Mike Flanagan: The Exorcist: Martyrs Is 'the Scariest Thing I've Ever Made'
Scarlett Johansson, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Laurence Fishburne lead a serial-killer possession story set in a haunted Manhattan.
Mike Flanagan has spent years circling the meeting point of horror and Catholicism — Midnight Mass is the proof. Now the writer-director is taking on the franchise that defines it. The Exorcist: Martyrs, an original new chapter, arrives in cinemas on March 12, 2027, and Flanagan walked Empire through its first trailer.
"Being raised Roman Catholic is a wonderful on-ramp into the horror genre," he says. The film is a serial-killer thriller with an unholy agenda — and, by his own admission, his darkest work yet.
Darker Than Anything Before
"It's the scariest thing I've ever made," Flanagan promises. "It is dark. It is vicious, at times." After the empathy of Carrie and The Life of Chuck, he wanted to flex different muscles: the film will "go as dark as we're comfortable going, and then go darker."
Scarlett Johansson's First Horror Role
Johansson, who admits she doesn't like horror, plays Julie Miller, an NYPD detective who made her name catching a killer who staged religious crime scenes. Now a single mother, she faces what looks like a copycat — one leaving scenes specifically for her. Flanagan calls it "one of my favourite performances of hers."
New York as a Wasps' Nest
Swapping the franchise's Washington DC for Manhattan, Flanagan drew on the panic of the Son of Sam era and the eerie sight of skyscrapers beside 17th-century crypts. He cites Seven and the underrated The Exorcist III as touchstones for a story that is both procedural and possession tale.
A Stacked Ensemble
Flanagan regulars Hamish Linklater, Rahul Kohli, Kate Siegel and Samantha Sloyan return, joined by Chiwetel Ejiofor as Father William, a former prison chaplain, and John Leguizamo, who "taps into a profound well of darkness."
Laurence Fishburne plays "a priest with a very particular set of skills" — possibly the film's titular exorcist, though Flanagan isn't saying.
A Nod to the Original
One shot of a house and a streetlamp recalls Father Merrin's legendary arrival. "That was an opportunity where you do have to acknowledge the tree," Flanagan says. The title, he adds, comes from his lifelong fascination with martyrdom — "a death that serves a greater purpose," and a horrifying idea all its own.