Mike Flanagan Casts A Lot Of Familiar Faces In The Exorcist

The Mike Flanagan Players are all present and correct for the horror maestro’s swing at the genre’s greatest film.

The Exorcist is the best horror movie ever made, hands down. Don’t @ me – it’s not even my favourite horror flick (I was born a John Carpenter man, and I’ll die a John Carpenter man) but let’s be real here: William Friedkin nailed it back in ’73, and arguing against that is like arguing against gravity after you’ve already jumped off the cliff.

So, normally my reaction to someone attempting to follow up The Exorcist is mocking laughter. However, that Mike Flanagan, son… he’s got some juice. Having wowed audiences with The Haunting Of Hill House, Midnight Mass, The Fall Of The House Of Usher, and about 30 Stephen King adaptations, Flanagan the Managan has been handed the keys to a franchise that should never have been a franchise, with the powers that be hoping that he can right the ship after the absolute disaster that was The Exorcist: Believer.

Look, he’s in with a shot, and that’s better than most. If you’re gonna do The Exorcist, you kinda need to be in a perpetual fist fight with God, and Flanno has that vibe.

Now, plot details are under wraps but – just taking a wild shot in the dark here, you understand – there’s probably gonna be a demonic possession, and an exorcism to deal with said possession. But we do have some casting deets.

Scarlett Johansson is in the lead role, whatever that may turn out to be – Father Scarjo, maybe? Also in the mix are Jacobi Jupe (Hamnet), John Leguizamo (you know him), Laurence Fishburne (ditto), Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years A Slave), and Sasha Calle (she was Supergirl in The Flash).

But the thing about Flanno is that, much like the aforementioned John Carpenter, he has a bunch of actors he frickin’ loves working with. Chiwetel Ejiofor might be a probationary member – Flanagan cast him in The Life Of Chuck. But in addition to him, Carla Gugino, Rahul Kohli, Hamish Linklater, Carl Lumbly, Samantha Sloyan, Kate Siegel, John Gallagher Jr., Robert Longstreet, Gil Bellows, Matt Biedel and Benjamin Pajak are all appearing. And each and every one of them is a prior collaborator with Flanagan. Especially Kate Siegel – they’re married, after all.

So, while we don’t know much about Flanagan’s tale on The Exorcist, we do know that he’s putting the band back together, and that at least makes me happy.