The Original Banshee Story Plan The Sequel Dropped

Summary

• The original
  Ghostbusters 2
  script had a banshee storyline that was dropped for the final theatrical version.
• Despite changes, some elements from the original script, like the Ghostbusters team having to travel underground, made it to the sequel.
• The idea of the Ghostbusters heading underground was almost lost in several rewrites of the script.

The original Ghostbusters 2 script supposedly told a story involving a banshee that the sequel’s theatrical version ultimately dropped. After the success of the 1984’s original film, the 1989 sequel Ghostbusters 2 pitted the cast against Vigo the Carpathian and the mysterious pink slime rising up from New York City’s underground. The sequel was just as much of a success as the original, with many incredible and unforgettable moments. This makes it somewhat surprising that the plot of Ghostbusters 2 in the original script was almost entirely different.

Some elements of the original Ghostbusters 2 script did make the final cut — namely that the team head underground to find the slime. Before Vigo can resurrect himself by transferring his soul into Dana’s (Sigourney Weaver) infant son, the Ghostbusters use the slime to animate the Statue of Liberty, spread optimism throughout the city, and save the day. The Ghostbusters 2 ending was lauded, so it’s amazing to think it wasn’t part of the original plan. The original Ghostbusters 2 script went through a significant amount of rewrites, so much so that the original idea was lost in translation.

The Original Ghostbusters 2 Script Plans Explained

There Were Several Different Ideas For The Ghostbusters Sequel

While it’s difficult to imagine given the success of the Ghostbusters sequel, there were multiple ideas for Ghostbusters 2 prior to its development, to the point that even the cast didn’t know quite how the sequel would take shape prior to filming. During a 2021 interview ahead of the release of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Bill Murray revealed that the original plot he was pitched for 1989’s Ghostbusters 2 did not pan out the way he thought it would.

In the end, Aykroyd deemed his plan too bizarre to be taken seriously, though the idea of the underground stuck.

According to the March 1989 issue of Starlog magazine, Bill Murray pitched The Last of the Ghostbusters as a sequel title. Rumor has it that the first sequel script was also referred to as Ghostbusters: The Seed, though this remains unverified. However, it’s not this hypothetical version of Ghostbusters 2 that the original Banshee storyline came to light. This emerged later in 1989 from fellow Ghostbusters cast member Dan Akroyd.

In the November 1989 issue of Cinefex, Dan Aykroyd’s sequel idea featured an international ghost-busting excursion to Scotland, where Peter Venkman and team would rescue a kidnapped Dana from a “fairy ring and civilization underground.” In the end, Aykroyd deemed his plan too bizarre to be taken seriously, though the idea of the underground stuck:

”
It was also probably too inaccessible, though I thought at the time I wrote it that it was the direction we should go in. I wanted to leave New York City behind because I thought we had done that… my original concept for going underground was different. It involved a pneumatic tube two thousand miles long that they traveled in for three days. It was like a primitive mail chute
.”

Then, decades later in an interview at the Ghostbusters 35th Anniversary Fan Fest, Akyroyd reaffirmed his belief that Scotland would have been a great setting for the sequel because of its own ghost history. Additionally, he also revealed the villain of the scrapped version of the Ghostbusters sequel would likely have been a legendary banshee-like figure.

Would The Ghostbusters 2 Banshee Plan Have Worked?

There Were Definite Pros And Cons To The Original Ghostbusters 2 Script

In the theatrical version of Ghostbusters 2, the Ghostbusters venture down into an abandoned subway line to investigate the slime, though it would have been a fascinating concept to see them tunneling through Scotland to find Dana. However, there’s also something to be said for this plan having been ambitious given the technical limitations of special effects in the late 1980s.

The franchise going to Scotland and traveling to a fae realm in Scotland to rescue Dana would have been exciting, though definitely would have risked some visually questionable moments.

The franchise going to Scotland and traveling to a fae realm in Scotland to rescue Dana would have been exciting, though definitely would have risked some visually questionable moments. What’s more, part of the success of Ghostbusters 2 was its New York setting, with moments like The Titanic finally arriving, that Statue of Liberty coming to life, and the general carnage that ensued with ghosts unleashed wholesale on the Big Apple. These moments definitely weren’t in the original Ghostbusters 2 script.

The Ghostbusters franchise has included some great practical effects in its earlier films, so a banshee done with limited CGI sounds particularly frightening. Coupled with other magical beings associated with Scottish lore, it may have been a great commercial success if written well. The original Ghostbusters reveled in the absurd and fantastical with a giant, angry marshmallow man, and a potential banshee and underground society in Ghostbusters 2 would probably have been just as enjoyable, though it definitely was a much riskier venture.

Has The Banshee Appeared In Any Other Ghostbusters Projects?

The Comics And Cartoons Both Featured Banshee Moments

While the banshee from the original Ghostbusters 2 script didn’t make it into the final cut of the movie, there were several other Ghostbusters projects that incorporated the classic creature of Gaelic legend. Most notably, both animated Ghostbusters shows — The Real Ghostbusters and its later offshoot Extreme Ghostbusters — utilized the banshee in various episodes.

A season 2 episode of The Real Ghostbusters that aired in 1987 was titled “Banshee Bake a Cherry Pie”. Given the title, it’s no surprise that this episode focused on a banshee. The Ghostbusters find that a new Irish pop singer sensation named Shanne is actually a banshee in disguise. She even has a single called “Love Makes Me Live”, which was both an ominous forewarning and a nod to the classic banshee of legend. In the end it took the genius of Egon to stop her, as he worked out that reflecting her own voice back at Shanna made her weak enough to trap.

A banshee also appeared in the 1990s cartoon Extreme Ghostbusters. Season 1, episode 17, “Sonic Youth”, saw the new crop of Ghostbusters encounter a banshee as well as a siren (a similar figure from Greek mythology). The pair were using their abilities to siphon people’s youth, something the Extreme Ghostbusters team eventually put a stop to. Finally, Banshees also appeared in the IDW comics Ghostbusters series, and are one of the key minions of the faeire goddess Aibell.

So, while the banshee didn’t make the final cut of 1989’s Ghostbusters 2, the franchise has utilized them in the past across a handful of non-cinematic projects. Time will tell if the banshee makes it into a Ghostbusters movie, but since the cinematic arm of the property is still going strong with 2024’s Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, there’s every possibility that a future movie could revisit some of the Ghostbusters 2 original script ideas.