The Exorcist: Believer director explains how Linda Blair is involved in sequel

The Exorcist: Believer will find Ellen Burstyn returning to play Chris MacNeil fifty years after last playing the role, but what about Linda Blair?

Linda Blair played Regan MacNeil in the original movie and although she isn’t expected to appear in The Exorcist: Believer, she was involved in the production. Director David Gordon Green told Total Film that Blair came onboard the sequel as an advisor. “She came to set because she was an advisor on the movie… because we’re dealing with young people, and we want to take them to dangerous places safely,” Green said. “I was really lucky to have her read the script, but she was not interested in a significant role and stepping back into that.“

Regan has been referenced in The Exorcist: Believer trailer, and with two more movies on the way, I’ve got to believe that Linda Blair will reprise the role in some fashion. This whole “advisor” thing could just be a way to explain her presence on the set and avoid ruining her big return. It won’t be long until we find out for ourselves as the film will hit theaters next month.

“Since the death of his pregnant wife in a Haitian earthquake 12 years ago, Victor Fielding has raised their daughter on his own,” reads the official synopsis for The Exorcist: Believer. “But when Angela and her friend Katherine, disappear in the woods, only to return three days later with no memory of what happened to them, it unleashes a chain of events that will force Victor to confront the nadir of evil and, in his terror and desperation, seek out the only person alive who has witnessed anything like it before: Chris MacNeil.“

Universal and Blumhouse have already slated another sequel, The Exorcist: Deceiver, which is set to hit theaters on April 18, 2025. While it’s expected that Green will return to direct the sequel as well, nothing has been confirmed. Green has said that they’ve got “scripts, outlines, and things like that” for the second and third films, but he’s waiting to see how the first one is received before making any big decisions. The Exorcist: Believer will hit theaters on October 6th.