William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist is violent, disturbing, and polarizing – which is exactly what makes it such an interesting part of film history and pop culture. Based on the novel of the same name, the 1973 film has been met with both controversy and critical acclaim and has garnered a cult following of fans over the years.

And now, nearly five decades since the original flick first shocked audiences with its terrifying premise, stomach-churning imagery, and boundary-pushing performances, David Gordon Green, who directed the most recent three Halloween films, is revisiting the pulp fiction horror story in The Exorcist: Believer.

Here’s everything we know so far about the upcoming legacy sequel The Exorcist: Believer.

Editor's Note: This piece was updated on September 30, 2023.

When Will 'The Exorcist: Believer' Come Out?

This latest iteration of The Exorcist will be delivered as a trilogy, with the first film set for release in theaters on October 6, 2023, where it will be opening against the A24 musical comedy Dicks: The Musical, the Saoirse Ronan-Paul Mescal-led sci-fi drama Foe, and the Emilia Jones-Nicholas Braun-led psychological thriller Cat Person.

The film was previously scheduled to release on October 13, 2023, but was moved up a week to avoid competition with the highly anticipated concert film Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.

The Exorcist: Believer isn't the only horror movie due to release this October as the Stephen King prequel Pet Sematary: Bloodlines, will release on Paramount+ the same week, and the long-awaited film adaptation of Five Nights at Freddy's (which is also from Universal and Blumhouse) will be released three weeks after the legacy sequel.

Universal and Blumhouse have already dated the second film in the sequel trilogy, titled The Exorcist: Deceiver, for a release on April 18, 2025, which is Easter weekend.

Where Will 'The Exorcist: Believer' Be Available to Stream?

The Exorcist: Believer will initially only be playing exclusively in theaters. However, once its theatrical window closes, it will be available to stream exclusively on Universal's streaming service Peacock.

The second and third films will take a similar route and will release in theaters first before moving over to Peacock.

Reportedly, Donna Langley of Universal, spearheaded the push for a partnership between NBCUniversal and Peacock, with an aggressive bid for the Exorcist trilogy. As reported by The New York Times, the price of the mega-deal came out to the tune of more than $400 million. But with the producers confident in the loyalty of die-hard fans and moviegoers, and with movie theaters sure to continue their comeback in 2023, those involved with the project are optimistic about the future of the franchise.

Is There a Trailer for 'The Exorcist: Believer'?

The Exorcist: Believer released its first trailer on July 25, 2023, after previously being shown exclusively in movie theaters before select screenings of Oppenheimer. The trailer runs at just over three minutes long and teases plenty of scares and the return of Ellen Burstyn in the iconic role of Chris MacNeil.

A second trailer for The Exorcist: Believer was released on September 5, 2023, featuring Chris MacNeil confronting one of the possessed girls. The trailer ends on an eerie note with the demon claiming "One girl lives, one girl dies. You get to choose."

A featurette for The Exorcist: Believer was released by Universal on September 20, teeing up Chris MacNeil's first demonic encounter in decades. The featurette also teases how the film will incorporate more religions beyond Catholicism in the new film. On September 22, this was followed by a sneak peek clip from The Exorcist: Believer, which you can see in the player below. The footage shows the central protagonist, Victor Fielding, comforting his daughter Angela in bed before a demonic reveal puts a chilling twist on the scene.

Who Stars in 'The Exorcist: Believer'?

Academy Award winner Ellen Burstyn will reprise her original role as Chris MacNeil, Hollywood celebrity and mother of the possessed Regan MacNeil. In the original film, Burstyn’s character was a famous actress who had just split with her actor husband and was living with her daughter on set near Georgetown. Burstyn received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her work in the original film.

Academy Award nominee Leslie Odom Jr. (Hamilton), will also star in the film as Victor Fielding, the father of a possessed child who seeks the help of Chris MacNeil. Jennifer Nettles (The Righteous Gemstones), who is most known for being one-half of the country music duo Sugarland, will play the mother of another possessed child who teams up with Odom Jr's character. Norbert Leo Butz (Fosse/Verdon) will play the husband of Nettles' character.

Lidya Jewett (Good Girls) and newcomer Olivia O’Neill will play Angela and Katherine, two young girls who are possessed by a demonic spirit.

