Ghostbusters' Ernie Hudson Says All-Female Reboot Was 'Disappointing': 'Just Make Another Movie'

Mar. 15, 2025

Ernie Hudsonis looking back at the 2016Ghostbustersreboot and why he thinks it didn’t connect with longtime fans of the franchise.

The actor, 78, was part of the originalGhostbusterscast, starting with the 1984 original, and he returned for 2021’sGhostbusters: Afterlifeand the latest,Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, alongsidefellow O.G.’s Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd.

“Look, I’m a fan of Paul Feig so I have nothing negative about him to say. Other than: I don’t quite understand why you do a reboot, you know what I mean? Just make another movie,” he said.

“Fans were really invested in the story and the characters, and I think it was disappointing,” added Hudson, who had a cameo in the 2016 movie, adding, “I enjoyed the movie, but I think it wasn’t what fans were hoping for.”

He also said that Wiig, McCarthy, McKinnon and Jones are “brilliantly funny on their own.”

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Ernie Hudson and Bill Murray in “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” (2024).Jaap Buitendijk/Courtesy of Sony Pictures

Jaap Buitendijk/Courtesy of Sony Pictures

Back in 2021, Hudson toldLiving Life Fearlessthat while he “liked” the female-ledGhostbustersmovie “a lot,” they tried to make “another version of what we already did,“and “I think that was a mistake.”

“It wasn’t a continuation or an extension of. It was somehow a different universe there. You know what I mean? It’s kind of like us, but it’s us but not us. In that universe, they’re women. I don’t know. That was a choice that was made,” he said at the time. “…It just felt like a retelling of the same story, which automatically causes comparisons that you really don’t need to be doing.”

Even before the 2016 film debuted in theaters, itbecame the subject of sexist attacks online. In her 2023 memoir, Jones, 56, recalled theracist and sexist messages she received online over herGhostbustersrole, saying she “got taken through the ringer” during that time.

Back in October 2015, Wiig, 50, toldThe Los Angeles Timesthat the backlash surrounding just the announcement of the film was “surprising” to her: “Some people said some really not nice things about the fact that there were women. It didn’t make me mad, it just really bummed me out. We’re really honoring those movies.”

Leslie Jones, Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon in “Ghostbusters” (2016).Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

McCarthy, 53, in September 2021,reflected on the backlash theirGhostbustersfaced upon its release.

“There’s no end to stories we can tell, and there’s so many reboots and relaunches and different interpretations, and to say any of them are wrong, I just don’t get it,” McCarthytold Yahoo! Entertainment.

“I don’t get the fight to see who can be the most negative and the most hate-filled. Everybody should be able to tell the story they want to tell. If you don’t want to see it, you don’t have to see it.”

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empireis in theaters now.

source: people.com