Mike Flanagan talks about directing the Exorcist sequel

Mike Flanagan, the prolific filmmaker behind “The Haunting of Hill House,” “Doctor Sleep” and “The Fall of the House of Usher,” is in talks to direct “The Exorcist” sequel for Universal and Blumhouse, one person with knowledge in this area The situation told TheWrap. The source stressed it is still early days and a deal is far from guaranteed, but there is interest from both sides and Flanagan has an opinion on the material.

Universal directed TheWrap’s request to Blumhouse, who had no comment.

Universal spent $400 million in 2021 for the rights to the “Exorcist” franchise and planned a trilogy of films but directed and co-written by David Gordon Green left the series after directing last year’s The Exorcist: Believer, although he had the next two films planned.

Flanagan is no stranger to jumping into existing horror franchises and putting his own spin on things. He created the surprisingly great Ouija: Origin of Evil prequel for Blumhouse in 2016 and bridged the gap between Stanley Kubrick and Stephen King for 2019’s The Shining sequel Doctor Sleep, released by Warner Bros .

The filmmaker most recently wrote and directed the independent King adaptation “The Life of Chuck,” a drama starring Tom Hiddleston that is in development but not yet released.

One potential obstacle to Flanagan’s entry into the “Exorcist” fray is his deal with Amazon to adapt King’s sprawling character “The Dark Tower” as a TV series. He has been working on the adaptation with his creative partner Trevor Macy, but a timeline for when it might move forward has yet to be announced. Amazon is building on the success of another high-profile genre adaptation “Stand out,” So greenlighting The Dark Tower seems like a given (although doing the adaptation justice won’t be cheap).

Flanagan switched his production company Intrepid Pictures to Amazon after collaborating with Netflix on the popular TV series “Haunting,” which included two anthology episodes. He also directed the original limited series “Midnight Mass” and the Christopher Pike adaptation “The Midnight Club” at the streamer, but the latter was canceled shortly after its debut in 2022.

“The Exorcist: Believer” opened in October and grossed $137 million worldwide on a budget of $30 million, but its release date was delayed due to the surprise arrival of Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” film. Although Ellen Burstyn returned from the original Exorcist, the sequel was not well received by critics and received largely scathing reviews.

The next film, titled The Exorcist: Deceiver, was originally scheduled to hit theaters in April 2025, but has since been pulled from Universal’s release schedule.

deadline first reported Flanagan’s involvement in “The Exorcist” series.