The Exorcist: David Gordon Green sequel pauses production due to actor’s health issue

Director David Gordon Green has moved on from making a trilogy of Halloween sequels (Halloween 2018, Halloween Kills, and Halloween Ends), and is currently in production on what is meant to be the first in a trilogy of sequels to the 1973 classic The Exorcist (watch it HERE)… but Green’s first Exorcist just had to start its holiday break earlier than expected. Deadline reports that “an unspecified health issue” involving lead actor Leslie Odom Jr. (Hamilton) has caused “an early and not cost insignificant shut down for the holiday”. The production is hoping to have Odom back on set, along with the rest of the cast, in January. Here’s hoping he’ll recover quickly from whatever ailment has forced him to take an early break from The Exorcist.

Universal and Peacock paid an amount somewhere in the range of $400 million to acquire the rights to distribute this new Exorcist trilogy. Coming to us from Blumhouse Productions and Morgan Creek Entertainment, the films are being produced by Jason Blum, David Robinson, and James Robinson. Green, Danny McBride, and Couper Samuelson serve as executive producers. Ryan Turek is overseeing the project for Blumhouse.

Green crafted the story for The Exorcist 2023 with Peter Sattler (Broken Diamonds), then wrote the screenplay with McBride (who wrote all three of the new Halloweens with him) and their Halloween Kills co-writer Scott Teems.

Original Exorcist star Ellen Burstyn reprises the role of Chris MacNeil in the film – and was at the center of eight days of filming that already took place last year. (As both she and Green have confirmed.) Burstyn and Odom are joined in the cast by Ann Dowd (The Handmaid’s Tale). Details are being kept under wraps, but we do know that Odom is playing a character who tracks down Chris MacNeil after his child becomes possessed.

Are you looking forward to seeing what David Gordon Green is going to do with the Exorcist franchise? What did you think of the work he did on the Halloween franchise? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Green’s The Exorcist is scheduled to be released on October 13, 2023.