Emmy Award winner Ann Dowd (Hereditary) will be returning to the realm of horror with her role in the film. Raphael Sbarge (Once Upon a Time) and Okwui Okpokwasili (Madeline's Madeline) have also been cast in undisclosed roles.

It’s unclear if the characters of Father Merrin, and Father Karras will be returned to the storyline, though the priests are unlikely to return, as the original actors have since passed away.

There have also been rumors that Linda Blair will reprise her role as Regan MacNeil in the film. Blair received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her work in the film. While Green has refused to confirm whether or not Regan would appear on-screen in the film, he did reveal that Blair was on set and acted as a consultant, saying in an interview:

"The film alludes to her character in a number of ways. We were lucky and had Linda as a technical advisor. She helped us bring excellent performances out of young actresses. It was really valuable having a relationship with her and being able to get her as a part of this conversation."

We will also have to wait to see if the famous pea soup reprises its role as demon vomit.

Who Is Making 'The Exorcist: Believer'?

David Gordon Green will be directing The Exorcist: Believer. After initially getting his start with indie dramas such as George Washington, All the Real Girls, Snow Angels, and the thriller Undertow, Green broke out in a big way when he directed the blockbuster stoner comedy Pineapple Express starring Seth Rogen and James Franco. In addition, Green also directed the studio comedies Your Highness which starred Franco, Danny McBride, and Natalie Portman, and The Sitter starring Jonah Hill and Sam Rockwell. Green then returned to indie films with Prince Avalance starring Paul Rudd and Joe starring Nicolas Cage. He then went on to direct the Al Pacino-led drama Manglehorn, the Sandra Bullock political drama Our Brand is Crisis, and the Jake Gyllenhaal film Stronger, which was based on the life of Jeff Bauman, who lost his legs in the Boston Marathon bombings. Green then shifted genres once again and made the Halloween sequel trilogy for Universal and Blumhouse which consisted of Halloween, Halloween Kills, and Halloween Ends. Green has also worked on television directing episodes of Eastbound & Down, The Righteous Gemstones, Vice Principals, Mythic Quest, The Sex Lives of College Girls, Dickinson, Red Oaks, and There's Johnny.

Jason Blum of Blumhouse will produce the trilogy alongside James Robinson and David Robinson of Morgan Creek, which is the company that holds the rights to the Exorcist franchise. Danny McBride and Couper Samuelson of Blumhouse have also signed on to executive produce alongside Green, with the company’s project under the oversight of Ryan Turek.

Scott Teems, who wrote/co-wrote the screenplays for horror films such as Halloween Kills, Firestarter, and the upcoming Insidious: The Red Door, developed the story for the film alongside McBride and Green.

Jason Blum told Den of Geek in June 2021.

“I love to do [these] kinds of movies because people are very emotional about it, I think it’s a high bar and it’s a challenge to do the movie. Remember, most of the audience coming to this — 95% of the audience who will, if we do our job right, come to see this movie — will not have seen the first Exorcist or even heard of it.”

In addition to Green, the trilogy will be co-written by Peter Sattler, who worked with Green on an unaired adaptation of Freaks of the Heartland, a horror graphic novel. In an interview with Collider back in October 2021, Green said:

“He's another film school buddy of mine and we just have got along great. We did this adaptation of this Steve Niles graphic novel a few years ago and just had a great time, it was so cool. So I brought him on board to jumpstart Exorcist with me. It's very cool.”

Chatting with Collider, Green also confirmed that the first film of the trilogy had been written and that the second two films were currently being outlined.

“So we've got a ways to go on that, but we know where we're going,” said Green. “It's a new journey [with] some familiar characters and some new ones as well.”

Green also tells Collider’s Steve Weintraub that making the Exorcist films involves quite a change from the Halloween remake he just recently wrapped, despite both films being cult-classic horror franchises from the 1970s.

“They're just so unbelievably different. One is very primal and the other is very academic. So it's just trying to switch gears there. I'm sure I'll know more a year from now when I've gotten a handle on what Exorcist is. The script's written. And it was a very, entirely different writing process.”

