Who lives? Who dies? Who returns to the afterlife from whence they came? And most importantly,
who gets slimed? This is the ending of "Ghostbusters: Afterlife," explained.
Obviously, spoilers ahead.
Arguably the most important character in Ghostbusters: Afterlife is Phoebe, the brilliant
young granddaughter of Egon Spengler. It's Phoebe who cracks open the mystery at the heart of the
film and forms a connection across generations of her estranged family in the process.
At the beginning of the film, Phoebe is an outsider not just in Summerville,
but in her own family. By the end of the film, she's the heart of her extended new family and
friend group, a hero to the world, and a newly minted Ghostbuster, continuing
the tradition set up by her late grandfather. We see Phoebe's journey to self-actualization,
but the question remains: What happens to her next? It's easy to imagine her as the first junior
member of the Ghostbusters, attending a fancy science-based New York City school by day and
wielding a proton pack by night. It's also easy to see her staying in Summerville for a while,
archiving and continuing her grandfather's work as she digs deeper into the mysteries of Gozer.
Whatever happens, Phoebe has a bright future not just because of what she's achieved, but because
she's learned how to really be herself.
Though his personal journey in the film is considerably less developed than his sister's,
Trevor Spengler still gets an arc across "Ghostbusters: Afterlife." Though he
definitely considers himself the cool one in his family, Trevor is still a bit of an outsider
thanks to his fresh arrival in Summerville. By the end of the film, Trevor has become a
Ghostbuster of sorts alongside his sister, despite his lack of scientific knowledge or particular
enthusiasm for the paranormal. What he does have, though, is a sizable sense of mechanical wisdom,
as evidenced by his ability to fix ECTO-1 with only a tiny bit of supernatural help from his
grandfather. It's easy to see him sticking around Summerville, but it's just as easy to
see him moving to New York City, where Trevor could become the Winston of the next generation
of Ghostbusters. He's not a scientist, but he's a hard worker with a sharp mind, and he's willing to
dig in deep for the people he cares about.
At the beginning of the film, Callie Spengler feels like a failed mother.
She hasn't been able to make life in the city work out, her kids are growing and changing
in ways she doesn't fully understand, and her only refuge in life is a broken down
old house in the middle of Oklahoma, left to her by a father who never had time for her.
But like every other member of her family, over the course of the story Callie finds a new sense
of purpose and realizes the father she never really knew not only cared about her, but did
everything he could to protect her from forces she couldn't understand at the time. That new sense
of purpose also comes through the arrival of Gary Grooberson, the local seismologist and teacher who
not only adores her, but adores her kids as well. So, what happens to them next? Having made peace
with her family's past, Callie seems ready to build a new future with Gary, whether that's
in Summerville, New York City, or somewhere else entirely. A new family unit has grown out of the
ashes of the old one.
Though much of the film centers on the Spengler family, a good portion
of the plot in "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" is pushed forward by the kid known as Podcast,
Phoebe's summer school friend with a deep interest in mysteries and other assorted occult lore.
Though Phoebe brings the scientific know-how and observational powers to the team,
Podcast brings the belief in the supernatural that allows her to see what's right in front of her,
and the research skills to dig into what's really going on. By the end of the film, it's clear that
he's basically the Raymond Stantz of the new Ghostbusters team, and Ray himself makes it
clear that he's a fan of the young podcaster. Obviously, Podcast's role in what went down in
Oklahoma could mean a big boost to his subscriber base, provided enough people know that anything
went down at all, but it will also mean his appetite for more supernatural mysteries will
only grow with time.
"Ghostbusters: Afterlife" is largely set in Summerville, Oklahoma, an out of the way former
mining town that's basically a tiny dot on the map with seemingly nothing to show for itself. By the
end of the film, though, Summerville has become the epicenter of supernatural activity on Earth,
as the discovery of a temple built by an eccentric architect to summon an ancient Sumerian god
propels the Ghostbusters into a new adventure. After Gozer is trapped by the team, things seem
poised to quiet down in Summerville, and we see the old ECTO-1 car back in action in New
York City, but that doesn't mean the Oklahoma town won't get any more attention. If it truly
did serve as the force behind a supernatural re-awakening, it's bound to attract all manner
of investigators, scientists, tourists, and media. Podcast won't be the only person investigating
its mysteries anymore, and that could both lead to good and bad things for the town.
"The entire Eastern seaboard is alive with talk of incidents of paranormal activity. Alleged
ghost sightings and related supernatural occurrences have been reported across the
entire tri-state area."
In the original "Ghostbusters," the team faced Gozer as the ancient god took the form of a giant
representation of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. After crossing the streams of their proton packs,
the Ghostbusters were able to defeat Gozer's destroyer form and thus banish the god back
to its own dimension, seemingly for good. Of course, we now know that Gozer was just
biding their time until they could re-enter our dimension,
but thankfully Egon Spengler had developed a plan. Instead of just banishing the creature yet again,
he built an elaborate, high-powered trap on his homestead in Oklahoma, waiting for the moment
that he could lure Gozer in and spring it. It didn't work for Egon, but his granddaughter,
her family and friends, and the surviving original Ghostbusters were able to capture the creature.
