Ghostbusters Afterlife Trailer Breakdown: All The Easter Eggs And References You Missed

At long last, a new trailer for the upcoming movie Ghostbusters: Afterlife has arrived. It gives us the best look yet at the movie, which arrives in theaters on November 11. The trailer introduces the film's main characters--three of whom are related to one of the original Ghostbusters. What's more, we get quick looks at two original cast members who return for the movie, though many more will be featured in the final product.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife is a direct sequel to the 1989 film Ghostbusters 2 and was originally set to be released in theaters last July. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic meant that this--and many other movies--were delayed.

Thus far, it's been revealed that Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, and Annie Potts will be reprising their roles from the franchise in the new movie. It remains to be seen who else might pop up or how else this film might connect to the franchise as a whole.

There is a lot to take in from the trailer and plenty of moments you'll easily miss if you're not paying close attention. With that in mind, we did a deep dive into all of the references and Easter eggs found in the trailer and tried to decipher what, exactly, the plot of the movie is. Surprisingly, this look at the film gives quite a bit away, so take a look below at everything we learned from the new Ghostbusters: Afterlife trailer.

While the trailer is loaded with Easter eggs and nods to the original Ghostbusters movies, the first such instance is nice and simple. Searching through her late grandfather's old house, Phoebe (McKenna Grace) discovers a ghost trap.

An old photo of the Ghostbusters is shown and it's heavily hinted that the grandfather who passed away is none other than Egon Spengler. This makes a lot of sense, given that actor Harold Ramis passed in 2014. It allows his memory to be kept alive in the film while explaining why he's the only Ghostbuster to not appear in the film.

Next, we see the return of Annie Potts as Janine in the film, leading to a lot of questions. She's talking to Egon's daughter Callie (Carrie Coon) about "your father" and it's enough to make us wonder if Janine is her mom. Janine seemingly kept in very close contact with Egon, at the very least. And anyone who remembers the original movies knows Janine had a pretty obvious crush on Egon.

When going through his grandpa's garage, Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) finds a Ghostbuster memento of his own.

While Egon left a bunch of old cars around his property, only one has an engine. And, of course, the car is the iconic Ecto-1. It needs some work, but it roars to life for Trevor, who promptly takes it for a ride in an empty field.

Afterlife is directed and co-written by Jason Reitman. His dad, Ivan Reitman, directed and co-wrote the first two Ghostbuster movies. There's something fun about the next generation of Reitman making a movie about the next generation of Spenglers.

The movie is set in the town of Summerville. Clearly, this is a place where drilling has been done for something, though it's not entirely clear what. However, as Trevor and a group of locals hang out near one of the drilled holes, what looks like a geyser of supernatural energy explodes from it. It almost looks like oil coming from the ground--except with ghosts. A similar phenomenon is seen in the first Ghostbusters movie.

In this shot, Phoebe looks a lot like her grandpa Egon.

The trailer makes it seems as though Trevor and Phoebe know nothing about their grandpa's exploits as a Ghostbuster over the years. Thanks to a little help from YouTube, though, they're quickly going to find out thanks to whoever uploaded this vintage Ghostbusters commercial.

As the kids continue to dig through their grandfather's belongings, they even uncover his old PKE meter, which measured psychokinetic energy.

We saw this scene thanks to a clip released some time ago. Still, seeing Paul Rudd's character Mr. Gooberson be overrun at the grocery store by tiny Stay-Puft marshmallow men come to life is very funny.

Now we are getting to the real meat of the trailer. As the kids explore what we can only assume is the hole that supernatural energy exploded from, they come across what looks like a stone tribute to Gozer the Destructor--otherwise known as the villain of the first Ghostbusters film. Gozer is a Sumerian god of destruction and this tomb is located in Summerville. Coincidence? Probably not.

That lightning-shooting cloud of supernatural energy setting over Summerville looks similar to the one over Dana's (Sigourney Weaver) apartment building in the first Ghostbusters.

If that's not Gozer rising from the ground, who else could it be? More importantly, if Gozer is back, who will be possessed by its minions Vinz Clortho the Keymaster and Zuul the Gatekeeper?

With the rise of Gozer, it looks like Summerville is being taken over by ghosts. From wildly over-the-top ones, as seen above, to what looks like long-dead miners in the town.

Gozer doesn't go anywhere without its hell hounds--otherwise known as Vinz Clortho and Zuul--and we see one rampaging through a Walmart to chase down Mr. Gooberman in the trailer. If we had to guess, it looks like Paul Rudd is going to wind up playing the Keymaster in this movie.

Of course, children are going to be Ghostbusters in this movie. It makes perfect sense that Egon's grandkids would take up his cause, even if it's strange to see a teenager and what looks like a 10-year-old being tasked with saving the world using an unlicensed nuclear accelerator.

At least one piece of old Ghostbusters equipment got an upgrade. They turned the trap into an RC car, which could make trapping ghosts while on the run much easier. Who's controlling it, though?

The last shot we see is someone--it's definitely Ray (Dan Aykroyd)--answering a call in his occult bookstore. We know the original surviving Ghostbusters will be appearing in this new movie, but teasing it like this is an exciting way to close out the trailer.