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Before Paul Feig came around to reboot the Ghostbusters franchise for a new generation and launch a whole new franchise, there was a direct sequel to the original films that was in development for years. That project will never happen at this point, but some details have surfaced on what that sequel would have entailed.
Screenwriter Etan Cohen (Men In Black 3) completed a second Ghostbusters 3 draft. The film's producer, Ivan Reitman, who was attached to direct the film at the time, sent an email to Sony Pictures Chairman Amy Pascal that contained the second draft, and it reveals the title of the movie and his plan for the cast.
There's not much revealed about the plot, but it would have centered on Ray Stanz (Dan Aykroyd), Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis), and Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) passing the franchise off to a younger generation of Ghostbusters. Sadly, a month after this email was sent, Ramis passed away. Soon after that, Reitman walked away from the director's chair, and the project kind of faded away.
The movie would have been called Ghostbusters: Alive Again. When it came to the casting, this is what Rietman suggested:
The son of Bill Murray's Peter Venkman, Chris, could have been played by Adam Pally (The Mindy Project), Charlie Day (Pacific Rim), or Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network). Reitman told Pascal, "I have met with all three, and frankly this is the piece of casting I'm the most unsure about." I'm not sure what happened to Oscar, the son of Dana Barrett, but I guess it doesn't matter at this point.
Jeremy was another lead character in the movie, and Jonah Hill (22 Jump Street) was the only actor listed for the part. The filmmaker said he was meeting with the actor soon to give him the latest script. This character has been described as being the leader of the new Ghostbusters.
The female lead in the story would have been a doctor named Anna, and Reitman met with Brie Larson (The Gambler) and Anne Hathaway (The Dark Knight Rises) for the role. Both had "expressed a strong desire to do it."
The story also has a comic relief type character named Dean, and Reitman had Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover) down for taking on the role. He still had not met with him when the email was sent.
As for the main villain, Gniewko, the director wanted Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat) to take it on. He wanted to lock down the rest of the cast before pursuing the actor. Pascal had a different vision for the role, though, and wanted Will Ferrell to take it on. However, Reitman didn't believe Ferrell would be "effective" as the film's villain.
There were three other minor characters in the movie. Rebel Wilson (Pitch Perfect) was wanted for Ashley, and she wanted the part. As you know, she is also up for a role in the version Feig is developing. Then there are Aubrey Plaza and Aziz Ansari, who were up for characters named Joni and Jon.
I have no idea how this would have turned out, but that seems like a pretty crazy cast they were looking to bring together. I still like the idea of Channing Tatum and Chris Pratt teaming up for a Ghostbusters movie more.
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