At what other time of year would be more appropriate to start filming the long-awaited next instalment in the legendary Exorcist franchise? After nearly two decades of silence following the release of the 2005 prequel, Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist, acclaimed filmmaker David Gordon Green has decided to revive the franchise with a new trilogy.
At the screening of his latest horror film, Halloween Ends, Green graciously gave the media a sneak peek at his next major project, which has fans waiting with anticipation.
When queried by Variety about the status of the Exorcist remake, the filmmaker said, “We start in a couple of weeks, and we’re ready to roll up our sleeves and dig into the next great series.” The cast is great, and the scripts have gotten everyone enthused, Green said. Even though Green is most renowned for his comedic and dramatic work, he managed to win over horror aficionados with his work on the Halloween remake, which was a compelling and terrifying experience that appeased the ravenous eyes of slasher film devotees.
As with Halloween, Green plans to retcon The Exorcist in order to try to draw linkages to the earlier films in the franchise, giving it a modern twist and making it relevant again. The new, unnamed Exorcist film will be a direct sequel to William Friedkin’s original 1973 film, which made history as the first horror film to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. Green would like to keep up that record, and he has shown he is more than capable of doing so with his current form. We’re pulling for him because Universal has put $400 million into the trilogy and believes he can pull it off.
Fans are overjoyed by the return of franchise veteran Ellen Burstyn to the remake, especially as she had previously turned down the opportunity to reprise her role in the earlier movies. Burstyn recently told The Hollywood Reporter that she has already shot numerous sequences for her role in the revival. This seems to go counter to what Green has been saying recently, but it’s possible that Green was talking about something other than the film’s primary production in his interview and that just Burstyn’s sequences had been shot in advance. Leslie Odom Jr. (The Many Saints of Newark) and Ann Dowd (The Handmaid’s Tale) will join Burstyn in the cast of the Exorcist remake.
Green, Scott Teems, and Danny McBride worked together to create the story for the first film in the reboot series. Both Peter Sattler and Green worked on the script. Green, McBride, and Couper Samuelson will serve as executive producers, with Jason Blum, David Robinson, and James Robinson serving as producers. The new Exorcist is scheduled for premiere in theatres on October 13, 2023, only a few months before the 50th anniversary of the original picture.