Kumail Nanjiani and Patton Oswalt Have Joined the New Ghostbusters Sequel

Like a marshmallow roasted by a God, the plot thickens for the sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Actors Kumail Nanjiani and Patton Oswalt have joined the cast of what’s being referred to as Ghostbusters: Firehouse, along with Gossip Girl’s Emily Alyn Lind and comedian James Acaster.

Deadline broke the news and though there’s no official word on who these new additions are playing, you can’t help but dream that they’ll be playing Ghostbusters. What little we know of the film—that it picks up after the events of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and brings back Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd, McKenna Grace, and Finn Wolfhard to tell a New York City-based story that includes Ghostbusters’ legendary firehouse—suggests we’ll see more actual Ghostbusting this time around. And if that’s the case, who better to carry on a legacy set by veteran comedic actors like Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis, than popular current comedic actors such as Nanjiani and Oswalt?

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While Afterlife was directed by Jason Reitman, the son of original Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman, he’s stepped back for the sequel, handing the directorial reins to his long-time friend, and Afterlife co-writer, Gil Kenan. Kenan, who directed Monster House and the 2015 Poltergeist remake, began filming earlier this month.

Back when Afterlife was released, io9 spoke to both Kenan and Reitman, and the latter said he hoped it would kick off a new era of Ghostbusters. “One thing I wanted to do is set the table for Ghostbusters as a franchise to have all kinds of movies,” Reitman said. “I want to see all those movies. And we need to do something that really was about setting a foundation and bringing the original 1984 story to a place so that other stories could bloom. I want to see the scary movies, the funny films. I want to see movies involving the original cast. I want to see more movies involving people we haven’t even seen yet. I want to go to new dimensions. I want to go to other cultures and countries. There’s so many places for Ghostbusters to go. The question is, what’s the starting place? And that’s what Afterlife is about. It’s about these generations making amends with each other in a way that brings one story to close and starts another one.”

And now that other one is coming to theaters later this year, with some of our favorite funny people joining the cast. The sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which is being referred to as Ghostbusters: Firehouse though that may not be the actual title, is currently filming and is aiming at a December 20 release.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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