Scarlett Johansson stars as a New York City detective haunted by the memory of a satanic killer in the trailer for The Exorcist: Martyrs, the latest installment in horror’s most enduring franchise from director Mike Flanagan.
Universal Pictures released the trailer on Friday, following a teaser that revealed the movie’s title. The film will be in theaters March 12, 2027.
Flanagan, the director of Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass, wrote and directed the movie. He stressed that his film is neither a remake of the original from 1973 nor a sequel to the most recent installment, but rather an original story featuring new characters.
Johansson plays Julie Miller, a New York Police Department homicide detective and single mother. Thirteen years ago, she brought down Father Sunday, a satanic serial killer played by John Leguizamo, whose murders he made to resemble the deaths of Catholic martyrs.
Miller was a hero for her accomplishment, and she has since thrown herself into work. Then a new killer writes her name in an altar boy’s blood on the walls of a church crypt and drags her back into the darkness that seemed to end with Father Sunday.
According to Universal’s synopsis, Miller finds a connection among a line of killers from H. H. Holmes to the Zodiac that reaches beyond the mortal world and puts everyone she loves at risk, including her son, Max.
Flanagan told Esquire his main goal was to make sure the audience understood they weren’t going to see a retelling of The Exorcist. He called the film a crime procedural crossed with possession horror, citing Se7en and The Silence of the Lambs as inspiration.
He also mentioned The Exorcist III, the 1990 film directed by William Peter Blatty from his novel Legion, where a police detective investigates murders committed by a demonic serial killer with the same markings as an executed serial killer.
Oscar nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor portrays Father William, a former prison chaplain who heard the last confession of Father Sunday and oversaw his execution. Flanagan has said that that night’s events have made the priest struggle with his faith for years since then.
Sasha Calle, known from The Flash and The Rip, is cast as Gina Restrepo, a clever rookie detective joining Miller on the case.
Oscar nominee Diane Lane plays Mary, Miller’s mother, who has come to help raise Max. Jacobi Jupe, who impressed in Hamnet, plays the boy.
The rest of the cast includes Scoot McNairy, known for Argo, as the paroled convict Clay Silver. Gil Bellows, an Emmy winner, plays Peter Nicks, a former follower of Father Sunday. Laurence Fishburne, an Emmy and Tony laureate, steps into the role of the respected priest Father Nichol.
Leguizamo, an Emmy winner and special Tony Award recipient, is cast in what the studio describes as the most threatening role of his career. He was seen this summer in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey.
Also joining Flanagan are several of his regulars: Rahul Kohli, Carla Gugino, and Kate Siegel, according to entertainment outlets.
Martyrs is the latest attempt to revitalize a franchise that began with William Friedkin’s adaptation of Blatty’s novel. The film was nominated for 10 Oscars, including Best Picture, and won for Adapted Screenplay and Sound.
Universal bought $400 million worth of rights to create new Exorcist films in 2021 and planned a trilogy from director David Gordon Green. The first installment, The Exorcist: Believer (2023), got bad reviews and grossed $136 million worldwide.
Green left the second installment, The Exorcist: Deceiver, in January 2024, and the studio removed it from its release schedule. Four months later, Blumhouse announced that Flanagan will write, direct, and produce what it described as a radical new take on the franchise.
Universal originally scheduled the film for March 13, 2026, but pulled it from the schedule in June 2025. Flanagan took to social media to say production will begin after he finishes working on Carrie.
That series, an adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, premieres on Prime Video this week in all eight episodes. Other works by Flanagan include the films Doctor Sleep, Gerald’s Guide to Love, and The Life of Chuck.
Production on Martyrs began in New York in March. Flanagan produced the movie with Jason Blum, a three-time Oscar nominee, and David Robinson. Alexandra Magistro and Ryan Turek are executive producers.
When Blumhouse hired Flanagan in 2024, Flanagan said The Exorcist was one of the reasons he became a filmmaker.
