'The Exorcist' Gets New Director, Mike Flanagan; To Give The Franchise A Radical New Take

Mike Flanagan has recently been confirmed as the new director and writer for the next movie in Blumhouse Productions' Exorcist franchise, as reported by Deadline. Mike Flanagan also took to his twitter to confirm the news reported on the website.

This news comes after 'The Exorcist: Believer' director David Gordon Green stepped down from working on the sequel film 'The Exorcist: Deceiver'. This happened due to the film getting a negative reception from audiences, with a 22% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, a 39 out of 100 on metacritic, and 4.8 out of 10 on IMDb.

Mike Flanagan is no stranger to picking up sequel movies and improving upon them. He did this for Blumhouse's movie 'Ouija' which had received average to low scores by audiences. The sequel he directed, 'Ouija: Origin Of Evil' performed better in both box offices, and in the eyes of the audience. Flanagan has also worked on other movies produced by Blumhouse such as Oculus in 2013, and Hush in 2016.

According to Deadline, Flanagan stated, "The Exorcist is one of the reasons I became a filmmaker, and it is an honour to have the chance to try something fresh, bold, and terrifying within its universe. Reuniting with my friends at Blumhouse, with whom I've made some of my favourite pieces of work, only makes this more exciting."

Initially, 'The Exorcist: Believer' was meant to be the first of a trilogy, with the second movie announced as 'The Exorcist: Deceiver'. With David Gordon Green and Mike Flanagan becoming the new director, we can expect the franchise to go through some 'radical' shifts and changes than what was originally planned, as stated by The Hollywood Reporter.

Some of the most notable works of Mike Flanagan include television series' like 'The Haunting of Hill House' in 2018, 'The Haunting of Bly Manor' in 2020, and the latest Netflix series, 'The Fall of the House of Usher' in 2023.