You may remember a while back that we did an article about Morgan Creek's plans to revive The Exorcist. The news was found buried within the Deadline story how Morgan Creek is producing a new take on Dead Ringers with Rachel Weisz. The article goes on to describe how Morgan Creek has several projects in development including a new theatrical Exorcist movie tentatively set for 2021. This is the first time publicly that the new Exorcist movie has been talked about. There were rumors about Morgan Creek and Blumhouse teaming up to make the films but nothing was confirmed. And for a while, it seemed like that was the only update about the project until now. And it's a big one.
Universal Studios and Blumhouse has signed a massive four hundred million dollar deal to not just make one new Exorcist movie, but an entire trilogy of new film. The plan is for some of the films to potentially screen on the studio's streaming service, Peacock.
The first installment is far along in development with director David Gordon Green attached to direct. Ellen Burstyn will reprise her iconic role as Chris MacNeil. Hamilton breakout Leslie Odom Jr. will play a father who tracks MacNeil down looking for help after his child becomes possessed. There is no word yet if Linda Blair will return for the film.
The first of three films is expected to debut on the big screen on Oct. 13, 2023. The other two films have not been dated and could potentially land directly on Peacock. We will keep track of this as the trilogy moves along through the production pipeline.