Leslie Jones voices concerns over new Ghostbusters film

News broke last week that Jason Reitman is directing the next incarnation of the Ghostbusters franchise, which will eschew the timeline put forth by Paul Feig’s recent gender-swapped reboot. And Leslie Jones, a member of the new timeline’s ghostbusting team alongside Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Melissa McCarthy, is expressing her frustration.

Though Feig’s 2016 Ghostbusters film included cameos from original franchise players Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, and Annie Potts, because of the new timeline, they portrayed different characters. And because the new movie wants to build on the world created in the original Ghostbusters timeline, the new 2016 version is being ignored. 

Not only is Jones upset that her film “dint count,” she’s also concerned about the message the new film could be sending. Though Reitman hasn’t indicated who will be busting ghosts in the next film, over the weekend, Jones tweeted her concern that the new film will leave women off the team completely. (WARNING: NSFW language in the tweet below.)

Of course, the whole reboot, and Jones in particular, was harassed endlessly by online trolls. And her comment above unearthed some of that same vitriol. To which Jones responded via Twitter the next day: "It’s very sad that this is response I get. When the point is if they make this new one with all men and it does well which it will. It might feel that 'boys are better' it makes my heart drop. Maybe I could have use[d] different words but I’m allowed to have my feelings just like them”.

While Reitman did express to Entertainment Weekly that he has “respect for what Paul created with those brilliant actresses” and that he “would love to see more stories from them,” it doesn’t sound like this new iteration, expected to drop in the summer of 2020, will include them. Hopefully it won’t ignore women altogether though.