Ghostbusters 2020 will hand off franchise to younger generation of heroes, says Dan Aykroyd

Jason Reitman's mysterious Ghostbusters project kicked off production this summer, but beyond a slew of casting confirmations, we know precious little about its plot. Thanks to some new insights from Dan Aykroyd, however, we now know that the movie will end with the OG 'Busters passing the spirit-hunting torch off to a new and younger generation of heroes.

"It feeds beautifully into the first two stories and hands it off to a new generation," the actor/comedian told Entertainment Tonight while checking out the Ghostbusters-themed maze at Universal Studios, effectively building on his recent comments made on the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast. "Of course, I'll try to get my old pal, Mr. [Bill] Murray, to see if he can drop in. I'll be making a call there."

That "new generation" will be played by Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things), Mckenna Grace (Captain Marvel), Carrie Coon (The Leftovers), and Paul Rudd (Avengers: Endgame). If Aykroyd can convince Murray to come back one more time, then these never-before-seen characters have a chance to receive advice not only from the great Ray Stantz and Peter Venkman, but also from Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson), Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver), and Janine Melnitz (Annie Potts). Hopefully, they can get Rick Moranis to reprise the role of Louis Tully as well since Harold Ramis (Egon Spengler) passed away in 2014.

Today, Hudson, who wasn't sure whether he'd even get the call, revealed via a Cameo message that he coming back for the new Ghostbusters movie, and that he's in the middle of helping film it right now.

"I'd love to be a part of it, but no matter what, I have total respect and love [for Jason] and I appreciate his work," Hudson told SYFY WIRE at San Diego Comic Con back in July. "The fact that he's working with his dad, Ivan, I know it's gonna be a great movie, I'd love to be a part of it, but if it doesn't happen, I just want fans to know that it's not because of me. I keep reading that everybody else [is coming back]. Sigourney signed up, I'm like, 'I'm over here' ... So, we'll see."

Credit: Columbia Pictures

Original Ghostbusters director, Ivan Reitman, was also present for the Halloween Horror Nights demonstration and was able to shed some light on Rudd's character, saying: "He's a seismologist, who's comes to this small town because they've been having mysterious earthquakes. He's also teaching summer school there, and he's extraordinarily funny."

Yesterday, we speculated that the alumni might just appear in small cameo roles (like some of them did in Paul Feig's interpretation), but since Aykroyd said that 2020 will tie into the first two movies and open the door for a brand-new set of Ghostbusters, it removes nearly all doubt that cameos would be the route to take. The old guard imparting their wisdom unto a batch of doe-eyed recruits would carry more emotional weight and give the familiar faces the send-off they truly deserve. Passing on the legacy is an idea that's been kicked around for a while as the gap between Ghostbusters II and III got larger and larger. The series eventually explored it in projects like the short-lived Extreme Ghostbusters cartoon and the 2009 video game, which Aykroyd described as "essentially the third movie."

Written by Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan, Ghostbusters 2020 (it's still without an official title) hits theaters on July 10 of next year.