Scarlett Johansson stars in Mike Flanagan's Exorcist: Martyrs, due in cinemas 12 March 2027
Mike Flanagan's The Exorcist: Martyrs, the seventh film in the franchise, had its first full trailer released after debuting at New York Comic-Con, according to Universal and Blumhouse. Scarlett Johansson plays NYPD detective Julie Miller, who returns to a case involving the satanic serial killer Father Sunday, played by John Leguizamo. Flanagan told Empire it is "the scariest thing I've ever made", while IGN and Polygon note it draws on The Exorcist III. The film follows the troubled 2023 Believer, which CBR reports earned $137 million (€126 million) worldwide against a reported $400 million (€370 million) acquisition cost.
Bottom line — A reboot from a director with a strong horror record, pitched by Flanagan as the franchise's bleakest entry yet, opening 12 March 2027.
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Flanagan told IGN the film was built to stand alone, though its links to The Exorcist III and the Gemini Killer case are intended as rewards for devoted fans.
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Polygon and ScreenRant read the hooded figures in the trailer as a cult, which ScreenRant says would be a first for the franchise.
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TheWrap describes the trailer as bleak and tense, and frames the project as Flanagan's first time working in the franchise's sandbox.
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Flanagan told Empire that Johansson, who does not usually watch horror, responded strongly to the script, and that the film draws on the tradition of Catholic martyrdom.
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CBR and Universal's cast list place Chiwetel Ejiofor and Laurence Fishburne as priests in the story, and Ejiofor as a former prison chaplain according to IGN.
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Flanagan told Empire that Martyrs was partly a chance to break from the empathy-driven tone of his recent Carrie adaptation and The Life of Chuck.