The rumors of a third Ghostbusters film have fruitlessly swirled for years upon years, with franchise co-creator and star Dan Aykroyd dropping hints and teases of a potential movie for years. As the principal cast of the first two movies aged, it was generally accepted that a reboot would focus on a younger cast of ghostbusters, with the original team (with or without Bill Murray, depending on when you asked) handing the reins over. While any new film has to be treated with a huge dose of skepticism after all these years, any plans for a new entry were definitely hurt when Harold Ramis (who co-wrote and starred in the first two movies) died last month.

Better late than never?

Now, Ramis' absence won't be the only thing missing from the next Ghostbusters movie — Deadline has just published an extensive interview with director Ivan Reitman, who confirms that he won't direct the next film after the passing of his friend. "When I came back from Harold's funeral, it was really moving and it made me think about a lot of things," Reitman says. "I just finally met with Amy [Pascal] and Doug Belgrad [from Sony Pictures] when I got back. I said I'd been thinking about it for weeks, that I'd rather just produce this Ghostbusters. I told them I thought I could help but let's find a really good director and make it with him."

Reitman also reminisced fondly on the time he spent making the first two movies with Ramis and the original cast. "It was such an amazing time in my life 30 years ago, and I felt that way on the second film," he said. "With Harold no longer with us I couldn't see it."

On Sony's end, Pascal confirmed Reitman's plans to help find a new director and produce the future movie, and said that Sony was "eager to make this film." Despite these strong public statements about the future of the franchise, it's hard not to be skeptical given the never-ending talk of a movie that hasn't yet come to pass. However, the principal cast did reunite for a 2009 video game that was based on an old script for a third Ghostbusters movie, and it appears that the creative team has finally settled on a script penned by Etan Cohen. Reitman says shooting should begin in 2015 — even though there's still no official director or cast.