For the first time since 2005, a new Exorcist movie will be in theaters this year, just in time for the Halloween season. Director David Gordon Green, the man behind the most recent Halloween trilogy, is bringing us The Exorcist: Believer as part of a brand new trilogy connected to one of the most beloved horror movies in history. While the jury is still out on the movie itself, Green and Universal Pictures pulled precisely no punches as the film has officially been rated R by the MPAA.
Green’s Exorcist sequel, which brings back Ellen Burstyn as Chris MacNeil for the first time since the 1973 original, is rated R “for some violent content, disturbing images, language and sexual references.” Attempting to pull back on violence, disturbing imagery, or even sexual references would feel like kneecapping the process a bit. Fortunately, the studio let Green and the folks at Blumhouse do what needed to be done.
Universal and Blumhouse are all-in on this franchise, as this is just going to be the first entry in an entire trilogy. The next sequel, The Exorcist: Deciever, already has a 2025 release date locked in. So there appears to be a great deal of confidence in what Green has cooked up. As for the specifics? The official synopsis for the film reads as follows:
“Since the death of his pregnant wife in a Haitian earthquake 12 years ago, Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom, Jr.) has raised their daughter, Angela (Lidya Jewett) on his own. But when Angela and her friend Katherine (Olivia Marcum), 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.”
Aside from Burstyn reprising her role 50 years later, the cast includes Leslie Odom, Jr. (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery), Ann Dowd (Hereditary), Jennifer Nettles (The Righteous Gemstones), Norbert Leo Butz (Bloodline), Lidya Jewett (Nightbooks) and newcomer Olivia Marcum. Green co-wrote the screenplay alongside Peter Sattler. Jason Blum, David Robinson and James G. Robinson serve as producers, with Green, Danny McBride, Stephanie Allain, Ryan Turek and Atilla Yücer on board as executive producers.
The Exorcist: Believer hits theaters on October 13.
