Original The Exorcist Star Addresses Her Cameo and Possible Franchise Return

This year’s The Exorcist: Believer largely focused on a new group of characters from the rest of the original franchise, though it did see Ellen Burstyn reprise her role of Chris MacNeil from the original 1973 film. Linda Blair also had a cameo in the film as Regan MacNeil, and while some fans might assume this was planting the seed for Regan to make a more substantial return to the franchise, Blair herself seemingly shot down that notion, as she recently explained how her priority is with her Worldheart Foundation and its commitment to animal welfare as opposed to acting gigs. The Exorcist: Deceiver currently has an April 18, 2025 release date.

“I don’t know what they’re gonna do. I really don’t. And that’s not a gag,” Blair recently recalled to Screen Rant. “My history lies with the animals, so I have a lot of things, my dreams of what I want to do, which should never change, it’s all animal-based. I had scripts at all the studios — not all, but many studios — a lot of good projects prior to buying this property. And what I found was I could not do film and run the foundation at the same time. It is very difficult to find people that really understand animal welfare, and can’t get through the PTSD that is constant. This is a hard business, because it’s actual life. So I kind of know that I want to continue this, I need to fix the problem, but I need the public to help. This must happen, it’s become too political, and that’s got to stop.” 

She continued, “So, while I fight this, I don’t know what they’re gonna do. I just know my time is not exactly available for film at the moment. And that’s the honesty of it. If we fix this animal problem, I’ll go back to work. But nobody seems to want to fix the animal problems, so I won’t go back to work until this is fixed.”

While Regan’s cameo was kept under wraps in Believer, director David Gordon Green expressed how Blair served as a consultant on the film to aid the young actors who played the possessed characters. This meant that, from a scheduling perspective, Blair could more easily serve this role and film a brief cameo without compromising her commitments to the Worldheart Foundation, but to star in an entire sequel would understandably require more time from the figure.

The Exorcist: Deceiver currently has an April 18, 2025 release date, with another sequel set to be released after that.  

Would you like to see Blair return in a sequel? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!