Ghostbusters’ Ernie Hudson Addresses His Franchise Future

Despite best efforts to progress the franchise forward, 2024’s Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire fell short of expectations. Fans and critics took issue with the legacy sequel’s excessive number of characters. Even the OG Ghostbusters felt shoe-horned into the story without much character progression.

Per ScreenRant, actor Ernie Hudson, who played Winston Zeddemore since the original 1984 blockbuster, reveals he is not ready to hang up his proton pack just yet. With his role as the official financial backer of the paranormal business, Hudson sees an opportunity for Winston to head up a new team separate from Paul Rudd and the Spengler family.

“I want to see Winston sort of head the teams right now. I think the studio is focused on the family, which is a good thing, but I also would like to see Winston take a team and spin off in other directions. That would be a lot of fun. They talk about retirement, but I don’t want him just to be that guy who sits in the office. I’d love to see him, like in the original films, really get down and dirty and go at it.”

Fans of the original Ghostbusters and its 1989 sequel fully embraced the nostalgia of the OG cast’s return for the sentimental Ghostbusters: Afterlife in 2021. However, the doubling down on nostalgia by keeping its aging stars in the thick of the action has only restrained the franchise from progressing forward. While Hudson and Ghostbusters co-creator Dan Aykroyd maintain a spark to keep the movies going, the forced inclusions of Bill Murray and Annie Potts in Frozen Empire felt more like a payday than anything else.

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The idea of Winston heading a spin-off team with new characters is not a terrible idea. At age 79, Hudson is in great shape and still engaged with the fanbase. His support in a spinoff project would address the overcrowding issue of Frozen Empire while expanding the franchise beyond the team’s NYC firehouse home. For now, though, Sony has yet to officially announce another live-action Ghostbusters project.

Would you like to see a Ghostbusters spinoff with Ernie Hudson and a new team? Let us know in the comments.

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