Ivan Reitman, the director of the first two Ghostbusters movies, still has some ideas about how the franchise could move forward after the 2016 revival. That film, also titled Ghostbusters but directed by Paul Feig, was something of a thematic reboot that dropped the characters and history the franchise had built up in favor of a new team of Ghostbusters starring Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon.

According to Reitman in an interview with Super News Live, separating the most recent film from the originals was a mistake -- one fans have been very vocal about. If Reitman had his way, he would bring the two film universes together.

RELATED: Ghostbusters: Aykroyd Blames Director for Reboot’s Box Office Failure

“I think one thing that fans have clearly wanted, and so did I, is that somehow we tie the worlds together. That the historical films – the ones that I originally directed, you know, back in the ’80s – mixed with the film that Paul Feig just did and that world. I think it was a little awkward that it wasn’t connected, and we certainly heard a lot from everybody out there. So I would definitely want to connect to all of that.”

Fusing the two movies’ mythologies together could be problematic, though. While the original Ghostbusters didn’t appear in the 2016 film, many of the actors and actresses from those films did, though they adopted completely different roles. Chief among those cameos was Bill Murray as Martin Heiss, a paranormal debunker would perishes at the hands of a rampaging ghost, and Annie Potts, who played a desk clerk at a hotel that plays a critical role in the movie.

RELATED: Dan Aykroyd Fires Back As Sony Refutes His Ghostbusters Criticism

Bridging the gap between the two film universes might not be as simple as just sprinkling future movies with old characters, though. Reitman said he would like to see the film franchise go wide – worldwide.

“What we’ve been doing a lot of is thinking about the franchise rights for Ghostbuster, because Ghostbusters – that idea doesn’t have to just take place in New York, it can happen over the world. I think it would be really cool to see Korean ghosts or Chinese ghosts. All those great traditions in the world have all these historical stories and all these tales of things [that] those people are afraid of. To have a sort of local group of Ghostbusters that tie with the head office in New York would be fun.”

While the prospect of a new Ghostbusters film that explores the larger implications of a worldwide paranormal phenomenon sounds exciting, the series’ standing is currently rocky, especially given the very public spat between franchise veteran Dan Aykroyd and Sony Pictures.

(via ScreenRant)