Ghostbusters Afterlife: 2 Post-Credits Scenes, Explained

Ghostbusters: Afterlife — now in theaters around the world — serves as a direct sequel to the original Ghostbusters film from 1984, and its (thankfully) forgotten 1989 sequel Ghostbusters II. It brings back Bill Murray & Co. for a limited time, though for the most part it’s about a new generation of Ghostbusters. This is not the first time. In 2016 we had a female-led reboot that didn’t work well with critics or audiences. Ghostbusters: Afterlife ignores its characters and story entirely, however, focusing on an original member’s family in small-town America. That said, it keeps a tradition of the 2016 reboot: the post-credits scene. In fact, there are two of them. To be fair, the scenes after the credits are a Marvel tradition at this point, so credits where it’s due.

Warning: Major spoilers ahead Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Proceed at your own risk.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife Ending, Explained

New Ghost Busters The movie ends where it begins at the Somerville farmhouse, where Callie Spengler (Carrie Coon) moves in with her two children, Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and Phoebe (McKenna Grace). With the help of the ghost of Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis), and the original gang — Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), and Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) — they stop the main villain, Goozer (Olivia Wilde).

Ghostbusters Afterlife Review: Stranger Things by the Way in the Force Awakens

After the fight, the original crew shares words with the ghost of Aegon (who by the way never speaks, I think is limited due to the fact that they used archival footage of Ramis who died in 2014). did). Ray apologizes for not believing him, Winston says he’d do well by his friend, and Venkman just nodded. Aegon then turns to confront his estranged daughter, Callie, who runs up to him and hugs him. Trevor and Phoebe engage in an emotional goodbye, before Aegon’s spirit begins to float away.

As the camera moves up and away, Ghostbusters: Afterlife kicks off with the words “For Harold.” It then cuts to New York City, where we see the Ecto-1 taking over the city. Winston promised he would take care of it, which explains why the car is being recalled.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife Mid-Credits Scene, Explained

The mid-credits scene of the new Ghostbusters movie appears after the main cast’s names appear in large font. The last name is Sigourney Weaver, which is pretty strange to anyone who has just seen Ghostbusters: Afterlife because the actress is nowhere in the movie. Well, not now. The Ghostbusters: Afterlife opens mid-credits with Sean Weaver’s face — he played Dana Barrett, Venkman’s love interest in the ’80s.

They’re still together it seems, what with the wedding ring on Weaver’s finger. The mid-credits scene relies on ESP machine testing of the original Ghostbusters movie—which Peter used with students at Columbia University. But this time, it is the mage who is controlling the machine and not Peter. She holds a card and asks him to guess the size of the other side. After Peter recovers, she makes another attempt. He too has this right.

Dana wonders if Peter has marked the cards. He lies, but after Dana shocks him with the ESP machine, he admits he marked the cards. After this, Dana starts giving him blows again and again. To defend himself and gain some sympathy, Peter says he only shocked male students at Columbia, never women. Before the scene ends, Dana shocks him once again. As you can tell, the Ghostbusters: Afterlife mid-credits scene is really an extended gag.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife Post-Credits Scene, Explained

Unlike the mid-credits scene, the post-credits scenes in the new Ghostbusters film are all business — as it tries to set the future of the beleaguered franchise. It begins with an old (deleted) scene from the original film, which features Aegon (Ramis) and Janine Melnitz (Annie Potts) giving him a coin—his lucky coin from the 1964 World’s Fair in New York—from it. Before he climbs into the building to save the world. Aegon says no, but she insists that she has another at home.

Then we kicked off the day with Janine admiring her lucky coin. Did he get back from Aegon later? Or is it the other? Anyhow, the Ghostbusters: Afterlife post-credits scene jumps again to a meeting between Janine and Winston (Hudson) at the afterlife. Winston talks about how he’s lived a successful life — he’s now a billionaire — thanks to the time he spent with the Ghostbusters crew. It was here that he came to know that he had the talent to become better.

Winston then reveals that he not only paid Aegon’s bills, he also didn’t let his old firehouse headquarters turn into a coffee shop, as Ray had previously claimed in Ghostbusters: Afterlife. The Ghostbusters: Afterlife post-credits scene cuts to the abandoned headquarters, where Winston waits for the Ecto-1 to roll, which has made a trip back from Somerville to New York City. Winston says he will become a Ghostbuster.

As the car rolls into the Ghostbusters’ former headquarters, the camera turns into a red box on the wall: the control unit. A light blinking red, which is inherently ominous, signals that it is about to burst. what does this mean? Well, that’s a clear and obvious setup for another Ghostbusters sequel — and it looks like it will bring the franchise back to home territory. Will it still include the next generation of Spanglers? It depends on Ghostbusters: Afterlife’s box office, I’d imagine.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife is now playing in theaters in India and around the world. It is available in 2D and IMAX 2D.