The Exorcist revival from Blumhouse and Universal is now a trilogy

Blumhouse and Universal's revival of The Exorcist, which we learned about late last year, has now been announced as a trilogy. 

The companies have also revealed that, for the first time, Ellen Burstyn will be reprising her starring role as Chris MacNeil from the original 1973 horror classic. Furthermore, Leslie Odom Jr. has been cast to star in the upcoming Exorcist trilogy in an unnamed role.

Halloween (2018) and Halloween Kills (2021) director David Gordon Green is still directing the first movie in the trilogy, but it's unclear as of now whether he'll return to direct the sequels. Regardless, the first film in the series is scheduled to hit theaters on October 13, 2023. The story was conceived by Scott Teems (Halloween Kills, The Quarry), Danny McBride (Halloween Kills, Halloween), and Green, while Green and Peter Sattler (Broken Diamonds) are penning the script.

In its pursuit of another successful horror revival, Blumhouse is closely following the recipe it established with Halloween and is continuing with Halloween Kills. There are a few glaring parallels: It's enlisting the same director, it's bringing back the lead actor from the original movie similar to Jamie Lee Curtis's reprisal of Laurie Strode, and there's already more than one movie planned. The studio isn't shy about its tactics either; Jason Blum himself recently made the comparison between The Exorcist and Halloween revivals.

"[It's] going to be like David's Halloween sequel," Blum told Den of Geek in June. "I think it's going to pleasantly surprise all the skeptics out there. We had a lot of skeptics about Halloween and David turned them around, and I think he's going to turn it around with The Exorcist."

There's no telling where The Exorcist revival will take the series' story, but Burstyn's casting as Chris MacNeil suggests it'll take place in modern times like the Halloween revival. David Robinson, president of rights holder Morgan Creek, said in a press release that it'll be a "compelling continuation of this iconic tale."

Find out where the original Exorcist ranked on our list of the best horror movies of all time, and be sure to watch any entries you might've missed.