What Happened to Ray, Winston & Peter Between Ghostbusters 2 & Afterlife

Here’s what Ray, Peter, and Winston got up to between Ghostbusters 2 and Ghostbusters: Afterlife. It’s been a long wait to see the original Ghostbusters crew suit up again – 32 years to be exact – barring the acclaimed 2009 video game that saw actors Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, and the late Harold Ramis reprise their classic roles in voice form. While Aykroyd, Murray and Hudson did make cameos in the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot, it just didn’t scratch the same itch as seeing them behind a proton stream.

Obviously, Ray, Peter, and Winston have noticeably aged when they’re seen in Ghostbusters: Afterlife, but when they step onscreen ready to battle Gozer (played by Olivia Wilde), proton pack equipped and ready, classic suits on, and old character dynamics still in play, their age really doesn’t matter. They’re still the Ghostbusters after all these years. They still have the tools and the talent, and the only thing their return is really missing is the presence of Ramis’ Egon Spengler, although he does still sort of appear in CGI ghost form.

As nice as it is to see them back though, Ghostbusters: Afterlife doesn’t spend much time focusing on the classic team, instead establishing new main characters in the form of Egon’s daughter and grandchildren, and their charming summer school teacher Gary Grooberson (played by Baskin Robbins’ nemesis Paul Rudd). With that in mind, not much attention is given to what happened to the original Ghostbusters between 1989 and 2021, but some interesting information is indeed revealed about their journey.

Why The Ghostbusters Split Up

Between Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters 2, the titular team found themselves falling on hard times, as New York City’s gratitude for defeating Gozer sadly didn’t last too long. Circumstances turned out similarly between Ghostbusters 2 and Ghostbusters: Afterlife, as after defeating Vigo, the ghost well dried up. With less spooks to bust, money got tight and business got bad, leading to a general strain being put on the Ghostbusters operation.

Things got much worse once Egon became convinced that Gozer would eventually rise again thanks to Ivo Shandor’s (J.K. Simmons) mine in Summerville, Oklahoma. While he at first tried to convince his friends of what he knew to be true, Egon ended up taking matters into his own hands, stealing the Ghostbusters’ equipment and skipping town, leading to a falling out with his former colleagues. Egon did of course turn out to be right, but that came as small consolation after his death. At least the presence of Egon’s ghost during the final battle allowed for a measure of reconciliation and a brief reformation of the crew before it was time for Egon to crossover to the next plane of existence.

What The Ghostbusters Did After Egon Left

With the Ghostbusters officially disbanded and Egon in the wind thanks to Revelation 6:12, that left time for Ray, Peter, and Winston to fill with other pursuits. Ray, unsurprisingly headed back to the occult book store that he had owned and operated for quite some time as a side gig, although it would appear that it’s far from a successful business. It’s telling too that Ray still kept the red phone around for answering calls to the Ghostbusters’ old number, clearly either hoping the team would reunite, or worried something bad would happen if no one was there to answer calls to that line.

Peter Venkman went back to his line of work prior to becoming a Ghostbuster, working as a professor at a university. With Peter’s ability to captivate an audience verbally and his high level of intelligence, it makes perfect sense that he’d excel in the classroom. One can hope he’s tamped down some of his old womanizing ways as he’s gotten older, and the mid-credits scene with Dana Barrett suggests he has. Winston actually did the best of the group in his post-ghostbusting life, going into finance and becoming extremely rich. As he makes clear during the end-credits scene with Janine though, Winston may be a businessman now, but he’ll always be a Ghostbuster first. His revival of Ecto-1 and purchase of the old firehouse suggests he plans to stay in that line of work in some fashion.

Is Ghostbusters II Really Canon To Afterlife?

One of the biggest unanswered questions surrounding Ghostbusters: Afterlife is whether or not it considers the events of underrated sequel Ghostbusters 2 to be canon or not. Afterlife makes no explicit references to Ghostbusters 2, outside of saying that it’s been 30 years since a ghost sighting occurred, which would place said sighting much closer to 1989 than 1984. Yet, Ghostbusters 2 saw modifications made to the Ecto-1, modifications not reflected in its Afterlife design.

There’s also the complete absence of Louis Tully to consider. While Louis was decidedly a supporting player in the first Ghostbusters, outside of becoming a Terror Dog, he became a nearly full-fledged member of the team in Ghostbusters 2. He represented the Ghostbusters in court, began a romantic relationship with Janine, and even strapped on a proton pack near the end to blast away at Vigo’s headquarters. While Louis doesn’t appear in Afterlife primarily due to Rick Moranis’ retirement from acting, it’s still worth considering the possibility that Afterlife isn’t keeping Louis’ character expansion canon.

Are Dana And Venkman Together In Afterlife?

While she doesn’t appear in Ghostbusters: Afterlife proper, it’s nice to see Dana Barrett (sci-fi icon Sigourney Weaver) pop up alongside Peter in the mid-credits scene, which serves to harken back to the “experiment” Dr. Venkman was conducting when he first appears in the original movie. What’s unclear though is the status of their relationship. There’s clearly lots of affection remaining between them, but at the same time, considering Peter’s behavior as a younger man, it’s entirely possible their romantic pairing didn’t last.

That again though brings up the question of whether Ghostbusters 2 is canon in Afterlife. Peter and Dana’s relationship seemed on much more solid footing at the end of the sequel than the original. Peter had also grown quite fond of Dana’s son Oscar, as he had saved him from Vigo. There’s absolutely no mention of Oscar in Ghostbusters: Afterlife‘s mid-credits scene, although Dana does appear to be wearing a wedding ring. The question is whether that ring was given to her by Peter or by another man she met and married after they broke up. Perhaps things will be cleared up if a Ghostbusters 4 happens.

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