The Exorcist: Believer unveils a new image as director speaks of preserving dramatic integrity

Director David Gordon Green recently finished working on a trilogy of Halloween sequels for Blumhouse Productions that consisted of Halloween (2018), Halloween Kills, and Halloween Ends. Now he and Blumhouse are working on a trilogy of sequels to the 1973 classic The Exorcist (watch it HERE) that begins with The Exorcist: Believer, which is scheduled to reach theatres on October 13th. Today, Empire has unveiled a new image from The Exorcist: Believer, which can be found at the bottom of this article, while also sharing a quote where Green talks about preserving the dramatic integrity of The Exorcist.

Green told Empire, “The Halloween movies are in the slasher genre. They’re a place to play, and maybe have some campy fun. But this one was more researched and a bit academic. The narrative we were sculpting, and the relationships, were more dramatic. It’s a very different approach. … We’re talking about the horror genre, but my main ambition was to preserve the dramatic integrity, and not lean into what’s evolved within the genre as a result of the original film. But that’s impossible: you have to acknowledge that there have been so many movies that are derivative copycats of The Exorcist. It has evolved as a concept, so making a slow-burn, dramatic, provocative, horrific film is different with today’s audience than it was 50 years ago.“

Green crafted the story for The Exorcist: Believer with Danny McBride (who wrote all three of the new Halloweens with him) and their Halloween Kills co-writer Scott Teems, then wrote the screenplay with Peter Sattler (Broken Diamonds). Here’s the synopsis: Since the death of his pregnant wife in a Haitian earthquake 12 years ago, Victor Fielding has raised their daughter on his own. 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.

Ellen Burstyn reprises the role of Chris MacNeil, the character she played in The Exorcist, “an actress who has been forever altered by what happened to her daughter Regan five decades before.” Leslie Odom Jr. (Hamilton) plays Victor Fielding, with Lidya Jewett (Nightbooks) as Angela and newcomer Olivia Marcum as her friend Katherine. Ann Dowd (The Handmaid’s Tale) plays Victor and Angela’s neighbor, and Jennifer Nettles (The Righteous Gemstones) and Norbert Leo Butz (Fosse/Verdon) play Katherine’s parents.

Okwui Okpokwasili (Master) is also in the cast, playing an unspecified role, and Raphael Sbarge (Carnosaur) plays a pastor. Original The Exorcist star Linda Blair is in there as well, reprising the role of Chris MacNeil’s daughter Regan.

Coming our way from Blumhouse Productions and Morgan Creek Entertainment, The Exorcist: Believer is being produced by Jason Blum, David Robinson, and James Robinson. Green, Danny McBride, Stephanie Allain, and Couper Samuelson serve as executive producers. Ryan Turek is overseeing the project for Blumhouse.

Universal and Peacock forked over an amount somewhere in the range of $400 million to acquire the rights to distribute this trilogy. It has already been announced that the next sequel, titled The Exorcist: Deceiver, will be reaching theatres on April 18, 2025.

Are you looking forward to seeing what David Gordon Green does with The Exorcist: Believer and the rest of this trilogy? Let us know by leaving a comment below – and while you’re scrolling down, take a look at this new image: