The Exorcist Reboot Director Details How His Film Is a Direct Sequel to Original

The term “reboot” is thrown around quite often when it comes to reviving classic properties for new generations, with this word sometimes being used to describe a remake of an original story while other times it is meant to convey a contemporary take on the material to renew interest in the concept, with David Gordon Green confirming that his The Exorcist reboot will serve as a sequel to the original film. Given that producer Jason Blum previously revealed that the upcoming film would resemble Green’s 2018 Halloween, which was also a direct sequel to the original entry, this latest update merely serves as more confirmation of the direction the project is headed in.

“The Exorcist has been written. That was one of my pandemic projects. It’s not inaccurate [that it will be a sequel to the original film]. I like all the Exorcist movies,” Green shared with Total Film, per GamesRadar. “And not only do I like them, I think they can all fall into the acceptable mythology for what I’m doing. It’s not like I’m saying, ‘Pretend that The Exorcist 2 never happened.’ That’s fine to exist. They’re all fine to exist, and I enjoy all of them.”

He added, “It’s another fun legacy to be a part of, and hopefully we’ll get that going in the near future. That one is a lot of research, rather than just impulsive screenwriting. That’s one that you talk to a lot of people. You read a lot of books, and do a sh-tload of interviews. There was such a dramatic authenticity to what that original film is. It’s a lot more than I anticipated getting into it. And I guess I was naive to think that. But it was very exhilarating to be involved in a lot of those conversations that you find yourself in.”

Unlike the Halloween franchise, which focused specifically on the murderer Michael Myers (minus 1982’s Halloween III: Season of the Witch), the mythology of The Exorcist has allowed it to be explored in a variety of ways. While the Father Merrin character served as connective tissue to some degree in the five feature films, the first season of The Exorcist TV series surprised audiences with the reveal that Geena Davis was playing an adult Regan, who was played by Linda Blair in the first two films. The second season of the TV series then left that character behind to focus on the priests who battled demonic forces.

Stay tuned for details on the new The Exorcist.

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