much of their own. While Bill Murray torches a silly monologue as Peter and jokes about Gozer and Ray is serious and sincere as always, Winston usually stands aloof and moans about the condition of her old man Ectomobile, and promised to fix it.

But in the post-credits scene, Winston finally gets some time to shine as something other than the guy with the fourth bill on a three-man team. He explains his initiatives and motivations to Janine: “I wanted to be an example of what is possible.” He talks about his thriving global companies and how he secretly supports Ray and Peter who are in less lucrative situations. “I may be a businessman, but I’ll always be a ghostbuster,” he tells her.

It’s a nice payoff moment for actor Ernie Hudson, who was occasionally frustrated by the way Winston was sidelined in the films. He is known to have signed himself into a script that Winston does bigger role and a complete backstorythat was eventually cut. He is often pointed out in interviews that Winston did not appear on the movie poster and was not part of the advertising campaign for the film. He said he accepted the role expecting it would benefit his career, and instead he had Problems finding work afterwards. So this sequence feels like a reward to Winston, a chance for a little more dignity and depth.

How works Ghostbusters: Afterlife set up a sequel?

After talking to Janine, Winston enters the old Ghostbusters fire department headquarters in a solo recording, which Ray said earlier in the film was sold long ago when the Ghostbusters stopped making money. Winston clearly bought the place for nostalgic reasons – the same reasons that drive the rest of the film – and he looks around with exactly the same satisfaction that Rey does at the end of Tattooine Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker, with exactly the same feeling that he’s there more to make the fans happy than to make himself happy.

But then Reitman’s camera wanders to the side and finds the Ghostbusters’ old ecto-containment system – the laser grating unit that held all of the ghosts they caught until an EPA attorney played by William Atherton (that, “It’s true That man has no dick “guy from the first movie) had it closed and they all escaped. There is a single ominous flashing red light in the system that indicates something is wrong, and the post-credits scene ends with the promise of an impending threat. (It doesn’t matter that the containment system was in the basement, in a small adjoining room at the bottom of the stairs, rather than in the garage – the point is, something interesting seems to be happening.)

Will there be? Ghostbusters: Afterlife Episode?

Nothing has been announced or the green light yet, but life after death Co-author Gil Kenan has said he did “many ideas” for possible future episodes of the franchise, and Reitman, speaking at New York Comic Con, said the goal of the film was “to open the universe to all kinds of stories … Ghostbusters films from all of my favorite directors”. He said he hopes this film “sets the table” – which implies that he may not have invested in directing a sequel himself, but he looks forward to the possibility of more films.