Michael Simmonds, who worked with Green on his Halloween trilogy, will be serving as the film's cinematographer. Amman Abbasi and David Wingo (who previously worked with Green on Our Brand Is Crisis, Joe, and Your Highness) composed the score.

Who isn't included in this new project? The late William Friedkin, director of the original film. When it was announced that a new Exorcist was in the works, Friedkin had this to say about it on Twitter:

What Happened in the Original 'Exorcist' Story?

The story follows a little girl named Regan (Linda Blair), who is displaying new, incredibly disturbing behavior for a child her age, such as urinating on the floor in a room full of people and wielding a foul vocabulary that would make even the most hardened sailor blush. After many fruitless doctors’ tests — including the infamous arteriogram scene which made many movie-watchers physically sick — Regan's mother, actress Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn), seeks the help of Jesuit priests at nearby Georgetown University. At this point, Regan is beyond the point of simply ruining her mother’s dinner parties, and Chris suspects that her daughter may even be responsible for the death of an old family friend.

Two priests, the wise Father Merrin (Max von Sydow) and the troubled Father Karras (Jason Miller), answer the spiritual call and visit the MacNeil home. It is there that they perform an exorcism on Regan, an act which Father Merrin refers to as "a dirty little secret the Catholic Church has kept hidden in the closet over the years." What unfolds on screen is some of the most gut-wrenching stuff in film history to that point — including a head-spinning, demon-quoting, and vomit-hurling Regan — which left audiences shaken, disturbed, and with some even seeking the aid of their local hospital or church groups. As such, the film was met with pushback from many communities that didn’t want The Exorcist shown in their theaters.

Additionally, many industry insiders have criticized the film’s R-rating as opposed to the more appropriate X-rating, with the R-rating given at the time simply so that there would be a better return on the cash that had been dumped into the drawn-out production costs.

What About the Other 'Exorcist' Films?

The original Exorcist won an Oscar for the best-adapted screenplay, which is a difficult status for additional remakes and sequels to live up to—cursed production or not.

The Exorcist II is widely seen as a failure, but The Exorcist III is viewed as a singular success in its own right. However, attempts at prequel stories such as Exorcist: The Beginning and Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist have largely failed to win over audiences. A television sequel to The Exorcist was released in 2016 and starred Geena Davis, but only ran for two seasons.

The creator of the new Exorcist trilogy, David Gordon Green, implied in an interview with ScreenRant that they may not ignore these additions to the original Exorcist, as these other iterations of the story “can all fall into the acceptable mythology.”

What Is 'The Exorcist: Believer' About?

According to Weintraub in his Collider chat with the director, Green plans to continue the original story rather than remake it, with Leslie Odom Jr. the parent of a possessed child this time.

“Desperate for help, he tracks down Burstyn's character, whose young daughter (Linda Blair) was possessed by an evil entity known as Pazuzu in the first film,”

With Ellen Burstyn returning to her role, Leslie Odom Jr. joining the cast, and Green, Blum, and a whole team of others devoted to the project, audiences can be sure that the new trilogy will be a refreshing take on the story while keeping the essence of the original film.

Blum tells Den of Geek,

“I want to make a movie that works for both [audiences]. I want to make a movie for people that know and love the first Exorcist and are furious that we’re doing this, but somehow drag themselves to the theater. I want them to come out happy. And I want to make a movie that people who’ve never heard of The Exorcist really enjoy. I think David did that with Halloween. I think he’ll do that with The Exorcist also.”

The official synopsis for the film reads as follows:

Since the death of his pregnant wife in a Haitian earthquake 12 years ago, Victor Fielding (Tony winner and Oscar® nominee Leslie Odom, Jr.; One Night in Miami, Hamilton) has raised their daughter, Angela (Lidya Jewett, Good Girls) on his own.

But when Angela and her friend Katherine (newcomer Olivia O’Neill), disappear in the woods, only to return three days later with no memory of what happened to them, it unleashes a chain of events that will force Victor to confront the nadir of evil and, in his terror and desperation, seek out the only person alive who has witnessed anything like it before: Chris MacNeil.

For the first time since the 1973 film, Oscar® winner Ellen Burstyn reprises her iconic role as Chris MacNeil, an actress who has been forever altered by what happened to her daughter Regan five decades before.