The Ghostbusters Cartoon Rejected Ernie Hudson For An Absurd Reason

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https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/...180000618.html

Witney Seibold
Sun, October 19, 2025 at 11:00 AM PDT
4 min read

The 1986 animated series "The Real Ghostbusters" was, as we all know, an adaptation of Ivan Reitman's 1984 ultra-hit feature film "Ghostbusters." The makers of the animated series added the "The Real" to the title for legal reasons, as CBS still owned the rights to the name "The Ghost Busters," the title of their 1975 Larry Storch sitcom. When DIC Entertainment was hired by Columbia Pictures to make a direct adaptation of Reitman's film, they had to alter the title.

The title change comes with a twinge of irony, however, as "The Real Ghostbusters" was made without the participation of Reitman or any of the original 1984 cast members. The film starred Dan Aykroyd as Ray Stantz, Bill Murray as Peter Venkman, Harold Ramis as Egon Spengler, and Ernie Hudson as Winston Zeddemore. The animated series elected not to use likenesses of the film actors, and the show's character designer, Jim McDermott, came up with designs that stood out more for animation. The four Ghostbusters were given different-colored uniforms, a departure from the all-beige jumpsuits they wore in the movie. Their faces and hair were also dramatically changed (Egon was made into a blonde). These were the "Real" Ghostbusters?

Also the voice cast was very different. Frank Welker played Ray, and captured the spirit of the character, even if he didn't sound alike. Maurice LaMarche nailed a pretty good Harold Ramis impersonation. Lorenzo Music, the voice of Garfield, played Peter with a laconic appeal. And Arsenio Hall brought all the show's human energy as Winston. Wouldn't the "Real" Ghostbusters feature at least one of the film's original cast members?

It seems that we almost had at least one real Ghostbuster on "The Real Ghostbusters," anyway. Ernie Hudson famously auditioned to play Winston for the animated series ... and was infamously rejected. Hudson spoke with the AV Club back in 2012, and he revealed that his audition went poorly because the director, in a weird criticism, thought Ernie Hudson didn't sound enough like Ernie Hudson.