Dan Aykroyd

Ray and Winston are back!

There’s still a part for Bill Murray, too.

Dan Aykroyd clarified his comments about last year’s Ghostbusters, while Sony responded to his initial statements, made on a British TV show, criticizing director Paul Feig, particularly about costly reshoots Aykroyd claimed killed any possibility of further Ghostbusters sequels.

Last year’s Ghostbusters reboot was supposed to be the start of an entire new franchise (or perhaps even a universe of franchises) around the venerable ’80s horror comedy. Sony Pictures, which owns the rights to bust ghosts on the big screen, even created this new production company, Ghost Corps, to lead the charge on all these various efforts. There was talk of an all-male Ghostbusters to accompany the all-female team we got from director Paul Feig. And a new cartoon series was put into development as well. But since the movie opened to just so-so reviews and box office last year, developments on this front have been as quiet as Spook Central after a total protonic reversal.

It’s a pretty well-known fact by now that Carrie Fisher had the ability to out-funny Hollywood’s funniest stars, and her friend and former fiancee Dan Aykroyd was no exception. The actor, who was engaged to Fisher for a brief time after proposing to her on the set of The Blues Brothers, wrote a funny and honest tribute to her for Empire magazine’s latest issue, which contains a 27-page farewell to

If you haven’t been paying attention: Leslie Jones endured a barrage of disgusting racist and misogynist attacks that ultimately forced her to take a leave of absence from Twitter. The culprits? The very vocal contingency of Ghostbusters fans (aka Ghostbros) who have been decrying Paul Feig’s reboot because it features an all-female cast. Original Ghostbusters star Dan Aykroyd has come out in support of Jones, and he’s got some seriously harsh words for all the haters.

The very last line of Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters is “That isn’t terrible at all,” dialogue that can only be interpreted as a final nod to a fanbase that has worked itself into a lather fretting about this reboot’s tone, special effects, and particularly its female-centric cast. It feels sort of like when the doctor gives you a pep talk after a shot you’ve been dreading: That wasn’t so bad now, was it?

It’s become impossible to talk about Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters without acknowledging the unsavory reactions from fans of the original who have declared the reboot cinema non grata (to say the least). It’s also been suggested that perhaps some words of support from the original cast members might help soothe the aggressive fanbase, that if their so-called childhood heroes give Feig’s film the stamp of approval (as if their willingness to cameo in the film wasn’t endorsement enough), maybe the anti-reboot fan contingent would settle down and come to accept a crew of female Ghostbusters. That’s not the case, as OG Ghostbuster Dan Aykroyd shared his positive thoughts on Feig’s reboot, inspiring a slew of predictably angry reactions.

Ever one to let sleeping properties lie, Dan Aykroyd is at last dragging The Blues Brothers out of retirement (again), and into the animated world. The former SNL bit will return as a new primetime animated series shepherded by Aykroyd, in search of music, truth, justice and “a better breakfast sandwich.”

While the following is still a rumor, you might want to turn back now if you wish to avoid potential spoilers for Paul Feig’s new Ghostbusters movie. We’ve heard for some time now that Dan Aykroyd is putting in a cameo appearance, but we weren’t sure if he’d be doing so as Ray from the original Ghostbusters, or an entirely new character. Given Feig’s plans for his new film, the former was pretty unlikely.