‘Ghostbusters 2020’ Sequel Recruits Paul Rudd to Star-Studded Cast

It’s been announced that the Ghostbusters 2020 sequel has recruited Paul Rudd to join its already star-studded cast. The news was shared by Rudd himself, who posted a video of the Ghostbusters firehouse before revealing that he would be starring in the film. In the video, Rudd joked that when he got the role he “slimed” himself because he was so excited.

The actor joins already announced cast members, Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things), McKenna Grace (The Haunting of Hill House), and Carrie Coon (The Leftovers).

It was previously reported that Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver and Dan Aykroyd have all been offered opportunities to reprise their roles from the original film.

Ghostbusters 2020 was co-written and is being directed by Jason Reitman, who is well-known for helming films such as Up in the Air, Juno, and Thank You for Smoking.

He is the son of Ivan Reitman, who directed 1984’s Ghostbusters, as well as its 1989 sequel, Ghostbusters II. He also is a producer on the new film. Ghostbusters 2020 will be a direct sequel to those original films and will reportedly not acknowledge or reference the 2016 reboot, Ghostbusters: Answer the Call, as it essentially takes place in an alternate time-line.

In a previous statement, Reitman spoke about making the new film a reality, and how thrilled he is to for people to see it. “This is very early, and I want the film to unwrap like a present. We have a lot of wonderful surprises and new characters for the audience to meet,” he said.

“I love everything about it. The iconography. The music. The tone,” Reitman said. “I remember being on set and seeing them try out the card catalog gag for the first time when the library ghost makes them come flying out. I remember the day they killed Stay Puft and I brought home a hardened piece of foam that just sat on a shelf for years. I was scared there was a terror dog underneath my bed before people knew what a terror dog was.”

“I’ve always thought of myself as the first Ghostbusters fan, when I was a 6-year-old visiting the set. I wanted to make a movie for all the other fans,” he added, per EW. “This is the next chapter in the original franchise. It is not a reboot. What happened in the ’80s happened in the ’80s, and this is set in the present day.”

Ghostbusters 2020 is currently scheduled to premiere on July 10, 2020.