Despite what the latest headlines suggest, Jason Reitman is not already working on a sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
After decades of being stuck in development hell and the box office disaster that was Ghostbusters: Answer the Call in 2016, Sony is finally moving ahead with an official sequel to 1989's Ghostbusters II. While Afterlife appears to be setting up a new generation of Ghostbusters, a sequel hasn't been officially confirmed.
Several outlets took a quote from Josh Gad's Reunited Apart and assumed Reitman had confirmed an Afterlife sequel. However, /Film thinks it's being reported out of context. Gad said, “So far on Reunited Apart, every movie we've done has had no further installments. But you guys have been working on a little sequel. Can you tell us anything, and if so, what can you tell us?” Reitman responded, "Yeah, no, I can't tell you anything, but we are working on another installment." Watching the video, Gad directly refers to Afterlife, suggesting this is the "installment" Reitman is talking about as a sequel to Ghostbusters 2.
So far, the Reunited Apart series has gathered casts from movies like The Goonies and Back to the Future, which have no active sequels in development. Ghostbusters: Afterlife seemingly came out of nowhere when it was first announced in early 2019. Although Paul Feig's Answer the Call was set to kick-start a new franchise of Ghostbusters movies and its own universe, Afterlife will ignore the events of the all-female comedy. Feig and the principal cast had reportedly signed on for two sequels, but the financial and critical response led to these plans being scrapped.
Reitman is taking over from his father (Ivan) to usher in a new era of the franchise and has kept his cards close to his chest with what Ghostbusters: Afterlife will be about. Apart from confirmation that original stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver and Annie Potts will all be reprising their roles, there's speculation that McKenna Grace's Phoebe and Finn Wolfhard's Trevor are related to Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis). Due to Ramis' death in 2014, he's the only original Ghostbuster not returning.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife is directed by Jason Reitman, who also co-wrote the film with Gil Kenan. Starring Finn Wolfhard, Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd and Mckenna Grace, the film arrives in theaters March 5, 2021.