Universal Pictures and Blumhouse-Atomic Monster debuted the first teaser trailer for “The Exorcist: Martyrs” on Friday during New York Comic Con, offering audiences an initial glimpse at filmmaker Mike Flanagan’s reimagining of the long-running horror franchise.
The upcoming film stars Scarlett Johansson as New York Police Department homicide detective Julie Miller. The plot centers on Miller after she captures a serial killer called Father Sunday, portrayed by John Leguizamo, whose crimes mimic the executions of Roman Catholic martyrs. Although Miller watches the murderer die by lethal injection, identical killings resume 13 years later, pulling the detective and her partner into a case that eventually endangers Miller’s 12-year-old son, Max, played by Jacobi Jupe.
A blend of crime procedural and possession
Flanagan, known for directing Netflix horror series such as “The Haunting of Hill House” and adaptations like “Doctor Sleep,” told Entertainment Weekly that he designed the film as a synthesis of serial-killer investigation and demonic possession. The narrative draws clear inspiration from William Peter Blatty’s 1990 entry “The Exorcist III” and his novel “Legion,” along with psychological thrillers like “Seven” and “The Silence of the Lambs.”
“What makes this scary is a cruelty and a viciousness to the story that’s unavoidable based on the story we’re telling, but it’s not where I typically go,” Flanagan said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “It made me wildly uncomfortable, which I think it should.”
In the footage, Johansson’s character speaks to Father William, a prison chaplain portrayed by Chiwetel Ejiofor who witnessed Father Sunday’s lethal injection. She lists notorious real-world serial killers such as Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer and David Berkowitz, noting that each claimed demonic possession influenced their violence. Flanagan observed that shifting the central parent figure into an active homicide investigator alters the dynamic of standard possession stories, replacing passive panic with a character driven to hunt the threat directly.
Alongside Johansson, Ejiofor and Leguizamo, the ensemble cast features Laurence Fishburne as a priest, Sasha Calle as Miller’s partner Detective Gina Restrepo, and Diane Lane. Regular Flanagan collaborators including Carla Gugino, Hamish Linklater, Carl Lumbly and Samantha Sloyan also appear.
Rebuilding the franchise after box office setbacks
The project represents Universal’s attempt to reset the property following significant creative and commercial obstacles, The Hollywood Reporter reported. In 2021, the studio spent $400 million to secure franchise rights and finance an intended three-movie storyline modeled on the modern revival of the “Halloween” franchise.
However, the 2023 opening installment, “The Exorcist: Believer,” brought back original actor Ellen Burstyn but earned just $137 million worldwide amid sharp critical disapproval, according to The Hollywood Reporter. That underwhelming reception caused director David Gordon Green to depart the series and led the studio to scrap its scheduled sequel, “The Exorcist: Deceiver,” in 2024 before recruiting Flanagan to pitch a fresh direction.
“The Exorcist: Martyrs” is scheduled to arrive in movie theaters on March 12, 2027.
