Though he’s spent the last few years hoping that old mucker Bill Murray would indeed deign to appear in Ghostbusters 3 provided the right script was found, it would appear that Dan Aykroyd has finally, er, given up the ghost on the idea.
Talking to Metro, the effusive writer-actor was asked directly about Murray’s choice and replied, “I can tell you he won't be involved. It's sad but we're passing it on to a new generation. Ghostbusters 3 can be a successful movie without Bill. My preference would be to have him involved but at this point he doesn't seem to be coming and we have to move on. It's time to make the third one.”
The most recent development on the long-gestating project was writer Etan Cohen coming aboard to write a new draft of the script. While Aykroyd has praised him as “brilliant”, we’re still wondering whether Sony has truly come around to the idea of a Murray-free Ghostbusters. Still, with the “new generation” idea meaning they can probably find someone with box office appeal to shoulder the proton packs, there’s still a chance this one will leave limbo and actually get made. It’s just that as the months and years tick by, we increasingly wonder as to whether it should happen at all…