At one time, the “next Malick,” then a director of stoner comedies, now the go-to guy for reviving dormant horror franchises, David Gordon Green’s directorial career continues to be a peculiar one. The director has been tapped to write and direct not just one but a whole new trilogy of “The Exorcist” films for NBC Universal in a deal upwards of $400 million, the New York Times reports. This makes the third classic horror franchise which Green has been tasked with resurrecting, considering the recent news of his “Hellraiser” series for HBO. Since we’re in a climate where no dormant series will ever lie untouched again, NBC Universal and their sister streaming site Peacock have trespassed upon the holy boundary of “The Exorcist,” for a steep cost (one rivaling Netflix’s recent purchase of sequels to “Knives Out,” rather than anything Satanic, as far as we know).
READ MORE: ‘Hellraiser’ Series Comes To HBO; David Gordon Green Will Direct Early Episodes
This one is also a Blumhouse production with Jason Blum as lead producer. This makes another trilogy with Universal, for Blumhouse and Green; they are already in the process of making a new “Halloween” trilogy. As with “Halloween” (2018) and the upcoming “Halloween Kills,” these will be sequels and not reboots, with Green, serving as a screenwriter and director, with Jason Blum (“Get Out,” the “Purge” series) is among the producers, along with David Robinson, whose company, the independent Morgan Creek Entertainment, has held the “Exorcist” movie rights.
In a move that is again quite like what Green did with the “Halloween” films in returning Jamie Lee Curtis to the fold, the new films will have the Oscar-winning Ellen Burstyn reprise her role as Chris MacNeil, returning to the franchise after two “Exorcist” sequels and a prequel were made without her between 1977 and 2004. Joining her will be “Hamilton” and “One Night in Miami”’ Leslie Odom Jr., playing the father of a possessed child. Desperate for help, he tracks down Ms. Burstyn’s character. Suppose it takes a director of characters like Michael Myers to really hammer home the point that these things truly never stay dead.
