In 2018, Blumhouse Productions and director David Gordon Green celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Halloween franchise by bringing heroine Jamie Lee Curtis back for a film that kicked off a new trilogy of Halloween sequels. Now they're teaming up with Morgan Creek, Universal, and Peacock to basically do the same thing for the Exorcist franchise: Ellen Burstyn, who starred in the 1973 classic The Exorcist (watch it HERE), is reprising the role of Chris MacNeil for a new Exorcist film that is set to reach theatres on October 13, 2023 – just in time for the 50th anniversary of the original film. The deal the companies have made is for Universal and Peacock to release a new trilogy of Exorcist films.
Green crafted the story for The Exorcist 2023 with Peter Sattler (Broken Diamonds), then wrote the screenplay with Danny McBride (who has written all three of the new Halloweens with him) and their Halloween Kills co-writer Scott Teems.
Leslie Odom Jr. (Hamilton) is joining Burstyn in the cast of the new film, which
is set to kick off the fresh new take of the beloved property – a continuation of the quintessential possession horror film.
Morgan Creek's David Robinson had this to say about the trilogy deal:
There's no better time to be joining forces with the team at Peacock, reuniting with the great team at Universal and finally getting to work with my friends at Blumhouse, than on this classic franchise. David Gordon Green, Danny McBride, Scott Teems and Peter Sattler have put together a compelling continuation of this iconic tale and I can't wait to bring this to fans around the world."
Blumhouse's Jason Blum added:
Blumhouse has always experienced incredible partnership from the team at Universal, and I’m grateful to Donna Langley and Jimmy Horowitz for believing in the vision of David's film and having the foresight to be flexible with distribution, so the team feels top notch support through the lifeline of the film. They're committed to theatrical exhibition and will also serving streaming viewers well by bringing an exciting franchise like the 'Exorcist' to Peacock too. I'm grateful to be working with David Robinson and the great team at Morgan Creek on this iconic franchise."
Jason Blum and David Robinson will be producing The Exorcist with James Robinson. Green, McBride, and Couper Samuelson serve as executive producers. Ryan Turek is overseeing the project for Blumhouse.
Green recently said that, unlike his Halloween, this Exorcist sequel will not be contradicting any of the sequels that came before it. He said, "I think they can all fall into the acceptable mythology for what I’m doing."