Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Zeddemore
Winston Zeddemore’s first on-screen appearance is in the movie Ghostbusters when he responds to a help-wanted advertisement the team has posted in an attempt to deal with their sizable workload.
Questioned extensively during his application by Janine Melnitz as to whether he believes in a large number of supernatural occurrences and beings (such as UFOs, the Loch Ness Monster and the theory of Atlantis among others), Zeddemore replies, “If there’s a steady paycheck in it, I’ll believe anything you say.”
Ghostbusters laminate ID Badge
Later in the movie, having seen the level of paranormal activity present in the city, he remarks, “This job is definitely not worth eleven-five [$11,500] a year!” He is partnered with Ray Stantz and they become friends.
Zeddemore is a religious man to some extent, saying in a discussion in Ghostbusters that he believes in God and “loves Jesus‘ style”. While driving the Ecto-1 with Ray, he voices his thoughts that the sudden spike in ghost appearances might be a sign of the apocalypse, pointing out that while they have come to treat capturing ghosts as routine pest control, in a very real sense the dead are literally “rising from the grave”.
Though Zeddemore has no previous background in paranormal studies and is not initially a firm believer in the existence of the paranormal, he readily accepts the existence of ghosts and the supernatural as he encounters them as a Ghostbuster. However, despite this, he continues to act as an ‘everyman‘ and voice of reason for the team, and when the jailed Ghostbusters seriously proposes asking a U.S. federal judge to release them because they must fight an invading god, Zeddemore reminds the others that no one will believe their claims.
Main article: Ghostbusters II
At the start of the sequel Ghostbusters II, the team has been forced out of business due to legal injunctions and property damage lawsuits. Zeddemore and Ray Stantz work as unpopular children’s entertainers, but rejoin the team after the ban against them is lifted. Winston helps Ray and Egon investigate the mysterious river of slime under the city, being “hit” by the specter of a train that derailed decades earlier and caused hundreds of deaths. Later, he helps them pilot the Statue of Liberty (suffused with slime charged by positive emotions) through New York City to rally the public and defeat Vigo the Carpathian. Ray remarks that the slime reminds him of Jell-O, a dessert Winston hates.
Main article: Ghostbusters: Afterlife
Hudson confirmed that he will reprise his role as Zeddemore in Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021).[7]
Many details of Zeddemore’s personality and character are revealed in episodes of The Real Ghostbusters. The episode “Cry Uncle” clarifies that, in the show’s continuity, Winston has no doctorate; he also informs Egon’s skeptical Uncle Cyrus that, prior to becoming a Ghostbuster, he too doubted the existence of ghosts. In “Mr. Sandman, Dream Me a Dream,” Winston states that, unlike his three colleagues, he is not a scientist, causing him to doubt his ability to resolve a crisis when the Sandman traps the others within their own dreams, but with encouragement from a dream-version of Albert Einstein, he meets the challenge and wins the day. “The Ghostbusters in Paris” reveals that Winston was once a construction worker prior to joining the Ghostbusters. This idea seems to be further reinforced in the episode “The Brooklyn Triangle”, when the Ghostbusters respond to a construction site headed by his father; this would indicate that it might have been a family business, until Winston decided to join the Ghostbusters.
In the episode “Devil To Pay”, Zeddemore mentions having a girlfriend, though she is never seen on screen during the series. In “Night Game”, he is shown to love baseball, and his favorite team is the Jaguars. In several other episodes it is shown that Zeddemore loves mystery novels and detective stories, and in “Boodunnit” he is the one who solves the mystery novel left behind by a deceased mystery writer similar to Agatha Christie, allowing her soul to rest. In “Doctor, Doctor” it is revealed that Zeddemore also likes classical literature, including the works of Herman Melville and Charles Dickens. He is also a fan of The Alan Parsons Project. “The Brooklyn Triangle” introduces Winston’s father, Ed, who works in construction. Their relationship is shown to have been strained because of Winston choosing to be a Ghostbuster, but they reconcile by the end of the episode.
Finally, in the episode “The Moaning Stones”, Zeddemore is revealed to be the reincarnation of Shima Buku, a shaman at war with an immortal demon known only as the Undying One.
