Kumail Nanjiani Joins 'Ghostbusters: Afterlife' Sequel

Kumail Nanjiani and Patton Oswalt Brian Bowen Smith/Sam Jones

EXCLUSIVE: Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, comedian James Acaster and Emily Alyn Lind have joined the cast of the live-action sequel to Sony Pictures’ hit film, Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Gil Kenan is directing, and the previous pic’s cast including Paul Rudd and Carrie Coon will return as the setting shifts to the original films’ New York City and firehouse.

Jason Reitman, who directed the 2021 pic, will move into the writer-producer role alongside co-scribe Kenan and Jason Blumenfeld.

Not much is known about the sequel, but sources say the plan is to return to New York City and the iconic firehouse made famous in the original Ghostbusters films. It is slated for a December 2023 release.

It’s been a high priority for Sony to get a sequel in production after Ghostbusters: Afterlife, the latest sequel to the iconic 1984 film, became a hit with its November 2021 opening. Directed and co-written by Reitman, and executive produced and co-written by Kenan, the pic opened as the pandemic was winding down with strong results that included a $44 million opening weekend. The film went on to make more than $200 million worldwide.

The film marks yet another big-time IP for Nanjiani, who has been on roll landing big roles in major franchises that include Marvel and Star Wars projects. The Oscar nominee most recently starred in Hulu’s limited series Welcome to Chippendales, Disney+ Star Wars prequel Obi-Wan Kenobi opposite Ewan McGregor and in Marvel’s Eternals. Up next, Nanjiani will star in and produce FX’s Homeland Elegies, based on the book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ayad Akhtar. Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon are also set to write the feature adaptation of The Doubtful Guest, a 1957 illustrated short story by Edward Gorey, in which Nanjiani also will star. Kumail and Gordon were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for The Big Sick, in which Nanjiani starred alongside Holly Hunter, Zoe Kazan and Ray Romano.

Oswalt starrs in the Magnolia Pictures comedy I Love My Dad, winner of the Grand Jury and Audience awards at the 2022 SXSW Film Festival. He has had multiple Netflix comedy specials including the Emmy-nominated I Love Everything and Annihilation and Emmy-winning Talking for Clapping. His most recent, We All Scream — which also marked his directorial debut — launched on Netflix this past fall.

In 2018, Acaster starring the four-part Netflix comedy series Repertoire. He was one of a select few Brits to have their special released on the platform and is the first comic from the UK to have more than one special released.

Most recently, Lind starred two seasons of HBO Max’s reimagining of the cultural phenomenon Gossip Girl. Film credits include The Babysitter: Killer Queen, the sequel to Netflix’s cult hit The Babysitter, directed and produced by McG, and Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep, opposite McGregor and Rebecca Ferguson.

Nanjiani is repped by is represented by UTA, Mosaic and Isaac Dunham. Patton is repped by UTA, manager Dave Rath at Independent Artists Media, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman. Acaster is represented by CAA and Caroline “Chiggy” Chignell and Daisy Skepelhorn at PBJ Management. Lind is repped by CAA and Brecheen Feldman Breimer.