Scarlett Johansson plays a homicide detective whose serial-killer case continues after the killer’s execution in Mike Flanagan’s The Exorcist: Martyrs. The murders recreate the deaths of Catholic saints, bringing a police investigation into the world of demonic possession.
Johansson’s Detective Julie Miller catches the killer, John Leguizamo’s Father Sunday, early in the story. She’s there for his execution, which Flanagan says “doesn’t go exactly as they expect it to…” When the killings continue, Miller and fellow NYPD detective Gina Restrepo, played by Sasha Calle, investigate.
The title refers to the saint martyrdoms Father Sunday uses as models for his crimes. Flanagan’s influences include Se7en, The Silence of the Lambs and William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist III, a film he’s singled out for ideas he wants to explore further.
“It does have that one job from the title. We do have to deliver that for sure,” Flanagan said of possession. “But hopefully it’s a lot more than a simple possession story.”
Miller’s family becomes endangered as the case develops. She’s a single mother to Max, who’s just turned 12, played by Jacobi Jupe.
Diane Lane plays her mother, Mary, who helps care for him when Miller’s work keeps her away for days. Laurence Fishburne plays a priest with knowledge of ancient rituals who’s brought in as the threat reaches her family.
Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Father William, the prison chaplain who presided over Sunday’s execution. Flanagan says the events of that night leave him struggling with his vocation and faith years later. He hasn’t specified the length of that time jump or identified who’ll be possessed.
“What do we do about the problem of evil?” Flanagan asked while discussing the film. “There are so many things we see and say it’s inhuman. That act, that behavior, that kind of crime, that kind of atrocity, it’s hard to believe it could be conceived of and committed by a human being.”
Flanagan wrote, directed, produced and edited the film, which tells a standalone story with new characters within the Exorcist universe. He’s leaving possible connections to the franchise’s classic elements for the movie to reveal.
Carl Lumbly has a roughly 4-minute scene near the end that Flanagan called “crucial as a key to kind of solving what’s going on.” Supporting cast member Samantha Sloyan has also offered an early impression, qualified by her small role and limited view of the production: “it’s absolutely a stunning movie and I think it’s going to be probably the scariest thing that I’ve seen him do thus far.”
The Exorcist: Martyrs opens in theaters March 12, 2027. Following the first-look clip, the official account announced that the full trailer arrives Friday, October 9.
