Who ya gonna call?
Since 1984, when that question was first asked, the answer has always been “Ghostbusters.” The franchise has gone on to encompass five feature films, a beloved Saturday morning cartoon, countless pieces of merchandise and just as many videogames, comic books and novelizations. But since 2024, which saw the theatrical release of “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” things have been quiet. Spookily quiet.
That changes very soon.
2027 will see the release of Netflix and Sony Pictures Animation’s “Ghostbusters: Night Shift,” a new animated series that fills in the gaps of the “Ghostbusters” timeline and looks to recapture that essential mixture of fun and frights that made the ’84 original so powerful.
On hand at Annecy were executive producers (and keepers of the “Ghostbusters” flame) Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan. Reitman and Kenan co-wrote 2021’s “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” and “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” with Reitman directing “Afterlife” and Kenan handling “Frozen Empire.” (Reitman, of course, is the son of Ivan Reitman, who directed the first two “Ghostbusters” films.) They produced this new series, alongside showrunners Ben Hibon and Elliott Kalan. Amie Karp and Dan Aykroyd are also executive producers.
The official logline for “Ghostbusters: Night Shift” reads, “New York City, 1994 — Five years after the Ghostbusters took the Statue of Liberty for a walk, a new wave of supernatural terror hits the Big Apple, forcing a group of scrappy, young New Yorkers — untrained, underappreciated and kinda sorta responsible for the problem — to put on proton packs, face their fears and bust some ghosts.”
The team promises that this series, which is set during the original mayor run of former EPA agent (and original “Ghostbusters” villain) Walter Peck, will both be in canon and fill in a pivotal gap in “Ghostbusters” lore between 1989’s “Ghostbusters II” and “Ghostbusters: Afterlife.” Another promise? That it will be just as scary as it is funny. And the footage that they screened proved this to be correct.
“Ghostbusters: Night Shift” follows a group of younger Ghostbusters who, inspired by the original heroes, create similar technology to face supernatural foes. This means that they have all the gear, but it’s slightly wonky and homemade – kit-bashed, let’s say, to borrow a “Star Wars” term. As the team behind “Night Shift” explained, the characters are in an “earlier, messier stage of their lives.” They have a van instead of the iconic ECTO-1. And they have a pet – a terror-puppy. That’s right. It’s a cuter, miniaturized version of the terror dogs from “Ghostbusters.” You will want to adopt one immediately.
As for the “Ghostbusters: Night Shift” sequence that was screened at Annecy, well, it sees some of the Ghostbusters confronting an evil conductor in Grand Central Terminal. It seems like one of the members of the team is possessed by some spirit and another older member (who Netflix and Sony would not publicly name but is very clearly Jack Quaid) is trying to break her from this very real spell. There is a giant ghost creature (a bigger version of the conductor) and ghost trains flying around GCT.
It is somewhat shocking just how intense the footage was. It was actually scary, which was part of the fun of the first “Ghostbusters” film, especially if you were too young to be watching those kinds of movies. It felt like you were getting away with something, which is very cool and very fun.
The team stressed that they wanted “tactile visual language” for the series and leaned on the team from Australian studio Flying Bark, who recently did Netflix’s “Stranger Things: Tales From ’85.” Like that series, the characters in “Ghostbusters: Night Shift” have a slightly sculptural feel, with pushed, extremely readable characterizations. The images, both in the footage and in the artwork that was flipped through, almost has “Arcane” vibes (to throw to another recent hit Netflix animated series). One image was of Ray’s Occult Books, the bookshop owned by Aykroyd’s Ray Stantz, that was introduced in “Ghostbusters II.” Ray’s bookshop? Aykroyd’s involvement as an executive producer? Feel free to draw your own conclusions.
One thing that was stressed during the presentation is that “Ghostbusters: Night Shift” is very much in-canon. This is a departure from the original animated series, “The Real Ghostbusters” (eventually known as “Slimer! And the Real Ghostbusters” from Season 3 on), which ran from 1986 and 1991 and was decidedly outside of canon. Still, there are sure to be references and callbacks to that original series, as it has taken a more prominent place in the hearts and minds of “Ghostbusters” fans and was even referenced in “Ghostbusters: Afterlife.”
When “Ghostbusters: Night Shift” debuts in 2027, just be sure to answer the call.
