Ghostbusters 3 Script Is 'Being Written Right Now,' Says Dan Aykroyd

Who ya gonna call?

Well, if you're Dan Aykroyd, you're gonna call Bill Murray to try once again to talk him into taking part in Ghostbusters 3 — which, according to Aykroyd, is being penned at this moment. During a recent appearance on AXS TV's The Big Interview with Dan Rather, the ever-optimistic funnyman spoke about the possibility of reuniting the surviving members of the original Ghostbusters cast, according to fan site Ghostbusters News. 

"There is a possibility of a reunion with the three remaining Ghostbusters," Aykroyd said. "It's being written right now." As for the possibility of the inclusion of Murray, who has been famously resistant to revisiting the franchise, Aykroyd added, "I think Billy will come. The story's so good. Even if he plays a ghost."

As pointed out by Ghostbusters News, this is not the first time Aykroyd has teased fans with a potential re-teaming of the classic Ghostbusters lineup. In fact, the comedian seems to pop up every few years or so with a similar story: in 2010, he told Den of Geek that he personally was working on a script for the project. Then, in 2012, E! Online reported that Aykroyd and original director Ivan Reitman had received a new draft of the script from Tropic Thunder scribe Etan Cohen, and that the flick would be going forward without Murray. Then, in 2015, Aykroyd told The Guardian that the project was still alive, despite the fact that Paul Feig's 2016 reboot was in production at the time.

"There's three drafts of the old concept that exists," Aykroyd said at that time. "And we're going to be able to salvage some of it and use it. Yeah, we're gonna be able to use it some day. Let's get this [reboot] made and that will reinvigorate the franchise and then we'll go on to maybe doing a more conventional third sequel as we were planning."

As for Murray, he has in the past related that he'd read some of those drafts Aykroyd mentioned — and what he saw evidently didn't leave him impressed. Speaking with Variety in 2014, he said, "I read one that Danny [Aykroyd] wrote that was crazy bizarre and too crazy to comprehend." He called a different draft "kind of funny, but not well executed," and commented on the lightning-in-a-bottle production of the first film. "Those guys, Danny and Harold [Ramis], were at the top of their game. They were burning nitro at that moment. Unless you have a really clear vision, you're always trying to recreate that."

It should be noted that IMDb does not currently have a page for Ghostbusters 3, and that Aykroyd failed to mention exactly who was writing this latest incarnation of the script in his conversation with Rather. But the original flick obviously holds a special place in his heart, as it does in the hearts of fans (even if most of them would rather forget about 1989's middling Ghostbusters II). He appears to be on a decades-long quest to bring the picture into existence through the sheer force of his will, and while it remains to be seen if he will eventually be successful, you've got to admire his dogged determination.

Interestingly, Aykroyd and Murray both showed up in brief cameos in the 2016 film, although they did not reprise their original roles. Aykroyd appeared as a conspiracy theory-hawking cab driver, and Murray as a skeptic out to debunk the very existence of ghosts. When asked about his participation in that film by Vulture, Murray said, "You know, they were incredibly nice to ask me... I like those girls [in the cast] a lot. I mean, I really do. They are tough to say no to. And Paul [Feig] is a real nice fellow."

So there we have one possibility for securing Murray's involvement in Ghostbusters 3, should it get made. Just get Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy to ask him, very nicely.