Universal, Blumhouse and director Mike Flanagan compelled horror fans to give The Exorcist franchise one more chance by enlisting Scarlett Johansson to lead a new movie, and the project has now added some more star power in the form of a fellow MCU alum.
Per Variety, Academy Award-nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor has signed on for an undisclosed role in the horror revival, which is set for release on March 12, 2027. He joins previously announced supporting cast members Jacobi Jupe and Diane Lane.
Ejiofor played Baron Mordo in Doctor Strange before briefly reprising the role in Sam Raimi's sequel, In The Multiverse of Madness. He also appeared in Venom: The Last Dance.
Though plot details are still under wraps, this new movie is said to be a full reboot, and not a continuation of The Exorcist: Believer. The 2023 release proved to be a massive disappointment for fans of William Friedkin's original masterpiece, but it did actually end up performing pretty well at the box office.
Shortly after the movie hit theaters, we learned that director David Gordon Green had decided not to helm The Exorcist: Deceiver, and the studio enlisted Flanagan to start from scratch with a new story/characters.
Flanagan's most recent project was Stephen King adaptation The Life of Chuck, and he has previously helmed the likes of The Fall of the House of Usher Doctor Sleep, Gerald’s Game, Ouija: Origin of Evil, The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, and The Fall of the House of Usher.
This guy rarely misses, so fingers crossed he'll be able to get this franchise back on track.
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"Exactly 50 years ago this fall, the most terrifying horror film in history landed on screens, shocking audiences around the world. Now, on Friday, October 13, a new chapter begins. From Blumhouse and director David Gordon Green, who shattered the status quo with their resurrection of the Halloween franchise, comes The Exorcist: Believer.
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 Marcum), 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."
The Exorcist: Believer also stars Ann Dowd as Victor and Angela’s neighbor, and Jennifer Nettles and Norbert Leo Butz as the parents of Katherine, Angela’s friend.