David Gordon Green struck gold when he directed the Halloween legacy sequel, which eventually became its own trilogy of films. There was clearly an expectation that lightning would strike twice when he and co-writing partner Danny McBride took on another horror mainstay The Exorcist. One might think that The Exorcist: Believer’s rough box office might spell the end to any franchise plans, but it seems that’s not quite the case. Although some changes involving the director might impact the sequels.
The Exorcist: Believer ending certainly leaves the door open for more, and it was supposed to be the first part of a new Exorcist trilogy, similar to what David Gordon Green did with Halloween.The next movie, The Exorcist: Deceiver, reportedly has a completed script. While the lackluster box office and poor reception from critics is the sort of thing that would kill other franchise plans, THR reports that Universal is still bullish on making the other two movies. At the same time, the studio isn’t blind to how the first movie turned out, so changes to the sequels would seem likely.
Among those changes could be a change in the director’s chair. While it was expected that David Gordon Green would return and direct both sequels, recent comments from him make such a thing less than certain. While Green certainly says he’d love to direct Deceiver, it seems that’s not quite set in stone. He explained…
My intention is just to start making things, and as those plans come together, if I find myself in that [The Exorcist: Deceiver] director’s chair, I’d be thrilled. But right now, I’m navigating it from a story perspective and looking at my realities of life as I pivot.
Green makes it clear that directing the next Exorcist is a thing that he does want to do, but he’s clearly not planning his career around it Rather, he’s going to direct whatever happens to be “next” for him, and not plan too far in advance. So if Universal wants Green to direct Deceiver it will have to make sure its production lines up with his schedule, not the other way around.
But considering that Universal may want to make changes, it may not bend over backward to bring Green back. It will all come down to a question of what exactly went wrong with Believer and what the studio decides needs to be done to fix it.
Green does have other projects on the horizon both in the horror world and outside it. He’s producing another horror reboot in the form of a Hellraiser TV series. He’s also attached to a movie about the creation of Disneyland. Green recently revealed that the Disneyland movie is “on hold” but it does still appear to be active.