Netflix Unveils ‘Ghostbusters: Night Shift’ First Look, Concept Art & Logline – Annecy

Netflix has unveiled a first look, logline, character details, clip and concept art for its highly anticipated Ghostbusters: Night Shift animated series at a Next on Netflix session at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.

The logline reads: “New York City, 1994 — Five years after the Ghostbusters took the Statue of Liberty for a walk, a new wave of supernatural terror hits the Big Apple, forcing a group of scrappy, young New Yorkers — untrained, underappreciated, and kinda sorta responsible for the problem — to put on proton packs, face their fears, and bust some ghosts.”

The new series is co-written and exec produced by Ivan Reitman’s son Jason Reitman with longtime collaborator Gil Kenan, who both took to the stage at Netflix’s Annecy presentation to talk about the genesis and aims of the project, followed by showrunners and EPs Ben Hibon and Elliott Kalan who revealed fresh details on the project.

Reitman previously honored his father’s legacy, in collaboration with Kenan, with the 2021 comedy Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire which followed in the wake of a string of award-winning directorial credits including Thank You For Not Smoking and Juno.

“This is my first time here in Annecy. Thank you for having me,” said Reitman. “Back in 1984, my father directed the original Ghostbusters film, introducing the world to an entirely new kind of comedy. A science fiction film that was as scary as it was hilarious.”

The new series sees the original Ghostbusting team led by Peter Venkman, Raymond Stantz and Egon Spengler in retirement, and a younger new crew taking up their mission against the backdrop of early 1990s New York, as the city is on the cusp of gentrification.

Reitman said the setting was filling in “the big gap” between the original 1984 Ghostbusters and 1989 sequel Ghostbusters II and his more recent sequels.

“There’s an entire decade’s worth of ghostbusting that has never been told until now and we’re taking you back to the 1990s… look in your closet and fish out that CD Sony Walkman,” he said.

Giving more detail on the setting, showrunner Kalan and Hibon said New York was a presented as “a beautiful mess” and talked through concept art tapping into the many facets of the city.

“It was extremely important to us that the setting of Ghostbusters: Night Shift feel like the actual New York City. We want you to feel the wet garbage under your feet as you watch the show,” said Kalan.

“In order to do that visually, we tapped into the more grimy, DIY punk and layered street aesthetic of the time,”  said Hibon, adding the aim for a naturalistic look with a few design elements.

“None of these stylistic choices have been made just because they look cool… It’s also to reflect the perspective of our new cast of Ghostbusters. Young adults trying to figure out how to live in the city that represents their biggest dreams as well as their biggest nightmares,” added Kalan.

“We will be experiencing their street level view of a New York of 24-hour diners and corner store bodegas. To put it bluntly, this is a New York that smells.”

In a key reveal, they also unveiled the new generation of Ghostbusters: Belladonna the goth; Mitzi the punk; Zoe the kid, and Mitzi’s younger sister; Travis the conman; Mike the scientist and Terror Puppy.

They also treated the audience to a short clip set in Grand Central Station and the Night Watcher (pictured in the image above), a terrifying phantom ticket collector who nearly finishes off Zoe and Travis off.

The reveal follows the unveiling of the official title and logo at a Ghostbusters tribute event in L.A. earlier this month.

As announced last month, Dan Aykroyd, star and writer of the original 1984 film, is also on board as an executive producer alongside Amie Karp. The series is a Netflix and Skydance Animation Production.