New Details on James Acaster’s Role in 'Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire' Defrost

Ahead of the world-exclusive Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire March issue of Empire arriving on newsstands later this week, another exclusive just dropped, providing the first details on British comedian James Acaster’s role in the film, a look seemingly inside the Ghostbusters lab, and more.

CREDIT: Empire | Columbia Pictures Ghost Corps

First shown in the teaser trailer, we now know that Acaster will be playing Lars Pinfield, one of the scientists behind some of the new gear being developed and financially backed by Ernie Hudson’s Winston Zeddemore. Producer and co-writer Jason Reitman would proclaim while laughing, that “James is not playing a Spengler, but he really falls in line with the Egon Spengler ‘type.'”

To go alongside Acaster’s somewhat character reveal, we’re given a clear look inside the Ghostbusters‘ new engineering division, with Pinfield appearing to probe The Golden Orb, an artifact likely to play a key role in the film’s plot, being included as part of Funko’s Ray Stantz POP! vinyl figure.

Also, we need to touch on what’s transpiring within the photo’s background as we see the return of Ghostbusters II‘s Slime Blower. While we knew that the prop was on set thanks to videos from various social media influencers, today’s preview confirms its more-than-likely big-screen return.

Other character name reveals came as part of the new Empire article, with Patton Oswalt confirmed as Dr. Hubert Wartzki, while Kumail Nanjiani will play Nadeem Razmaadi.

Shifting the focus to the fledgling Ray’s Occult Books, returning character Podcast (Logan Kim) has been said to have developed a mentor relationship with Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), with Aykroyd saying:

“Ray and Podcast are buddies – Ray’s a mentor to him… He’s renting Ray’s basement to shoot an Instagram series called Repossessed, where people bring in objects they think are haunted.” 

And finally, in the last bit of character news, with the Spenglers now in New York City, star Mckenna Grace ensures that Phoebe is very much “in her element,” adding that “she’s now ghostbusting on a totally different scale to what she was doing in Oklahoma.”

For more from the cast of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, the March issue of Empire arrives on newsstands this Thursday, January 18th, available as two different glow-in-the-dark connecting collectible covers.