The Female ‘Ghostbusters’ Cast Has Been Revealed

One of the projects speculated on the most the past few months – at least casting-wise – has been Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters reboot. While part of that is because many have been curious to see what sort of comedic super team Feig is able to assemble to match the original cast of Murray, Aykroyd, Ramis, and Hudson, a larger part is due to the increased interest in the casting news ever since it was announced that Feig would make his new band of busters an all female-led team. Since then, names have been thrown around with rumors varying from substantive to merely wishful thinking. But now all the speculation can be laid aside as the fearsome team has been revealed.

Melissa McCarthy (Tammy) – long rumored to be in play for one of the spots – leads cast that includes Kristen Wiig (The Skeleton Twins), and current SNL cast-mates Kate McKinnon (Life Partners), and Leslie Jones (Top Five). McCarthy has already been confirmed as having signed on, but Wiig, McKinnon, and Jones are all said to be near the final stages of negotiations with Sony, making their involvement all but official.

Both McCarthy and Wiig have previously collaborated with Feig with smashing success, with the two taking part in 2011’s Bridesmaids, and McCarthy later re-teaming with Feig for 2013’s The Heat. With those two previous efforts and now Ghostbusters, Feig has become a sort of go-to director in Hollywood for female-led comedy vehicles.

For McKinnon and Jones, Ghostbusters will surely be the highest profile roles they’ve had in film thus far. The two sketch comedy members are relatively young into their Saturday Night Live tenures and have had only bit parts in feature films. Still, their SNL background had to have been a draw for Feig, who surely is looking for some sort of on-set chemistry amongst the four women (Wiig is an SNL alum herself, and McCarthy has hosted before). Of the original Ghostbusters, only Bill Murray (St. Vincent) and Dan Aykroyd (Tammy) were both SNL members.

Sony is looking to begin production on Ghostbusters this summer in New York.