Even though Columbia Pictures’ third Ghostbusters is now being pegged as an all-female cast reboot, producer Ivan Reitman says otherwise.

In a new interview with Toronto Life, Reitman, who was once to direct until the sad passing of Harold Ramis, teases that he still expects the original “Busters” to return. In fact, the big news is that he believes Bill Murray will return as the beloved Dr. Peter Venkman.

He’s publicly said no, but Bill and I have done six movies together, and he never says yes until literally just before the shoot. Two TIFFs ago, we had a late dinner at Sotto Sotto, and we ate and talked until 4:30 in the morning. I told him, “I don’t care if you do ­Ghostbusters—I mean, I’d love it if you did—but why aren’t you doing leading parts for big studio films?” He said he didn’t want that responsibility. He wanted to be a character actor.

Reitman also exclaims that Ghostbusters 3 is no longer a rumor, and is active.

The studio is in, and we have writers working on it as we speak. We’re ­hoping to film at the beginning of next year. Dan Aykroyd and I meet about once a month to talk about it.

The female lead is rumored to be Dr. Anna, a real doctor. The question is, will Oscar, Dana and Peter’s lovechild, still play a role?