Production will begin very soon on a legacy sequel to The Exorcist with David Gordon Green at the helm. This follows the release of Halloween Ends, the third Halloween film to be directed by Green. As he approached the end of his time spent in the Halloween universe, the filmmaker was ready to step away from the horror genre with his next project. But that changed when Blumhouse met him with an offer he just couldn’t refuse: working with Ellen Burstyn on a new Exorcist movie.

Green said as much in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter. He explained how he was trying to avoid getting too comfortable with horror movies before confirming that Jason Blum dangling The Exorcist in front of him was just too good of an opportunity to pass up.

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“That’s the truth. It is. If anybody’s followed my career, I’m always about left turns. Once I feel comfortable, I’ve got to get out of there and go do something that I don’t know and that is dangerous and vulnerable. That’s the stuff that really appeals to me. Fortunately, I’ve been able to exercise that through a lot of comedic work on television and some other things I’ve been able to do in between horror projects. But I really did have every intention of saying, “I’m going to push pause on horror,” as much as I love the genre. It’s been good to me from a creative and financial standpoint, for sure, but it was just time to move on until the perfect property and the perfect idea happened at the same time.”

The Exorcist Was Too Good to Pass Up

     Warner Bros.

We might be dealing with another horror film that brings back an original character for an all-new story, but there are still some differences with The Exorcist that have Green pretty excited. He’s thrilled with Burstyn and the cast he has in place and said that he’s very excited about the screenplay. The filmmaker also teases that he will be bringing in some new blood to help make the film feel different.

David Gordon Green’s untitled sequel to The Exorcist is set to be released on Oct. 13, 2023. Green co-wrote the screenplay with Peter Sattler based on a story by Green, Sattler, Scott Teems, and Danny McBride. Along with Ellen Burstyn, the film stars Leslie Odom Jr. and Ann Dowd. There’s no word yet on if fellow Exorcist alum Linda Blair will be making an appearance.

“So, yeah, we’re developing The Exorcist, and Ellen Burstyn, along with an amazing cast, is coming together for that, with a script I’m really excited about. Technically, it’s an extraordinarily different film from Halloween. I guess it’s in the subgenre of horror, but dramatically, I’m approaching it very academically. So we’ll see. It’s bringing a lot of the same team together in terms of our makeup and effects team and our cinematographer, but at the same time, we’re bringing in a new group as well to complement and evolve in different ways and to make sure it doesn’t feel redundant or repetitive.”