In this (slightly tarnished) golden age of not one, but two brand-new Ghostbusters films, it’s easy to forget the years—the entire years!—of buzz, gossip, and chatter surrounding potential sequels and spinoffs that fed into the massive lie that was Ghostbusters 3. The rumors surrounding that possible picture edged into “I’ll eat my shoe if this happens” territory years ago, but there was at least once person that turned baseless Hollywood buzz into something creative: Max Landis.

The Chronicle screenwriter was rumored to be working on Ghostbusters 3 back in June of last year, a bit of news that he quickly refuted on his own Twitter account. But something about that fake news stirred something in the screenwriter, and Landis took it upon himself to imagine what his Ghostbusters 3 would look like. The good news: It sounds awesome! The bad news: It will probably never happen.

/Film has now posted a link to Landis’ treatment, a detailed and sprawling look at what his third movie could have been, and one that very effectively builds out the world of the Ghostbusters in a way that actually speaks to the original material. As Landis tells it:

“Seeing as it appears the new Ghostbusters franchise will be moving away from the previous films, and be a complete reboot, I thought it would be fun to release an idea I’d been kicking around for a third movie, turning the first two into a trilogy. Following my own beliefs about trilogies, it is a completion of the cycle and themes started in the first film, updated for modern film standards. As such, it features a heightening of the first film’s threat, as well as multiple action sequences, and deeper emotional through-lines for the characters. I never pitched this. It is essentially just fan fiction. Please judge it accordingly; I released it to an overwhelming amount of requests, and also just because I like sharing this stuff.”

Essentially, Landis’ story picks up after the Ghostbusters—as a business franchise, an idea that might actually be explored in the new, “guy-centric” film—have expanded too rapidly, resulting in a lot of shuttered outposts and a general sense that there simply are no more ghosts to bust. But! The New York City chapter is still chugging along, despite financial woes and plenty of in-fighting. Elsewhere, the Los Angeles chapter is similarly still limping along, and both groups are subject to weird outside pressures, including a plan by the government to weaponize ghosts. Oops. The treatment flips back and forth between New York and L.A. as, well, a lot of things change, leading to a massive final battle.

Give it a read.

Landis also took to his Twitter—this guy loves his Twitter—to share his dream casting for the project:

Is it too late to get this film?