The question is: With Gozer now contained in a trap, what happens next?
There's a good chance Gozer will need to be busted
at least one more time.
Over the course of the film, the mystery at the heart of "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" is slowly
unearthed, often quite literally. Eventually, Phoebe, Trevor, Podcast, and Lucky discover a
tomb/temple complex beneath the mountain built in tribute to Gozer, the Sumerian god who first
appeared in the original "Ghostbusters" film. The tomb is full of interesting details,
but Phoebe picks up one in particular that stands out with regard to the franchise's future: A stone
relief that features carved dates of various years in which major catastrophes occurred.
What's especially interesting about these carvings is that there appears to be another, partially
obscured date carved into the rock sometime after 2021. It's difficult to make out exactly when it
is, but Gozer's closest followers probably have some idea, and the presence of the temple in
Oklahoma suggests there could be others out there. So, what future catastrophe awaits this next
generation of Ghostbusters? Time will tell.
"Ghostbusters: Afterlife" is a movie packed with cameo appearances. Though she was confirmed to be
part of the film months before its release, one former "Ghostbusters" star waited until
the very end to show up: Dana Barrett, who developed a romance with Dr. Peter Venkman in
the first film and rekindled it in the second. Dana finally appears in a mid-credits scene in
the film that echoes our first meeting with Venkman back in 1984, as she runs his old
shock treatment ESP test on him. There's clear flirtation happening between the two of them,
and Venkman even throws out the phrase "true love" at one point. It's such a brief scene
that we don't get too many clues, but it's clear that the filmmakers at least want us to think
about what might be happening. Perhaps an eventual "Afterlife" sequel could clear up just how well
Peter and Dana are getting along these days.
In one crucial scene in "Ghostbusters: Afterlife," Phoebe calls the old number in
a vintage Ghostbusters commercial and is connected to Ray Stantz's occult bookshop in New York City.
After a little nudging, she's able to get Ray to tell her a little of the backstory behind the
breakup of the Ghostbusters. According to Ray, it had its roots in two things: Egon's obsession with
the re-emergence of Gozer, and an almost complete lack of new calls for supernatural assistance.
"There hasn't been a ghost sighting in 30 years." Gozer's return obviously shook at least a few
ghosts loose, and at the very end of the film we see ECTO-1 back in action,
but how many ghosts are there to really bust? Gozer is, after all, in captivity now,
and the portal that awakened the god of destruction seems to be dormant.
Has something else shaken loose that will guarantee continued work for the team,
or are they just going to do what they can with what they have for as long as possible? Obviously,
a sequel would help to clear this up quite a bit.
In the post-credits scene of "Ghostbusters: Afterlife," Winston Zeddemore and Janine
Melnitz meet in New York City to discuss the future of the Ghostbusters team. Winston's
success in the world of finance means that he has considerable resources at his disposal,
enough to buy back the firehouse, restore ECTO-1, and get the team up and running again.
The question remaining is what exactly that team will look like once Winston and Janine are all set
up again. Will the Spengler family move back to New York and be a part of the next era of
the company, with Janine and Winston running the show behind the scenes? It seems likely that if
Winston and Janine are back in the game, Ray would have a hard time not lurking around the firehouse
himself, training new recruits. And Venkman? Well, he might not care for busting anymore,
but even if he doesn't, he could be persuaded to handle the marketing side of things.
It's easy to imagine that crew coming together with the Spenglers to launch the next phase
of Ghostbusters Inc., and perhaps even do what previous sequel ideas had in mind and
franchise the whole thing, with locations in every major city. Whatever the case,
the old firehouse is about to power up again, and that trap grid in the basement might have a few
old terrors still lurking in it.
Though Phoebe is the star of "Ghostbusters:
Afterlife," you could make the case that the most important character
in the overall story is actually her deceased grandfather, Dr. Egon Spengler.
By the time of "Afterlife," Egon is a ghost, lurking in his house in Oklahoma and biding
his time until his genius granddaughter puts all the pieces of his plant to defeat Gozer together.
While that happens, we learn that somewhere along the way, he decided he had to make a massive
sacrifice in his quest to keep the world safe from a dark god. When he couldn't convince his fellow
Ghostbusters that Gozer was about to resurge, Egon instead cut himself off from everyone with the
exception of Janine, moved to Oklahoma to be near the old Gozer site, and abandoned both his family
and his friends for their own protection. "Do you have any hobbies?"
"I collect spores, molds, and fungus." It's a move that speaks to his obsessive nature,
but also to his ability to think in terms of the greater good. Egon's choices could easily
be dismissed as part of his character as the coldest Ghostbuster, but it took an enormous
level of love and care for the people in his life to do what he did. It was a sacrifice that the
film only scratched the surface of, but in the end, it proved that Egon Spengler may have had
the biggest heart of all of the Ghostbusters. Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Looper videos about your favorite movies are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.