Despite the failure of The Exorcist: Believer, Universal, Blumhouse and director Mike Flanagan have compelled horror fans to give the horror franchise one more chance by enlisting Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow, Jurassic World Rebirth) to lead a new movie.
The Exorcist: Martyrs wrapped filming this summer, and while Flanagan has previously unveiled the movie's logo, the story is still officially under wraps. Now, Daniel Richtman has revealed the first details.
"The film follows a single-mother cop who, 13 years after taking down a notorious satanic serial killer, investigates a new series of murders connected to her past while her 12-year-old son becomes the target of a terrifying demonic force."
Johansson plays the detective, with John Leguizamo as the infamous satanic serial killer known as Father Sunday. Chiwetel Ejiofor will play a priest connected to the investigation; Lawrence Fishburne is the priest who performs the exorcism; Diane Lane plays Johansson's character's mother, who helps look after her son, Max, who becomes possessed.
No word on the characters Sasha Calle or Rahul Kohli will play, but set photos have indicated that they will also be police officers.
Flanagan regulars Hamish Linklater, Gil Bellows, Carl Lumbly, Robert Longstreet, Matt Biedel, Samantha Sloyan, Kate Siegel, John Gallagher Jr., Benjamin Pajak, and Carla Gugino are also on board in supporting roles.
This new movie is said to be a full reboot and will not be a continuation of The Exorcist: Believer. The 2023 release proved to be a massive disappointment for fans of William Friedkin's masterpiece, but it did actually end up performing pretty well at the box office. Whether this movie will turn out to have any ties at all to the original remains to be seen.
Flanagan spoke about taking the helm of a new Exorcist movie during a recent interview.
"We aren’t making this easy on ourselves. But I’ve always felt that there’s no point in going into a franchise or into a property that monolithic unless there’s something new you can bring. I chased The Exorcist very aggressively because I was convinced I had something that I could add." "This is an opportunity to do something that I believe has never been done within the franchise — something that honors what came before it but isn’t built on nostalgia," the filmmaker continued. "I really just saw an opportunity to make the scariest movie I’ve ever made. I know expectations are high. No one’s more intimidated than I am."