Blumhouse and Universal Pictures have confirmed that Mike Flanagan has been ordained as the writer and director of a “radical new take” on The Exorcist.
It had been previously reported that the Haunting of Hill House and Haunting of Bly Manor director was in talks to resurrect the fortunes of the flailing franchise following David Gordon Green’s departure when The Exorcist: Believer underwhelmed at the box-office, and now it has been made official.
Flanagan, who has worked with Blumhouse on Oculus, Hush, and Ouija: Origin of Evil, said in a statement “The Exorcist is one of the reasons I became a filmmaker, and it is an honor to have the chance to try something fresh, bold, and terrifying within its universe. Reuniting with my friends at Blumhouse, with whom I’ve made some of my favorite pieces of work, only makes this more exciting.”
The second installment of the rebooted franchise, The Exorcist: Deceiver, was meant to release on April 18, 2025, but has now been removed from Universal’s schedule. The studio confirmed in their press-release that Flanagan’s film would be “an all-new story set in The Exorcist universe and is not a sequel to 2023’s The Exorcist: Believer.”
Universal paid the unholy sum of $400 million for the rights to The Exorcist and were hoping Gordon Green could steer a new franchise to the kind of financial success he’d given them with the Halloween trilogy, but The Exorcist: Believer was exorcised by fans and critics alike.
SEE ALSO: The Exorcist at 50: Looking back at the iconic horror masterpiece
Are you compelled to believe in The Exorcist franchise once again now that Flanagan is involved, or are you spitting pea soup that we aren’t going to get a continuation of the 2023 film? Let us know by heading to our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
Originally published May 30, 2024. Updated May 31, 2024.
