Over the many decades of human existence. Descendants can, sometimes, suffer under the shadow of the achievement of their forebears. This situation seems to have played out in one ofDavid Gordon Green’s most recent works,The Exorcist: Believer. Released in October 2023, the film was meant to serve as a sequel toWilliam Friedkin’s spectacular possessionstory, the originalThe Exorcist. In the aftermath of hisHalloweenfilms, director Green’s plannedThe Exorcisttrilogy seemed like a good venture to try out. However, followingthe disappointing criticaland financial performance at the box office forThe Exorcist: Believerlast year, the other movies were scrapped.
Speaking recently withIndie Wire, Green teased what elements would have been incorporated and explored in the now abandoned storylines. While acknowledging that there was a different type of pressure on him, Green revealed that his future storylines were both “ambitious” and “complicated,” saying, “Oh, man. That’s a long answer. It’s complicated. It’s long and complicated.” Adding, “We had our next one written and had it mapped out for the third one. Again, it was ambitious, complicated. We were going to Europe for some pretty extraordinary backdrops. It was one of those things where all of the creative parties got together.”
When asked if the planned sequels would follow the same cast, the director responded, “It was going to followAnn Dowd’s character.” Regarding bringingThe Exorcisttrilogy to life, Green suggested it was a different sort of pressure to what he experienced whileresurrecting theHalloweenfranchisein 2018. Green added:
“What I’m pitching, in terms of my professional ambition is, I need the creative freedom and give me the budgetary constraints so I can keep control of that. That’s something we learned pretty quickly, [with] expectations that are limitless and really daunting. So, for me to keep that creative freedom and be able to make the choices I wanted to make… As you see with the “Halloween” movies, the choices I make aren’t always the most popular ones. So it’s trying to make something that me, and my great friends at Blumhouse and Morgan Creek, want [for] that property to be fulfilled, as much as the audience is there and has the appetite for it. I don’t think they were on the journey I was excited about taking.”
What is ‘The Exorcist: Believer’ About?
The Exorcist: Believerfollows Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom Jr.), and his daughter Angela (Lidya Jewett) who has become possessed. The sequel also features other parents played byJennifer NettlesandNorbert Leo Butzwhose children have met the same fate. In their bid to find answers, they track down Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn,reprising her role from the originalfilm),whose daughter Regan(Linda Blair) had undergone a similar demonic experience.
With Green out ofThe Exorcistfranchise, filmmakerMike Flanagan, is stepping in to direct the nextThe Exorcist, which is set to hit theaters on June 12, 2025. TheupcomingExorcistfilmis one Flanagan himself has described ashis scariest film to date.
The Exorcist: Believeris available to watch on Prime Video in the U.S. Flanagan’sExorcistinstallment will be haunting theaters onMarch 13, 2026.
The Exorcist: Believer
When two girls disappear into the woods and return three days later with no memory of what happened to them, the father of one girl seeks out Chris MacNeil, who’s been forever altered by what happened to her daughter fifty years ago.
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