The release of Ghostbusters: Afterlife in theaters has Ernie Hudson reflecting on the decades he's spent as a part of the franchise. For every Ghostbusters fan, there has always been four members of the team, but you wouldn't quite know that from the way the first Ghostbuster movie was marketed in the 1980s. Different posters and VHS cover art would depict only Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis busting ghosts with their proton packs, almost as if Ernie Hudson's Winston didn't exist.

This apparent lack of Winston went much further than excluding Hudson from the Ghostbusters marketing. The character was originally written to be featured much more heavily in the story, coming in at the beginning instead of the 60th page. He even had a fleshed-out backstory that referred to a military background, all of which was cut to reduce Winston's screen time. Most of his dialogue, which even included conjuring the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, was given to the other main characters.

While promoting Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Ernie Hudson spoke with Yahoo about his entrance into the franchise back in the early 80s. Ultimately, he admits that he can look back now and see that prioritizing the other leads over himself was a business decision as the studio had invested so much money into those actors. At the time, however, Hudson was an excited young actor who felt gutted when he learned that his main role had been drastically reduced.

"It was a mixed blessing because it was the most amazing script. I was a single dad, the rent was due and I needed a job. If I got this role, it was going to change my world. Then, the night before we were to shoot, all that changed. I’ve had several conversations with Ivan about it and his recollection is very different to mine. Now that I’m older, I understand the studio wanted to make sure the guys they’d invested a lot of money into had things to play with, so all of my best bits were given to other people. But for me as an actor, it was really devastating.”

Ernie Hudson says his Ghostbusters co-stars always made him feel like a part of the team and he got the impression that these choices all came from studio heads. In any case, the experience might have led to Hudson parting ways with the franchise if not for the fans who quickly took to his character and have been calling to see more of Winston from the very start.

"Winston had all this military training. He was the sensible guy who held things together. When the script changed, it was an... adjustment. Bill, Dan, and Harold were so inviting and welcoming but, while I don’t know this for a fact, it felt like the studio always wanted to make sure it was the three guys on the posters. It was the fans who really embraced Winston and I’ve talked to a few people at the studio who felt almost a little surprised by that. I credit the fans for forcing me to take another look at Ghostbusters.”

Indeed, thanks to both Ernie Hudson's portrayal and the fans who have always loved the character so much for so many years, Winston Zeddemore has become an iconic character. You can see him revisit the series once again by watching Ghostbusters: Afterlife in theaters. This news comes to us from Yahoo.