After tackling the Halloween trilogy, you’d think that David Gordon Green would have had his fill of direct sequels to the most iconic horror movies in history… but no. Green stepped right into the world of The Exorcist with a new sequel which is expected to launch a whole new trilogy and audiences at CinemaCon got their first look at the project as well as the official title reveal.
The Exorcist sequel is titled The Exorcist: Believer and will find Ellen Burstyn returning to reprise her Academy-nominated role of Chris MacNeil. Leslie Odom Jr. also stars as the father of a possessed child who seeks out the aid of Burstyn’s character. The footage from the film actually dealt with not one, but two possessed children. The daughter of Odom Jr.’s character goes missing with her best friend, only to return days later with no memory of where they’ve been, and wouldn’t you know it, they’re also possessed.
The trailer was pretty terrifying and filled with crazy imagery, with one of the girls walking into a church mass screaming “The body and the blood!” at the priest. One of the girls also carves the name of Regan into her flesh. There have been rumblings that Linda Blair would be coming back, so this could set up a bigger return in the other two movies. Ann Dowd is also featured in the trailer as a doctor who is trying to use modern methods to save the girls, only to fail horribly.
David Gordon Green had intended on taking a break from horror after the Halloween trilogy, but when Blumhouse Productions found Jason Blum came calling with a sequel to The Exorcist, he couldn’t resist. “That’s the truth,” David Gordon Green said last October. “If anybody’s followed my career, I’m always about left turns. Once I feel comfortable, I’ve got to get out of there and go do something that I don’t know and that is dangerous and vulnerable. That’s the stuff that really appeals to me. Fortunately, I’ve been able to exercise that through a lot of comedic work on television and some other things I’ve been able to do in between horror projects. But I really did have every intention of saying, ‘I’m going to push pause on horror,’ as much as I love the genre. It’s been good to me from a creative and financial standpoint, for sure, but it was just time to move on until the perfect property and the perfect idea happened at the same time.” David Gordon Green directed the movie and also co-wrote the script with Peter Sattler.
The Exorcist sequel will be released on October 13th.