Setting the ghostbusting record straight, once and for all, is comedy legend Dan Aykroyd, who playfully confirmed that his appearance as Ghostbusters character Ray Stantz in 1995 film Casper is, in fact, canon to the world of Ivan Reitman’s 1984 classic.
“I think so,” Aykroyd said when asked if the moment was canonical during a recent interview with the Talking Strange podcast. “Given the fact that Spielberg asked for me and said, ‘Come and do this,’ and that they built me in there. Of course, it’s a beautiful nod to what we were doing with Ivan [Reitman] and everybody. I think you’ve got to include it there in the canon. No doubt.”
Just dawned on me the first movie I saw one of the Ghostbusters was a cameo in the freaking Casper movie. 🤣 pic.twitter.com/yDstdj4j2d
— CJ 🦋 (@phatseejay) September 30, 2025
Fans — myself included — can breathe a sigh of relief now, knowing that Stantz did, in fact, try to bust the friendliest ghost of all, but didn’t, of course, succeed.
For those of you who don’t remember the hilarious cameo, it goes a little something like this. Casper centers on a home called Whipstaff Manor, which is home to Casper and his three mean uncle ghosts. The house is left to a mean woman named Carrigan Crittenden, played by Cathy Moriarty, who learns that there is some kind of valuable treasure hidden somewhere in the old property — however, she has to get Casper and his uncles out of the home first. So she enlists a few folks to help her out, namely ghost therapist Dr. James Harvey (Bill Pullman), but before he comes along with his daughter Kat (Christina Ricci), Ray Stantz gives it a try.
The ghostbuster, who dons an all-new mustache in the cameo, enters the building and quickly exits, but not before saying, “Who ya gonna call? Someone else.”
Aykroyd is one of the four iconic Ghostbusters, which also includes Bill Murray as Peter Venkman, Harold Remis as Egon Spengler, and Ernie Hudson as Winston Zeddemore. Casper stars Pullman, Moriarty, Ricci, and Devon Sawa voicing the title role (and cameoing in the final act).
Ghostbusters is currently available to stream for free on The Roku Channel, and Casper can currently be found to stream via Netflix.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
