Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’s Ending, Explained

This article contains major spoilers for the ending of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.

With Ghostbusters celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, it should come as no surprise that we have a new installment in the series with Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. While the film mostly follows the new cast established in 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife, many of the original cast members return, including Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, and Annie Potts. By the time the credits roll, it’s very clear that Sony and director Gil Kenan are gearing up for more Ghostbusters films, so here’s how the ending of Frozen Empire may impact that, as well as if there’s a post-credits scene.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire‘s Ending, Explained

In the climax of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, both new and returning Ghostbusters have a stand-off against ancient ghost Garraka, who is able to freeze any living thing with his supernatural ability, the death chill. Proton packs are ineffective against the towering ghoul, so it’s able to carve a path of destruction to the Ghostbusters HQ, resulting in the containment field holding all of their ghosts to be destroyed. In a grand spectacle, 40 years of ghosts are sent spilling out into the city, with the Ghostbusters eventually able to contain Garraka in the newly vacant containment field.

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With the city celebrating the Ghostbusters, Mayor Walter Peck is just about to arrest the Ghostbusters, but he’s forcibly swayed by the public to offer them his unconditional support. Now with the official backing of city hall, the Ghostbusters are heroes once again and able to bust some ghosts. However, one of the ghosts they captured, a flying eel creature, zooms by them, indicating a problem that is most likely going to become relevant in future installments: all of the ghosts are loose.

While it may be somewhat inconvenient to capture minor ghosts again, like Slimer and the aforementioned eel ghost, dozens of other ghosts escaped and are now inhabiting New York. And while it’s unclear exactly what happened to some ghosts in earlier films, it’s safe to assume that the containment field may have contained both Zuul, who was defeated in the previous movie, and Vigo the Carpathian from Ghostbusters II. It seems pretty likely that if Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire gets a sequel, it’ll almost certainly follow up on this ending of the ghosts being freed, meaning business will be booming for the Spengler family.

Is There a Post-Credits Scene in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire?

There is a mid-credits scene for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, and while it may have some significance in a potential sequel, it comes across as a harmless gag more than anything else.

Related: Ghostbusters: Afterlife Demonstrates the Paradox of Nostalgic Sequels

The scene features the Mini Stay Puft Marshmallows, who were minor comedic reliefs in the film, escaping their containment and trying to make mischief. The scene features the little squishy specters stealing a marshmallow truck and driving away with it. Obviously, this isn’t an essential scene, but it’s a decent enough gag and may serve as a nice intro for the next movie, maybe even encouraging the Ghostbusters to travel outside of New York City to wrangle all of the ghosts they released. Only time will tell, but it’s extremely likely that we haven’t seen the last of the Ghostbusters yet.