The Exorcist received its first theatrical sequel in many years with The Exorcist: Believer in 2023. Plans for the sequel initially revolved around launching an entire trilogy of new Exorcist movies. Now, however, the plan seems to have changed beginning with The Exorcist: Deceiver.
Deceiver was the next titled entry in the brand-new Exorcist trilogy. Halloween, Halloween Kills, and Halloween Ends director David Gordon Green was initially set to direct the sequel following his work on The Exorcist: Believer. As shared via THR, however, he’s no longer attached to the sequel.
According to the publication, Green is too busy with other projects to resume work on The Exorcist: Deceiver. Here’s what they shared:
“David Gordon Green is departing the sequel to The Exorcist: Deceiver as he focuses on his production of Nutcrackers starring Ben Stiller, as well as season four of HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones.”
As such, Universal and Blumhouse are now working on hiring a new director for the sequel. Though it does look like the wait will be longer, as it’s also been removed from their release schedule. It was initially scheduled to be released on April 18, 2025.
Now, however, the studio will be releasing the Michael Jackson biopic Michael on that date instead. We’ll have to see, then, how work continues on The Exorcist: Deceiver with these production hiccups. The film is already going to be off to a difficult start given the mixed critical reception of its predecessor and low box office returns.
Universal made a $400 million investment for the Exorcist rights. As such, they need to make sure the rest of this trilogy turns into a hit with audiences, otherwise they’ll be out quite a bit. The Exorcist: Believer only made $136.2 million globally with a $30 million budget. When comparing to David Gordon Green’s work on 2018’s Halloween, that film made $259.9 million on a $10 million budget.
Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional updates on the Exorcist franchise as we have them. Hopefully the right people are attached to Believer in an effort to course correct this trilogy.