The Exorcist: Believer director addresses whether we will see more of Ellen Burstyn in the future

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Exclusive: Director David Gordon Green speaks to SFX about the possibility of Ellen Burstyn appearing in future Exorcist movies

Ellen Burstyn in The Exorcist
(Image credit: IMDb)

In a recent interview with SFX, director David Gordon Green teases the return of Ellen Burstyn in future Exorcist movies. "It depends if she dies or not, in terms of the character,” Green tells SFX magazine in the new issue, which features The Exorcist: Believer on the cover.

“You have those kinds of conversations too. Creatively you’re thinking, ‘Okay, well, I’ve got her attention.’ She’s one of my idols, she’s an absolute dream to work with. She’s inspiring. There are versions of the script – I’m not saying which ones we ended up with – where radical things would happen to her. Then you’re like, ‘Well, but if it goes really well, what do we do?’”

In The Exorcist, now known as one of the most profitable horror movies ever made, Burstyn plays Chris MacNeil, a desperate mother who seeks out a priest to perform an exorcism on her possessed daughter Regan. Now almost 50 years later, Burstyn will return to the franchise once again as MacNeil in The Exorcist: Believer which will serve as a direct sequel to the original. 

Burstyn’s return to the franchise was a great surprise to Exorcist fans, as the actor hasn't appeared in any subsequent movies since she played Regan’s poor guardian in the original. 

Depending on MacNeil’s fate in the upcoming movie, it sounds like Burstyn could also co-star in The Exorcist: Deceiver, the sequel to this year's edition, which is slated for a 2025 release. 

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The above is just a snippet of our interview, available in the latest issue of SFX Magazine, which features The Exorcist: Believer on the cover and is available on newsstands from Wednesday, October 4. For even more from SFX, sign up for the newsletter, sending all the latest exclusives straight to your inbox.

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