THE EXORCIST Star Ellen Burstyn Questions Mike Flanagan's New Movie: "Isn't There Enough Already?"
Hollywood isn't finished with The Exorcist, but one of the original film's stars thinks it's time to give the franchise a rest. Ellen Burstyn, who played Chris MacNeil in the 1973 horror classic The Exorcist, isn't particularly excited about Mike Flanagan bringing another demonic nightmare to theaters.
Burstyn, who returned to the franchise in 2023's The Exorcist: Believer, recently shared her thoughts on the upcoming sequel The Exorcist: Martyrs, and she sounds pretty tired of Hollywood revisiting the horror property.
"Isn't there enough already of the Exorcist thing?" she told Variety. "It's enough already."
You can understand where she's coming from. The original Exorcist is one of the greatest horror movies ever made, and the franchise has spent decades trying to recapture what made it so terrifying in the first place.
But Hollywood has a lot of money riding on this franchise. Universal and Blumhouse made a massive $400 million deal for The Exorcist rights, and they're going to want that investment to pay off. Whether Burstyn likes it or not, you can bet they're planning to make more Exorcist movies beyond Flanagan's upcoming film.
At least they've handed the next installment to a filmmaker who knows how to deliver great horror. Flanagan's The Exorcist: Martyrs stars Scarlett Johansson, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Laurence Fishburne, and John Leguizamo.
In the film, Johansson plays an NYPD detective and single mother who finds herself caught in a terrifying supernatural investigation after witnessing the execution of a notorious serial killer known as Father Sunday.
"It's viciously dark," Flanagan said of the film. "It's unsafely dark at times, and we went places in there that I've never, never gone on any of my sets emotionally. But I have to say that at the end of it, we found some light and some hope in it that I'm really grateful for because it's a harrowing story."
If Flanagan considers this some of his darkest work, horror fans might be in for something pretty intense. He's also been busy bringing Stephen King's stories to the screen, including a new adaptation of Carrie, which has already been confirmed for a second season on Prime Video.
"For 50 years, audiences have known and gravitated to Carrie White’s story. From the beginning, we imagined a story that goes far beyond the prom, and I’m incredibly grateful for Stephen’s trust and support in exploring what comes next," Flanagan said in a statement.
While I understand Burstyn's frustration with the endless sequels, I'm still curious to see what Flanagan does with The Exorcist. The franchise could certainly use a fresh creative direction after Believer, and he's one of the few horror filmmakers I'd trust to take it somewhere interesting.
Of course, the real question is whether audiences still want more Exorcist movies. Hollywood has already made its bet, and Flanagan now has the job of proving there's another worthwhile story to tell.
The Exorcist: Martyrs arrives in theaters on March 12, 2027.