TORONTO — Dan Aykroyd says that seeing this year's "Star Trek" reboot has convinced him that a renewed "Ghostbusters" franchise could also live long and prosper.

But Aykroyd warns that until he has a script for "Ghostbusters 3" in his hands, nothing about the sequel is certain.

"I think this last `Star Trek' was great, they did a really fine job of revivifying those characters," Aykroyd told The Canadian Press in a telephone interview from his farm in Kingston, Ont.

"I'd like to see the torch get passed in sort of a `Star Trek' manner so that the franchise lives on."

Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky -- scribes for NBC's "The Office" -- have signed on to write "Ghostbusters 3." Aykroyd has said that he and other members of the original cast -- including Bill Murray, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson -- are on board to reprise their roles.

But Aykroyd still sounds cautious about the prospect of another film.

"As (`Ghostbusters' director) Ivan Reitman says -- and I quote him now -- `It's all just talk,"' Aykroyd said.

"That's pretty much what we can say. Until we can see a script, until we have casting, until we've got a production number," he added before trailing off. "I'm the biggest cheerleader. I think it's going to happen, but really it's just theory until the production number is stamped."

If the film does get made, Aykroyd figures it's time to crown a new generation of Ghostbusters.

"The old generation of Ghostbusters, we're getting hip replacements now, we can't lift the equipment anymore, the eyesight's fading, we can't drive the car, there's so many things that are just physically breaking down," he said.

"We need a whole new cadre of cadets to get us through to a new generation."

Given Aykroyd's unwavering passion for the franchise, he's just as anxious about a sequel as the series' ardent fans.

The idea for the first film -- which was released in 1984 and went on to fetch a North American gross of almost $240 million -- grew from Aykroyd's own fascination with the paranormal, which he inherited from his family.

His great grandfather was a dentist and also an "Edwardian spiritualist." Aykroyd's father is preparing to release a book called "A History of Ghosts," which tracks the development of spiritualism from the mid-19th century.

Aykroyd wrote his own treatment of a third "Ghostbusters" movie in the 1990s -- it centred on a "Ghostbusters in hell" motif, where there was an alternative version of Manhattan full of demons and ghouls -- and Ramis has given him credit in interviews for keeping the flame for the franchise alive.

"I'm sitting right in the farmhouse right now hoping to get that first draft and I will sit down and go through it, but it all really came from my family so I originate it, and I will continue to be the chief cheerleader on it," Aykroyd said.