There's something strange going on over at Netflix, but it definitely looks good. A new Ghostbusters animated series is reportedly in development at the streaming giant.
While details are sparse at the moment, the new series is being executive produced by Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan of Ghost Corps. Reitman, of course, co-wrote the recent Ghostbusters: Afterlife live-action feature alongside Kenan, and also served as director.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife served as a successful sequel to Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II. Although it was delayed numerous times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film still grossed $204 million worldwide against a $75 million production budget. More importantly, in reinstilled faith in the Ghostbusters franchise. The film received generally favorable revies from critics but sits at an impressive 94% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes.
It's unclear if this new series will act as a follow-up to Afterlife or exist as its own standalone thing. The franchise's only two previous animated series, The Real Ghostbusters and The Extreme Ghostbusters, were sequel spinoffs to the original films.
The Real Ghostbusters, which ran for 140 episodes from 1986 to 1991, followed the original four Ghostbusters -- Dr. Peter Venkman, Dr. Egon Spengler, Dr. Ray Stantz, Winston Zeddemore -- as they traveled around the globe investigating paranormal activity and capturing ghosts. A follow-up series, The Extreme Ghostbusters, introduced a new generation of Ghostbusters who were led by Egon Spengler. It ran for 40 episodes but didn't quite resonate with fans in the same way as the original series.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife sort of acted as a passing of the torch from the original cast to a younger group of inquisitive and capable ghostbusting kids. It will be interesting to see if this animated series continues the story of Afterlife's Trevor, Phoebe, Podcast and, possibly, Lucky. There's currently no writer attached to the project, but production will be handled by Netflix and Ghost Corps.