Written by: Sam Santiago
Ever since Ivan Reitman passed away, there’s been this looming question hanging over the Ghostbusters franchise like a Class 5 full-roaming vapor: could the series survive without him? Surprisingly, the answer so far has been yes, and a big part of that comes down to his son, Jason Reitman, helping steer the ecto-powered ship alongside franchise lifer Dan Aykroyd.
Love them or hate them, Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire proved there’s still a heartbeat under the proton packs. Afterlife practically weaponized nostalgia, lovingly dusting off every trap, Twinkie reference, and emotional callback it could fit on screen, while Frozen Empire started pushing the universe into bigger territory.
But for a lot of fans, there’s still one giant green ghost in the room.
Can anything ever really top The Real Ghostbusters?
WATCH THE INTRO TO "THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS" BELOW
That cartoon wasn’t just a spin-off. It was childhood for an entire generation. Egon, Venkman, Stantz, and Zeddemore fighting supernatural chaos every Saturday morning while somehow making slime, demons, and existential horror feel weirdly cozy. Sure, Extreme Ghostbusters had its fans in the ‘90s and deserves more respect than it usually gets, but for many people, the original animated team remains untouchable. Don't even get us started on the toyline.
Now Netflix is preparing to take another shot at animated ghostbusting.
Netflix officially confirmed that its upcoming untitled Ghostbusters animated series will premiere sometime in 2027. The project comes from Sony Pictures Animation and will stream exclusively on Netflix, though story details are still being kept locked tighter than the containment unit beneath headquarters.
What we do know is that Aykroyd has officially joined the project as an executive producer alongside Jason Reitman, which at least gives longtime fans some reassurance that the franchise DNA is still involved behind the scenes.
The executive producer lineup also includes Ben Hibon, Elliott Kalan, Gil Kenan, and Amie Karp. Kalan will also serve as writer and showrunner for the series.
Meanwhile, there’s still another animated Ghostbusters movie floating around development limbo somewhere in the spectral void, though details on that project are also being kept under wraps.
As for the live-action side of the franchise? That future feels a little less certain after Frozen Empire. The movie performed decently enough, but not exactly at the level studios dream about while bathing in piles of licensing money. Still, animation may honestly be where Ghostbusters thrives best moving forward.
Because if we’re being honest, giant demons, haunted subway tunnels, interdimensional apocalypse dogs, and talking blobs of slime always felt slightly more at home in animation anyway or on the pages of a comic book as we learned with IDW's series a few years back.
The real challenge now is whether this new series can do more than just recycle proton streams and Stay Puft references. Fans don’t just want nostalgia fed through a particle thrower again. They want the feeling they had watching The Real Ghostbusters as kids, that weird mix of comedy, creepiness, and outright supernatural insanity that somehow got away with terrifying children before breakfast.
No pressure, Netflix. Just don’t cross the streams.