Ghostbusters: Ernie Hudson Talks Idea for a Solo Winston Zeddemore Story

Ernie Hudson reveals his pitch for a Winston Zeddemore spin-off project following the events of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.

“It kind of happens in Frozen Empire, he has his research center,” Hudson said in an interview with ComicBook while promoting the latest Ghostbusters installment’s home video release. “He’s trying to figure out, what’s this all about? Who are these ghosts? Do we bust them all the same? Are all the ghosts deserve to be trapped? Are we here to help them transition? How do they impact our lives? So suddenly you start to see a whole section of the city start to get violent, maybe they’re being influenced.”

“My grandmother, who believed in ghosts, she felt that ghosts can’t move furniture, but they can move your emotions around, and when you start getting these thoughts about stuff, that’s coming from someplace, and maybe that’s the influence. And if you can eliminate those bad ghosts, then maybe you break that cycle. We’re treating people from a physical standpoint, maybe there’s something else going on supernatural that’s influencing. So it’s not just what happens in the ghost world, but how the ghost world is throwing off [the physical world]. We did a little bit of it in the second movie, with the slime, where suddenly the whole town was out of control.”

Hudson made his debut as Winston in the original 1984 blockbuster and returned for 1989’s Ghostbusters II. Originally depicted as the outsider of the team, Winston ultimately emerged as the most financially successful Ghostbuster who relaunched the franchise in 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Hudson added how he would like to see his Ghostbusters spin-off focus on ghostly possession rather than larger-than-life creatures from the afterlife.

“Ghosts definitely affect our thoughts, our feelings, our suspicions,” Hudson said. “The Bible talks about ghost spirits are like messengers: they bring these ideas to us, and they feed us, and suddenly you become possessed with this idea of your girlfriend cheating or something. Where’s that coming from? That’s not something that you’re necessarily doing, but you’re allowing in. So I would love to see Winston trap this series of ghosts that people can’t see, but we have the equipment, we know they’re there, and suddenly a town is sort of freed up. Suddenly the mass murderer decides to no longer have interest in it.”

What happens in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire?

Directed by Gil Kenan, the official synopsis of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire reads: “The Spengler family returns to where it all started — the iconic New York City firehouse — to team up with the original Ghostbusters, who’ve developed a top-secret research lab to take busting ghosts to the next level. But when the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an evil force, Ghostbusters new and old must join forces to protect their home and save the world from a second Ice Age.”

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is now available on digital.