The power of Christ compels you… to hear us out, for we come bearing some genuinely exciting Exorcist news. Following Halloween rebooter David Gordon Green’s unholy (mostly for the wrong reasons) 2023 offering The Exorcist: Believer, Blumhouse and Atomic Monster aren’t messing around with the team they’re assembling to deliver the possession-based horror franchise’s next outing. With the co-producers having already set Mike Flanagan to direct The Exorcist: Deceiver, Deadline is reporting that Scarlett Johansson — fresh from helping reboot the Jurassic franchise in Jurassic World Rebirth — has signed on to star in the film.
According to Deadline, several stars had been in talks for Flanagan’s movie, but once Johansson had sat down with the filmmaker and his producers — and ironed out some scheduling fine details — it was clear that the two-time Oscar nominee was the woman to lead the series’ latest chapter. Speaking of which, we now also know that Flanagan’s film, on which he’ll serve as both writer and director, won’t be a sequel to Believer but rather an all-new entry in the franchise. It’ll also be Johansson’s first ever horror joint — unless of course you count Jonathan Glazer’s quite frankly terrifying 2014 offering Under The Skin (which we totally would.)
“Scarlett is a brilliant actress whose captivating performances always feel grounded and real, from genre films to summer blockbusters, and I couldn’t be happier to have her join this Exorcist film,” said writer-director Flanagan in a statement shared with Deadline following ScarJo’s casting reveal. What exactly that Exorcist film will look like, who indeed Johansson will play in it, and just when precisely we can expect it to hit our screens all remain up in the air at the moment. But, with a modern horror master at the helm and a bona fide star front and centre, we have every *ahem* faith that we may yet finally see a movie worthy of sharing a name with William Friedkin’s original masterpiece in our lifetime.