In bittersweet news for fans of The Exorcist franchise, a new big-budget trilogy has been announced that will act as an official continuation of the original 1973 film. Why is that bittersweet and not just straight-up awesome? Because we already got an official continuation of the original 1973 film in the cruelly cancelled-before-its-time TV series that ran just two seasons from 2016 to 2018, and this new project looks to be ignoring it completely. Another brutal blow to a fantastic show which still very much deserves the attention of every horror fan regardless of their relationship with the franchise. PSA for The Exorcist TV series over; on with the news…

A $400 million-plus (!!!) partnership between Blumhouse, Morgan Creek, Universal and its streaming service Peacock, the new movie trilogy will centre around a father of a possessed daughter seeking help from Chris MacNeil, mother of Regan. While Ellen Burstyn will once again portray Chris, Linda Blair has clarified on social media that she knew a major new project was in the works, but she sadly wasn’t asked to participate. The father at the centre of the story has been revealed to be Hamilton and One Night in Miami star Leslie Odom Jr.

Leslie Odom Jr.

Behind the camera we have director David Gordon Green, who impressed horror fans with his Halloween relaunch in 2018, itself a trilogy that continues this October with Halloween Kills, and concludes next October with Halloween Ends. As for the first in The Exorcist trilogy, that will step in to take over from Michael Myers in October 2023.

We’ll have more news as this develops (including whether these new movies will acknowledge the widely hated Exorcist II: The Heretic or its excellent follow-up The Exorcist III), but in the meantime, we urge you to check out that TV show! Pazuzu commands it!