It was just the other day that we passed along the sad news that FOX had given Jeremy Slater's THE EXORCIST TV series the boot after two amazing seasons. This is an utter shame, but Slater himself doesn't hold a grudge against FOX and has said the show was "the lowest-rated drama on any network." Really? Ouch. Anyhow, Slater recently spoke with TVLine and dropped some great bits and pieces about just what we may have seen come to pass had FOX bellied up to the bar and given the show another season.
MARCUS’ DIVINE MOMENT:
He got a message from God. He clearly knows something bad happened. He clearly knows Tomas is in trouble, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he knows where Tomas is and what that trouble is.
TOMAS AND MARCUS’ REUNION:
Absolutely it’d be a disservice to come back, and the opening scene of Season 3 is Marcus kicking down the door and saying, ‘Tomas, I miss you.’ We kind of set up this big shooting between the two of them, and then we have to pay that off.
TOMAS AND MOUSE’S RELATIONSHIP:
It’ll be totally interesting to see what will happen to Tomas being on the road with a brand new partner, especially knowing how different Mouse is from Marcus in terms of methodology and ruthlessness, and everything else. She’s going to train him in very different ways and use him in different ways. Where Marcus was very much constantly worried, almost to the point of obsession with protecting Tomas, Mouse doesn’t have those same nurturing instincts. In Mouse’s eyes, Tomas is a weapon to be used in this larger war. He’s an asset that she could potentially control. That’s a really fun interesting dynamic. The question is: How long can you keep those two stories separate if Marcus doesn’t necessarily know where Tomas and Mouse are.
EXPANDING THE NETWORK:
Part of the story in Season 3 would be Marcus having to use his connections to this religious underworld to track down his missing partner. If he can’t necessarily trust the Church anymore, because it’s been compromised, I think it’d be fun to see Marcus having to go outside the bounds of the Church and talk to some of the people he would have met over his last 30 years of exorcising people. [Sources] who deal in conspiracy theories, religious reliquaries and things like that… Shamans and rabbis and people from different faiths who may be fighting the same evil using different terminology and different methodology.
FLIPPING THE SACRED SCRIPT:
Having Marcus work his sources “feels like an interesting way to get Marcus back into that world, as opposed to having him just say, ‘Yes, I’m an exorcist again now!’ Let’s let Tomas carry that standard for a little while. Let’s let Tomas be the exorcist, and let’s let Marcus be the one who has to search for his friend and save his friend.
FEAR NOT THE FLASHBACKS:
That final scene [in the finale] where Marcus gets that message from God happens six months after the two of them separate. So we’re going to have six months to account for what happened to Tomas and Mouse on the road. There may even be a potential for telling stories that are happening on branching timelines and flashbacks and different things like that.
Now that you've read all of that, I guess I can go ahead and admit I haven't. I'm a bit behind on THE EXORCIST and thus just went ahead and skipped reading all the quotes above. I did enjoy the first season and have every plan to catch the second as soon as possible. I especially dug the performances of Alfonso Herrera as Father Tomas Ortega and Ben Daniels as Father Marcus Keane. This was a great team and I'll miss them come next season for sure.
What did you think of season 2? Let me know below!