Mike Flanagan is finally ready to show us what he’s been doing with The Exorcist.
Universal Pictures and Blumhouse have officially revealed The Exorcist: Martyrs as the title of Flanagan’s new entry in the franchise, along with the first teaser and a batch of images featuring Scarlett Johansson, John Leguizamo, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Sasha Calle. The teaser is only a taste of what’s coming, with the full trailer set to arrive Friday, October 9.
The footage doesn’t explain much, but that’s probably the point. It opens with an ominous figure standing at the top of a staircase before moving through brief glimpses of Johansson, a priest inside a church and Leguizamo restrained on an execution table. Another particularly unsettling shot finds someone hanging upside down inside a bedroom.
We know considerably more about the story now, thanks to a new first look from Esquire. Johansson stars as Julie Miller, an NYPD homicide detective and single mother whose latest case leads her to a serial killer known as Father Sunday, played by Leguizamo.
Father Sunday’s crimes are modeled after the martyrdom of Roman Catholic saints, turning their suffering into elaborate crime scenes. Julie catches him early in the movie and later witnesses his execution, but something happens that night that sends the investigation in a very different direction.
That’s where The Exorcist part of the story begins to take shape.
Flanagan is approaching The Exorcist: Martyrs as both a serial killer thriller and a supernatural horror movie. He told Esquire that he looked toward movies such as Se7en and The Silence of the Lambs while developing the crime side of the story, then began exploring what happens when those ideas collide with the kind of evil associated with The Exorcist.
The setup also has some interesting similarities to The Exorcist III, which was adapted from William Peter Blatty’s novel Legion and mixed a murder investigation with the supernatural mythology established by the original story. Flanagan has specifically cited Legion as an influence, although he’s making it clear that The Exorcist: Martyrs is telling its own story rather than remaking an earlier film.
Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Father William, a former prison chaplain who presided over Father Sunday’s execution. Years later, the events of that night have left him struggling with his faith. Laurence Fishburne also plays a priest in the film, while Sasha Calle appears as Gina Restrepo, Julie’s fellow NYPD homicide detective.
Jacobi Jupe plays Julie’s 12-year-old son Max, and Diane Lane plays her mother, Mary. The cast also includes Rahul Kohli, Hamish Linklater, Gil Bellows, Carl Lumbly, Robert Longstreet, Matt Biedel, Samantha Sloyan, Kate Siegel, John Gallagher Jr., Benjamin Pajak and Carla Gugino.
Despite the familiar title, Flanagan doesn’t want audiences expecting another version of the 1973 movie.
“I think the first job is to tell people they’re not seeing a retread of The Exorcist,” —Flanagan told Esquire, describing Martyrs as a new story set within the existing Exorcist universe.
There may still be connections to what came before, but Flanagan isn’t revealing those yet. For now, the teaser is keeping most of its secrets while giving us a few seconds of the atmosphere he’s bringing to the franchise.
We won’t have to wait long for a better look. The full trailer for The Exorcist: Martyrs arrives Friday, October 9.
The Exorcist: Martyrs opens in theaters March 12, 2027.
