Chiwetel Ejiofor is the latest actor to keep the faith, joining the growing cast of The Exorcist, Blumhouse-Atomic Monster and Morgan Creek Entertainment’s new take on the horror classic.
The move reunites Ejiofor with Mike Flanagan, who has promised a “fresh and bold” take on the material, and who directed the actor in The Life of Chuck, the adaptation of a Stephen King story which won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2024.
Flanagan wrote the script and is directing and producing the new feature that is not a remake nor a sequel but set in the Exorcist “universe.” Ejiofor joins Scarlett Johansson, Jacobi Jupe, and Diane Lane in the roll call.
Sources say the actor will be playing an ex-con turned priest. (Johansson is playing Jupe’s mother.)
The original Exorcist, based on the novel by William Peter Blatty and directed by William Friedkin, focused on the demonic possession of a young girl and the priests that try to save her. The film was nominated for 10 Oscars. The various follow-ups mostly featured stories centered on the girl (now grown-up), the backstories of the priests or other demonic cases detectives from the first movie investigated.
Universal Pictures will release the new film theatrically and has set a March 12, 2027 release date. The project is due to shoot in New York City.
Exorcist is being produced by Blumhouse-Atomic Monster, Morgan Creek Entertainment and Flanagan, who is operating via his Red Room Pictures banner.
David Robinson produces for Morgan Creek Entertainment. Jason Blum and Ryan Turek serve as producer and executive producer, respectively, for Blumhouse-Atomic Monster. Alexandra Magistro will also executive produce for Red Room Pictures.
Ejiofor earned an Oscar nomination as well as a BAFTA Award performance as Solomon Northup in 12 Years a Slave. A vet whose credits range from Children of Men and Love Actually to Marvel’s Doctor Strange movies, he was recently seen in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy and Netflix’s The Old Guard 2.
He is repped by Ejiofor is Markham, Froggatt and Irwin and Hirsch Wallerstein.
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