Mike Flanagan’s The Exorcist continues to grow bigger by the day. Immediately following news that Chiwetel Ejiofor will be joining the film, John Wick and The Matrix alum Laurence Fishburne has boarded the latest project from the beloved Life of Chuck filmmaker.
No word has been released on who Fishburne will be playing in the film, though that’s not necessarily a surprise given how tightly the project is being kept under wraps. Flanagan is set to direct the film from his own script, as a follow-up to the ill-fated The Exorcist: Believer, from Halloween reboot director David Gordon Green — though Flanagan’s film won’t serve as a sequel to that project, but rather an independent story in the Exorcist universe.
While we don’t really know exactly what Flanagan’s Exorcist film will focus on, the Midnight Mass helmer previously spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the project, and what exactly he’s bringing to the project to make it uniquely terrifying:
“We aren’t making this easy on ourselves. But I’ve always felt that there’s no point in going into a franchise or into a property that monolithic unless there’s something new you can bring. I chased The Exorcist very aggressively because I was convinced I had something that I could add. This is an opportunity to do something that I believe has never been done within the franchise — something that honors what came before it but isn’t built on nostalgia. I really just saw an opportunity to make the scariest movie I’ve ever made. I know expectations are high. No one’s more intimidated than I am.”
This isn’t Fishburne’s first brush with horror, to be sure. Early in his career he featured in Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, and also starred in the poorly received Predators in 2010. Hannibal fans also know him as Jack Crawford, a role he played across over thirty episodes in the popular Bryan Fuller horror series.
Flanagan’s The Exorcist hits theaters on March 12, 2027.
