‘The Exorcist’: Chiwetel Ejiofor Reunited With Mike Flanagan For Legacy Horror Movie Starring Scarlett Johansson

Another high-profile addition to the cast of Mike Flanagan‘s take on “The Exorcist” franchise, starring Scarlett Johansson, as fellow MCU alum Chiwetel Ejiofor (“Doctor Strange”) has been tapped for a meaty part in the legacy horror flick. This marks a reunion between the actor and director after previously collaborating on the Stephen King film, “The Life of Chuck.”

The Hollywood Reporter adds that Ejiofor may be potentially playing an ex-con turned priest in the NYC-set story within the world of “The Exorcist.” He joins not only Johansson, but also Jacobi Jupe (“Hamnet”), andDiane Lane (“Let Him Go,” “Judge Dredd”), who are set for key roles in the project from Blumhouse-Atomic Monster, and Morgan Creek.

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The first film, helmed by William Friedkin and released in 1973, focused on a young girl who ends up possessed by a nefarious demon, and her mother reluctantly turns to the Catholic church for help. On the back of the financial and massive critical success, it led to five sequels (when he was alive, Friedkin disavowed and refused to watch the sequels).

Originally, David Gordon Green, who directed the recent “Halloween” trilogy, had been tapped to make a new trilogy of “Exorcist” movies, but after the poor response to “The Exorcist: Believer,” the studio decided to pivot for the second one and hired Flanagan to write/direct his own version.

Ejiofor is certainly no stranger to the world of genre projects, with film credits such as “The Old Guard,” “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness,” “Children of Men,” “Infinite,” “The Pod Generation,” “Venom: The Last Dance,” “2012,” “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil,” and “The Martian.”

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Universal Pictures has already announced that they will theatrically release “The Exorcist” on March 12, 2027, as shooting is going to take place primarily in New York City.