The Exorcist Heads For TV. No, Really!

Here’s a news story that should turn heads. [Pause for tumbleweeds]. The Exorcist is set to be made into a 10-part TV series.

Sean Durkin, the writer-director of Martha Marcy May Marlene , is adapting the demonic classic for the small screen, in a project being produced by Roy Lee, the executive producer of The Departed and The Ring .

This new spin on the franchise follows the events leading up to a demonic possession and then the after-effects of how a family copes with it. When medical and psychiatric explanations fail, the desperate family turns to the church, with Father Damien Karras brought in to make sure the show’s title make sense.

But that’s not the only exorcist show in development, reports Vulture . Transformers and Real Steel producer Don Murphy and Susan Montford’s Angryfilms are developing The Exorcist Handbook .

"This is an original series, not another remake,” Murphy tells Vulture . “It's all about the main character, who [only] became an exorcist to help the woman he loves. It's going to be intense and scary.”

But will either of them match the brilliant Apparitions , which was shown here in the UK a couple of years back? Shame that never went to a second series.

Dave Golder
Freelance Writer

Dave is a TV and film journalist who specializes in the science fiction and fantasy genres. He's written books about film posters and post-apocalypses, alongside writing for SFX Magazine for many years.