Director David Gordon Green opens up about how his planned revival trilogy for The Exorcist will be different from his recent Halloween films. Green brought the Halloween franchise back in a big way with a trilogy of films, beginning with 2018’s Halloween, which saw Jamie Lee Curtis return as an older version of Laurie Strode. Following the second installment, 2021’s Halloween Kills, Green’s trilogy is coming to an end with the soon-to-be-released Halloween Ends, which is said to wrap up the story between Michael Myers and Laurie.
Green is also hard at work on another horror movie trilogy with his planned sequels to The Exorcist. The Exorcist first scared audiences upon its release in 1973, where it quickly cemented itself as a classic in the genre. The film was written by William Peter Blatty, who adapted his own novel, and directed by William Friedkin, with a cast that included Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Jason Miller, and Linda Blair. Now, Green is looking to bring the demonic terror of The Exorcist to modern audiences.
While speaking with Perri Nemiroff of Collider, Green discusses the key differences in his approach to making his Halloween films versus his forthcoming Exorcist trilogy. There are contrasting elements that have Green taking a different approach to The Exorcist, with him admitting it requires something creatively distinct. Check out Green’s comments on the creative differences between Halloween and The Exorcist below:
“They’re nothing alike. Halloween is a horror movie, it’s a slasher movie, it’s midnight madness, good time at the movies, eat some popcorn. The Exorcist is a very researched drama about f**ked-up things — spirituality, religion, mental health, family — and it’s…you can overlap those two in these very different subgenres of horror, but the approach technically, creatively, is very different.”
What To Expect From David Gordon Green’s Exorcist Plans
Green has proven with his Halloween films that he can update a franchise for modern audiences while still embracing the elements fans love, and he looks to be doing the same with The Exorcist. Green’s Halloween trilogy ignored all previous sequels, with the 2018 film being a direct sequel to John Carpenter’s 1978 original. However, his Exorcist films are said to not ignore the previous movies, including the prior sequels, with a story that the director says falls within the established mythology of the franchise.
Green is taking a page from his Halloween reboot trilogy in that one of the original stars is returning for the new Exorcist film, with Burstyn reprising her role as Chris MacNeil, the mother of Blair’s Regan in the original film. The director has also made it clear that he understands The Exorcist to be a different type of horror, showing he knows the genre and how to work with fan expectations, being a fan himself. What Green’s Exorcist films have in store remains to be seen, but the first one is expected to release in October 2023, just in time for the next Halloween season.
