David Gordon Green Hints at What His Second Exorcist Film Would’ve Been

After a Halloween reboot trilogy that delivered diminishing returns, and the full misfire that was The Exorcist: Believer, fearfulness fans uttered a corporate suspiration of alleviation erstwhile manager David Gordon Green announced he wouldn’t beryllium making immoderate further films successful that projected reboot trilogy. But inevitably, there’s inactive immoderate curiosity wafting astir astir what Green’s 2nd film—the rubric was to person been The Exorcist: Deceiver—would person explored, and helium precocious shared immoderate details astir that.

Speaking to IndieWire astir his latest film, Nutcrackers (which is not a fearfulness tale), Green—who said he’s “not acrophobic of beardown feelings” successful the discourse of radical not enjoying definite among his fearfulness franchise entries—shared a tiny tidbit astir Deceiver‘s plot. “It was going to travel Ann Dowd’s character,” helium said.

In Believer, Dowd plays a caregiver who becomes progressive successful the movie’s dual possession case, some successful a nonrecreational capableness and due to the fact that she’s neighbors with Leslie Odom’s character, whose girl accidentally awakens a demon. Dowd’s character, besides named “Ann,” has a conflicted past involving her clip arsenic a erstwhile nun successful training—and proves an important state successful the combat to prevention the girls’ souls.

Green further elaborated connected his scrapped follow-up films, saying of the adjacent 2 entries, “We had our adjacent 1 written and had it mapped retired for the 3rd 1 … it was ambitious, complicated. We were going to Europe for immoderate beauteous bonzer backdrops.”

So it sounds similar Deceiver would not person followed up connected Believer‘s reunion betwixt the gratuitously blinded Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) and her estranged girl Regan (Linda Blair), whose ain possession propelled William Friedkin’s 1973 fearfulness classic. Centering Dowd would person been a promising move; she’s a formidable beingness whenever she’s cast, with standout turns successful Hereditary, Compliance, The Leftovers, and The Handmaid’s Tale, to sanction a fewer movie and TV credits. And it felt similar we didn’t get to cognize Ann astir good capable successful Believer.

But, successful the end, Green isn’t making that movie astatine all; Universal and Blumhouse, nether unit to marque bully connected that estimated $400 million required to snag the rights to The Exorcist, person turned to Mike Flanagan (The Fall of the House of Usher, The Haunting of Hill House, Doctor Sleep) to revitalize Pazuzu and institution instead.

Flanagan, whose adjacent merchandise is Stephen King adaptation The Life of Chuck, has already said his movie won’t beryllium a sequel to Believer, alternatively teasing it arsenic “the accidental to effort thing fresh, bold, and terrifying wrong [The Exorcist] universe.” Beyond that, we don’t cognize much, but there’s plentifulness of clip for speculation: it’s not slated to get until 2026.

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