The Exorcist is being remade… for television! Sean Durkin to direct

Last Updated on July 23, 2021

Well, here it is, folks, the day a lot of us feared would come. THE EXORCIST is being remade… But remade for television.

NY Magazine’s Vulture blog reports that Sean Durkin, director of the indie hit MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE, will helm a ten-episode adaptation of the classic William Peter Blatty novel. Meetings with networks about the series will commence in two weeks time.

The EXORCIST mini-series will be backed by Morgan Creek Productions (incidentally the production company on EXORCIST III: LEGION and the two EXORCIST prequels) and produced by Roy Lee – whose life revolves around remaking things. (See: THE DEPARTED, THE RING, THE GRUDGE, etc.)

Here’s what Vulture says about the update: Unlike the iconic 1973 film, Durkin’s version of The Exorcist follows the events leading up to a demonic possession and especially the after-effects of how a family copes with it: In short, not well, and when medical and psychiatric explanations fail, the desperate family turns to the church, with Father Damien Karras finally brought in to attempt the exorcism.

Umm… still sounds pretty similar.

When remakes of movies like FRIDAY THE 13TH cause an uproar, the response to THE EXORCIST getting a make-over is sure to be overwhelmingly negative. However, I’m wondering: Would it sting more if this were to be a major motion picture? The mini-series format might earn this new EXORCIST some slack. Add in the fact that Durkin’s work on MARTHA MARCY was very well-received – we’re not talking Michael Bay and Platinum Dunes here – and perhaps EXORCIST: THE TV VERSION YOU’VE NEVER SEEN won’t be raked over the coals as its predecessors have been…

Wait, what am I saying? The backlash is sure to be swift and enormous.