The Exorcist: Believer secures R rating ahead of October release

Blumhouse Productions, Morgan Creek Entertainment, and director David Gordon Green are teaming up to make a new trilogy of The Exorcist sequels for Universal and Peacock, starting with The Exorcist: Believer – which is scheduled to reach theatres on October 13th. With that date just two months away, the Motion Picture Association ratings board has announced that The Exorcist: Believer has secured an R rating for “some violent content, disturbing images, language and sexual references.”

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.

Green previously directed a trilogy of Halloween sequels. He 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 1973 classic The Exorcist (watch it HERE), “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.

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.

Are you looking forward to The Exorcist: Believer? What do you think of the reasons given for the film’s R rating? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.