Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Can Complete A Franchise-Altering Ghost Twist That Afterlife Set Up

While Ghostbusters: Afterlife set up one potential series twist, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire now has a chance to follow through on this premise. The Ghostbusters franchise has a pretty simple conceit that is effectively encapsulated in its title. The heroes use their ramshackle, homemade technology to capture and contain ghosts, ghouls, and other supernatural phenomena. Despite their brand, the Ghostbusters don’t just deal with ghosts. Instead, they have been known to handle demons, ancient gods, and all manner of other paranormal problems. Consistently, the Ghostbusters are portrayed as forces of good, containing the chaos caused by the supernatural world’s unruly denizens.

However, the upcoming sequel Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire has a chance to change this simple setup. In fact, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire can build on a twist that was already established in the closing scenes of the movie’s predecessor, 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife. In doing so, the reboot’s sequel can prove that the world of the franchise is more complex than it seems. Even though both of the original movies and 2016’s divisive reboot Ghostbusters: Answer the Call invariably depicted ghosts and other supernatural beings as malevolent, chaotic, or dangerous, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire could complicate this idea with a twist.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Can Feature Heroic Ghosts

The Ghostbusters: Afterlife sequel could prove that some ghosts are benign

According to the movie’s promotional materials, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire will debut a whole host of new ghosts. Making some of them benign would be a welcome shock over forty years into the series, as Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire could introduce the first heroic ghosts in the franchise. Admittedly, one of the sequel’s first new additions is Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’s Possessor, which will clearly be a pretty threatening presence. However, the movie’s trailer also promises a sewer dragon, the return of Slimer, and a comeback from the original movie’s Library Ghost. With so many specters, there is a lot of opportunity for experimentation.

Some of the many new ghosts in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire could be less malignant and more misunderstood, an idea that was already explored in one of the director’s earlier movies. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire director Gil Kenan’s feature debut Monster House featured a twist ending which revealed that the spirit possessing the eponymous house wasn’t inherently evil, but instead tragically misguided. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire could revisit this idea, thus proving that not every ghost in the series needs to be defeated by force. The series even teased this possibility in the ending of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, with Egon Spengler’s surprise return.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife Already Hinted At Heroic Ghosts

Egon’s return in the Ghostbusters reboot proves there are good ghosts

When he finally returned, Egon’s ghost helped save the day alongside the surviving original team in Ghostbusters: Afterlife’s ending. This was a complicated case since it involved a heroic ghost, but that ghost was admittedly a Ghostbuster during his lifetime. However, this still proves that not all of the supernatural beings seen in the series are inherently evil. As such, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire could build on this premise with more heroic ghosts who assist the Ghostbusters instead of terrorizing civilians. That said, there is one major issue that could stand in the way of this potential twist.

Unlike those of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’s horror elements look genuinely scary. Like the original movie, the reboot’s sequel is seemingly focused on playing its horror elements straight and utilizing the main characters as comedic relief. Since Ghostbusters II, Ghostbusters: Answer the Call, and Ghostbusters: Afterlife were all accused of failing to provide sufficient scares, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire might be too busy upping the horror quotient of the series to introduce benign paranormal presences. However, this does not need to be the case, since even creepier horror comedies like The Frighteners have featured heroic ghost characters.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Introducing Good Ghosts Would Change the Series

The entire premise of Ghostbusters would be changed by heroic ghosts

If Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire does feature ghosts that aren’t inherently villainous, this would completely rewrite the larger story of the series. The sequel could potentially prove that ghosts don’t always need to be caught and contained, something that was scarcely even hinted at in earlier franchise outings. This would call into question the work of the Ghostbusters, a twist that would be well-timed since Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire already sees one generation of Ghostbusters replace the original team.

If the characters of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire come across more ghosts who behave like Egon Spengler’s spirit in Ghostbusters: Afterlife, this has the potential to prove that ghosts and humans can co-exist peacefully in the world of the series. This would change the role of the Ghostbusters going forward, meaning the new team may work with supernatural beings instead of always fighting them. However, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’s scarier elements could deter the creators from exploring this storyline. Even though Ghostbusters: Afterlife set up this potential twist, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire may ignore the story in favor of a more straightforward adventure.