When David Gordon Green breathed new life into the old Shape with his Halloween trilogy, fans of John Carpenter’s original 1978 slasher were thrilled to see not just another remake of the classic story but the next chapter in the life of final girl, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis). The films’ success no doubt helped Green move on to his latest project – a sequel to the William Friedkin-helmed 1973 horror legend, The Exorcist. While a handful of films have come out following the original title, with various prequels and sequels released over the five decades since it first shocked audiences and critics to their core, Green will take a page from his turn in Halloween, disregarding all the other The Exorcist-based lore and simply moving forward from the first film. Giving the green light to Green and his team, today it was announced that the second movie in his hopeful trilogy, The Exorcist: Deceiver, will arrive in theaters on April 18, 2025.
If you were one of the thousands of people who flocked to theaters over the weekend to see Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, there’s a good chance that you caught the first viewing of the trailer for The Exorcist: Believer. For those who aren’t a part of that group, the official trailer was released today, promising perhaps even more shock and gore than the first film delivered all those years ago. In Believer, Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom Jr.) is a father in trouble after his daughter, Angela (Lidya Jewett) and her friend Katherine (Olivia Marcum) begin to exhibit strange and sinister behaviors following three days lost in the woods with no memory of their time in the wilderness. Finding no help anywhere they look, Victor and Katherine’s mother (Jennifer Nettles) will reach out to perhaps the only person who can help them now – Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn).
Also appearing in the film are Ann Dowd (Hereditary), Okwui Okpokwasili (Madeline’s Madeline) and Raphael Sbarge (Once Upon a Time). While Burstyn’s Chris MacNeil, who audiences will remember from The Exorcist as the troubled mother willing to do anything to bring a demonic entity out of her daughter, Regan (Linda Blair), it’s unclear whether Blair will return for any of Green’s upcoming sequels.
The Legacy Lives On
After watching the unsettling trailer for Green’s The Exorcist: Believer, it’s clear that Universal Pictures tapped the right director for the job. Based on the William Peter Blatty novel of the same name, the Friedkin-helmed film would go on to gain not only a spot among other horror classics but also earn itself the bragging rights of the first-ever film of its kind to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. For those looking to relive the first fright, The Exorcist arrives on 4K, Blu-ray and digital this fall in honor of its 50th anniversary.
Check out the first trailer for The Exorcist: Believer below and see it only in theaters on October 13.
via Collider