I’ve been a big fan of Mike Flanagan since watching Oculus in 2013 (you can read why here). Now the news breaks, after some faint rumblings in the industry earlier this month, that he has been confirmed to write, direct, and produce the next installment of Exorcist, which is welcome news here at LATIN HORROR! Especially since it also dovetails with my all-time favorite film.

NBCUniversal purchased the intellectual property rights (IP) to 1973’s horror film classic, The Exorcist, in 2021. As part of that deal, David Gordon Green was tapped to helm the first in a series of three films, The Exorcist: Believer, but the film’s box-office performance was less-than-stellar despite it being one of 2023’s most highly-anticipated genre films. But fan buzz cuts both ways, and the results sent Universal and their project partners—Blumhouse and Morgan Creek Entertainment—back to the drawing board, and making some though but necessary adjustments.

Believer added $137 million to Universal’s coffers on a $30 million budget, which is not a bad ROI, but their expectations were already water-logged due to negative word-of-mouth from early week pilgrims and tepid reviews from both mainstream press and boutique bloggers alike. So bringing Flanagan’s true and tried genre finesse to the franchise was a great way to plug the perpetual hole in the dike, as well as regain moviegoer’s trust (at least for the moment). Not to mention appeasing the ire of classic Exorcist diehards such as myself.

Which brings us to two more confirmations: Green is out (full stop!), and the second installment in the series will not be a sequel to Believer. Green’s concepts for the two other sequels tied to the ’73 film are no longer in the works, either. According to Blumhouse lord Jason Blum, the next films will take a “radical new take” and will feature an “all-new story set in The Exorcist universe.” Flanagan will produce via his new Red Room Pictures shingle, alongside Intrepid Pictures’ Trevor Macy and John Scherer (where Flanagan is also a partner).

Flanagan is currently hot off principal photography on Stephen King’s novela “The Life of Chuck,” as he also continues developing a series of adaptations of King’s “The Dark Tower” universe for both cinema and TV. In a prepared statement from Universal, Flanagan seemed stoked and up to the challenge: “The Exorcist is one of the reasons I became a filmmaker, and it is an honor to have the chance to try something fresh, bold, and terrifying within its universe. Reuniting with my friends at Blumhouse, with whom I’ve made some of my favorite pieces of work, only makes this more exciting.”

We’re not moving a muscle until Mike Flanagan’s new and radical spin on the Exorcist hits, less we jinx it all away. 🙂