“Afterlife” introduced an agreeable set of Zoomers to carry the franchise forward, including Mckenna Grace as Phoebe Spengler (very much a chip off the same scientific-minded, socially awkward block as her grandfather), her older brother Trevor (Finn Wolfhard playing a very Finn Wolfhard character), a quirky tech guru nicknamed Podcast (Logan Kim), and Lucky Domingo (Celeste O’Connor), the most level-headed member of the group. They’ll all be back for more in “Frozen Empire,” as will senior — in more than one sense of the term — ‘busters Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Raymond “Ray” Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), and Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson).
Meanwhile, Phoebe and Trevor’s mother Callie (Carrie Coon) will be accompanying these impressionable youths to NYC, as will her boyfriend and Phoebe’s teacher, seismologist Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd). Both characters will also get to suit up as Ghostbusters this time, too, as will the original Ghostbusters’ former put-upon secretary Janine Melnitz (Annie Potts). Last but not least, Kumail Nanjiani and Patton Oswalt will become the latest comedy superstars to join this franchise as a pair of characters who help the heroes thwart the apocalypse (or maybe one or more of them is secretly behind it — you can never be too sure about these things).