An easy-to-miss detail in the new trailer for The Exorcist: Believer hints at the fate Regan MacNeil met in the decades since the first movie. After making a sequel trilogy to the Halloween franchise that ignored all the previous sequels and followed on directly from the original film, David Gordon Green is doing the exact same thing with The Exorcist franchise. The first chapter of his Exorcist trilogy, The Exorcist: Believer, sees Ellen Burstyn reprising her role from the classic original Exorcist movie as Chris MacNeil, the mother of possessed child Regan, as she attempts to help a fellow parent whose child has been possessed.
So far, the team behind The Exorcist: Believer has shrouded Regan’s role in secrecy. While there’s been a lot of hype surrounding Burstyn’s return as Chris, there’s been no mention of Linda Blair reprising her role as Regan. Either the filmmakers are keeping Regan’s role a secret for maximum dramatic impact, or they’re hiding the fact that something terrible happened to her in the 50-year interim between films. In a new trailer for The Exorcist: Believer, posted on Twitter by producer Jason Blum, Regan’s dark fate seems to have been revealed.
Exorcist: Believer Trailer Hints Regan Is Dead In The New Movie
In the new trailer for The Exorcist: Believer, when Chris confronts Pazuzu via the child it has now possessed, she reminds the demon that they’ve met before. Pazuzu asks Chris, “Are you looking for Regan!?” and then repeats the question angrier and louder. Pazuzu then tells Chris, “She burns in Hell!” This line seems to suggest that Regan is actually dead in The Exorcist: Believer, which might explain why her mother is so motivated to help save the movie’s two new victims. She knows what it’s like to lose a child to demonic possession and won’t let it happen to anyone else.
Pazuzu is known to tease people who are grieving the loss of a loved one by describing the horrible things happening to them in Hell. When Father Karras confronted Pazuzu in the first film, trying to exorcize the demon from Regan shortly after losing his mother, the demon famously told him, “Your mother sucks c**ks in Hell!” It’s unlikely that Pazuzu would tell Chris that Regan is burning in Hell if she was still alive, so this trailer reveal strongly suggests an off-screen death in between movies.
How Linda Blair’s Regan Can Still Appear In The Exorcist: Believer
Even if Regan is killed off in The Exorcist: Believer, Blair could still appear in the movie. If she dies on-screen, she could make a powerful appearance in the sequel’s opening scene. If she’s already dead at the start of the movie, then she could appear in flashback sequences dotted throughout the film. As Chris tries to remember how they defeated Pazuzu last time, she might reflect on Regan’s possession (although, if this is the case, the filmmakers would likely just use archival footage from the original movie).
