Well that was fun while it lasted: after years of shouts and murmurs about a third Ghostbusters movie, writer Dan Aykroyd told UK’s The Telegraph yesterday that the long-rumored film will most likely never come to fruition — and it is all Bill Murray’s fault.

“At this point it’s in suspended animation. The studio, the director Ivan Reitman and Harold Ramis feel there must be a way to do it, but Bill Murray will not do the movie,” said the actor, who famously portrayed the bumbling Raymond Stantz in the first two movies. “He doesn’t want to be involved. He’s got six kids, houses all over America. He golfs in these tournaments where they pay him to turn up and have a laugh. He’s into this life and living it. I know we’d have a lot of fun [but] I can’t be mad at him. He’s a friend first, a colleague second. We have a deep personal relationship that transcends business.”

Though there would be ways to move forward without Murray’s Peter Venkman — killing him off, for example — Aykroyd seemed pretty adamantly against such plot devices. “We’re not going to do a movie that exploits the franchise. The script has to be perfect. I’m the cheerleader, but I’m only one voice in the matter. It’s a surety that Bill Murray will not do the movie.”

So, boys and girls, that seems to be that. Now we’ll have to focus all of our cinematic expectations on the “Arrested Development.” At least we know that is actually happening.