The Exorcist: Martyrs is an upcoming American supernatural horror film written and directed by Mike Flanagan. It is the seventh installment in The Exorcist franchise. Jason Blum serves as a producer through his Blumhouse–Atomic Monster banner, David Robinson through his Morgan Creek Entertainment studio. It stars Scarlett Johansson, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Diane Lane, Jacobi Jupe, Sasha Calle, Scoot McNairy, Gil Bellows, Laurence Fishburne, and John Leguizamo.
Prior to the project's announcement, a sequel was planned for The Exorcist: Believer (2023) entitled The Exorcist: Deceiver, with David Gordon Green originally set to return as director, but he left the project following the critical failure of Believer. In May 2024, Deceiver and its sequel were officially canceled when the new film was announced, with Flanagan writing, producing, and directing the film. After two release delays, casting took place throughout November 2025 to March 2026, when principal photography began in New York City and completed in June.
The Exorcist: Martyrs is scheduled to be released in the United States by Universal Pictures on March 12, 2027.
Contents
Cast
Scarlett Johansson as Julie Miller, a homicide detective working for the NYPD
Jacobi Jupe as Max Miller, Julie's son
Diane Lane as Mary Miller, Julie's mother
Chiwetel Ejiofor as Father William, a prison chaplain suffering a crisis of faith
Laurence Fishburne as Father Nichol, a priest familiar with ancient rituals
Sasha Calle as Gina Restrepo, a homicide detective working for the NYPD and Julie's partner
John Leguizamo as "Father Sunday", an infamous satanic serial killer
Scoot McNairy as Clay Silver, a paroled convict
Rahul Kohli
Hamish Linklater
Gil Bellows as Peter Nicks, a former acolyte of Father Sunday
Carl Lumbly
John Gallagher Jr.
Benjamin Pajak
Carla Gugino
Robert Longstreet
Matt Biedel
Samantha Sloyan
Kate Siegel
Production
Development
In July 2021, two sequels to The Exorcist: Believer (2023) were confirmed to be in development with the same creative team of David Gordon Green, Danny McBride, Peter Sattler, and Scott Teems on board. Two years later, Universal Pictures announced that the first sequel would be titled The Exorcist: Deceiver. After the poor reception of Believer, sources from The Hollywood Reporter claimed there would almost certainly be some degree of creative re-think for the next two films and that Green recently expressed some doubt about his participation. In January 2024, Green stepped down from Deceiver and the film was removed from the release schedule shortly after.
In May 2024, it was announced that Mike Flanagan was in talks to write, produce and direct the next The Exorcist film. Later that month, Flanagan was confirmed to be doing so for a new Exorcist film to be made as a "new radical take" with plans for Deceiver and its sequel being scrapped following Believer's critical and commercial failure. While promoting The Life of Chuck (2024) months later, Flanagan described that he was only going into the franchise due to feeling there was something new he could bring to it, noting he had been "very aggressively" chasing the job due to being convinced he had something to add, seeing an opportunity to do something that had never been done within the series, honoring what had come before but without building it on nostalgia. He thus saw a chance to make the scariest film he had ever made despite knowing how high the expectations would be and no one but him being more intimidated with such prospect. As a result, Flanagan was unavailable to direct the DC Universe (DCU) film Clayface (2026) he had written for DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran, leading them to hire James Watkins to direct the film due to Flanagan's commitments to his The Exorcist film.
In June 2025, Flanagan revealed in a Tumblr post that the film was not going to begin production until after he finished work on the 2026 miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's novel Carrie (1974) for Amazon Prime Video and that there was "no way it's coming out next March". In November 2025, Scarlett Johansson joined the film in the lead role, as well as Atomic Monster joining the production team. In December 2025, Jeff Sneider reported that Johansson's commitments to the film had been adjusted to accommodate the schedule of The Batman: Part II (2028), for which she had entered negotiations to discuss an undisclosed role she was "aggressively" pursuing. That same month, Jacobi Jupe joined the cast. In January 2026, Diane Lane joined the cast. The following month, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Laurence Fishburne joined the cast, with sources indicating Ejiofor would play an "ex-con turned priest" whereas Johansson would play the mother of Jupe's character. In March 2026, Sasha Calle and John Leguizamo were added to the cast, alongside Rahul Kohli, Hamish Linklater, Gil Bellows, Carl Lumbly, John Gallagher Jr., Benjamin Pajak, Carla Gugino, Robert Longstreet, Matt Biedel, Samantha Sloyan and Kate Siegel, all eleven frequent collaborators of Flanagan. In June 2026, the official Red Room Pictures website revealed the film's title as The Exorcist: Martyrs. In October 2026, it was revealed that Scoot McNairy was a part of the cast. Flanagan also confirmed that each of the previous installments in the franchise will remain canon to the film.
Filming
Principal photography began in New York City on March 13, 2026, with Michael Fimognari serving as the cinematographer. Filming wrapped on June 9, 2026.
Music
On October 9, 2026, Flanagan revealed that the "Tubular Bells" musical motif synonymous with the franchise since William Friedkin's original The Exorcist film will be absent in Martyrs, a creative decision he had been pretty adamant about the beginning of the project, as he felt that they were surrendering some of their unique identity in favor of trying to pull something that existed in amber to Friedkin's film and didn't felt right to reach for it. The Newton Brothers, who have scored all of Flanagan's film and television projects since Oculus (2013), will compose the film's score.
Release
The film is scheduled to be released in the United States on March 12, 2027, by Universal Pictures. It was previously scheduled to be released on April 18, 2025, and March 13, 2026, before being removed from Universal's release schedule in June 2025.