‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ Stars Celeste O’Connor & Emily Alyn Lind Share Their First Memories of ‘Ghostbusters’ Franchise: ‘Absolutely Terrifying’ (Exclusive)

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire stars Celeste O’Connor and Emily Alyn Lind are taking a trip down memory lane with the iconic film franchise. As the latest Ghostbusters film rules the domestic box office following its release last week, two of the franchise’s hottest new stars opened up to PopCulture.com about their first memories of the original Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis movie. 

While O’Connor was thrilled to be part of the Frozen Empire action “in a really meaningful and fun way” after making their debut as Lucky Domingo in 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Lind is a newcomer to the franchise, making her debut in the newest film as a ghostly character named Melody. 

“I’ve been a Ghostbusters fan since I was a kid, and getting to meet the OGs and the new guys and play such an interesting, weird, cool new character was just fantastic,” she told PopCulture, recalling “very fondly” the time when she was taken to see the original 1984 film in a cemetery for the first time by her grandfather. “I’m not sure that my mother even knew that he was doing that,” the 21-year-old actress quipped. “I remember seeing the Library Ghost for the first time, and to this day it’s really one of the scariest [monsters] in cinema to me. …  It felt pretty real, which was absolutely terrifying.”

O’Connor, 25, was more of a “late bloomer” when it came to Ghostbusters, but grew up with a superfan dad who was beyond excited when they first got cast in Afterlife. “He didn’t believe that acting was a real job because nobody in my family has ever been in the entertainment industry, but he came to visit me on the set of Afterlife, and that’s when he was on board finally,” they told PopCulture. “He was freaking out. He got to meet Dan [Aykroyd] and Bill [Murray] and see everything behind the scenes and the huge crew and the green screens and stuff, so it was a cool experience to be able to show him that.”

With Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire playing in theaters nationwide, Lind and O’Connor are encouraging fans to share their own paranormal experiences as they partner with Pure Leaf for the release of the brand’s Zero Sugar Sweet Tea. Starring together in the Unbelievably Sweet Files commercial, Lind said it was a “really cool” way to promote the “superb” new beverage. “It’s delicious,” O’Connor agreed. “It tastes exactly like every other sweet iced tea except there’s zero sugar, which is so amazing and healthy.”

Pure Leaf is also calling on fans to submit their own out-of-this-world and paranormal stories for a chance to win a Pure Leaf Zero Sugar Prize Pack, including the new Zero Sugar Sweet Tea and a selection of holographic stickers. Submissions are open until April 26, and fans in New Orleans, Boston and Chicago can “sip it to believe it” with complimentary Pure Leaf Zero Sugar Sweet Tea tastings during a multi-city tour kicking off on April 3. (Details are at at PureLeafZeroSugar.com.)

New Orleans is actually the site of Lind’s own paranormal experience. “I was in New Orleans when I was a kid, and we were at this haunted hotel, and all of a sudden in the middle of the night, the hangers from one side of the closet [slid] all the way to the other side of the closet,” she told PopCulture. “Yeah, no, this is totally true, and I remember opening the door and being like, ‘Oh my God, this is real. Ghosts are real.’ It was terrifying.”