Everything We Know About Exorcist: Believer, The Sequel From Director David Gordon Green
A new sequel to the 1973 horror classic "The Exorcist" has been in the works since at least 2020, when Blumhouse and Morgan Creek Entertainment announced that "Halloween" reboot director David Gordon Green would head the project. Now, Universal Pictures has finally debuted the first footage of what is being officially called "The Exorcist: Believer" at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, giving audiences a taste of what to expect from the film (which will be released on October 13, 2023).
"The Exorcist" series has always had a loose sense of continuity, so it's not surprising that "Believer" will choose to ignore the majority of the sequels that came before it. Technically speaking, the notoriously terrible "Exorcist II: The Heretic" is the only true direct follow-up to the original movie, and its general reputation as one of the worst horror film sequels ever made immediately put the then-burgeoning franchise in jeopardy. "The Exorcist III" is much better, but most of it plays out as a standalone film, originally called "Legion," with few ties to the plot of "The Exorcist." Then came the extremely confounding double feature prequels of "Exorcist: The Beginning" and "Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist," which are really just two attempts at the same project from different creative teams, born out of Morgan Creek's lack of confidence in either film. At this point, a follow-up to the original entry isn't even that confusing anymore.
What is The Exorcist: Believer about?
"The Exorcist: Believer" follows the aftermath of the disappearance of two girls, who return to their parents acting creepy and most definitely possessed. Their condition brings them into contact with Chris MacNeil, Regan's tormented mother from the first film, who is no stranger to demonic goings-on. The CinemaCon trailer showed the girls oblivious to the fact that they went missing for three days before revealing exactly how messed up they've become. At one point, one of them walks into a church soaked in communion wine and screams "The body and the blood!" At another moment, it looks as if another one of the girls has carved her name into her stomach. Finally, the trailer triumphantly revealed Ellen Burstyn back as Chris. The possessed girls call her "mother," to which she responds, "We've met before."
According to David Gordon Green, the film will concentrate on how the demonic possession will make for double the trouble. "We tried to delve back into what it would be like to have evil take over the body of not just one but two children," he explained at the panel.
Who's working on The Exorcist: Believer?
The big news is that Ellen Burstyn is making her return to the series for the first time since the original installment (she refused to return in "Exorcist II," probably for the best). Leslie Odom Jr. from "Hamilton," "One Night in Miami...," and "Glass Onion" will star as a tortured father alongside his wife, played by country singer Jennifer Nettles (both were in the biopic "Harriet" together). The girls themselves will be played by newcomers Lidya Jewett ("Good Girls") and Olivia Marcum ("Matilda the Musical"). Ann Dowd ("The Handmaid's Tale") will also star in an as-yet undisclosed role, as will Ralph Sbarge ("Once Upon a Time") and experimental dancer Okwui Okpokwasili.
Universal Pictures and its streaming service Peacock acquired global distribution rights to the project in a deal with Blumhouse and Morgan Creek that rounded out to a whopping price tag of $400 million. In addition to directing, David Gordon Green co-wrote the script with Peter Sattler ("Broken Diamonds") working off of an original story that he co-wrote with his "Halloween" trilogy scribes Danny McBride and Scott Teems. Green's "Halloween" trilogy cinematographer, Michael Simmonds, is also collaborating with him on his "Exorcist" sequel. It's shaping up to be quite the horror crossover reunion.