Brad Miska | Published: Oct 6, 2026
Oh my God, it’s happening. Get that <a href="https://cinemamix360.com/2026/10/06/michael-bay-and-steven-spielberg-could-reteam-on-the-next-transformers-movie/” title=”Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg could reteam on the next Transformers movie”>Michael Scott GIF out and get that shit playing on a loop.
Universal Pictures has confirmed The Exorcist: Martyrs as the title of Mike Flanagan’s new film, releasing a teaser this evening ahead of the official trailer coming this Friday, October 9.
Meanwhile, Esquire has debuted the first stills and an interview revealing what Flanagan has been cooking up. And there’s already plenty to freak out over.
The teaser opens with an incredibly creepy shot of a woman looming at the top of a staircase. Naturally, it calls to mind the original The Exorcist and its iconic stairs, and we all know how that movie ends. Eerie music plays over the montage, giving the whole thing a feeling very reminiscent of the trailer for Alien.
We get a flash of Scarlett Johansson (Under the Skin) in character, a gorgeous shot of a priest inside a massive church, and John Leguizamo (Land of the Dead) strapped to an execution table.
Then there’s someone—or something—upside down in a bedroom.
It’s a fucking terrifying shot. Exactly the kind of image you want stuck in your head while waiting for a new Exorcist trailer.
First teaser for Mike Flanagan’s ‘THE EXORCIST: MARTYRS’.
Full trailer Friday, October 9.
Read more: [https://t.co/6JSr46RGul] https://t.co/qmAp9RAqzo
— Brad Miska @ DREAD CENTRAL (@DreadCentral) October 7, 2026
Esquire’s first look puts that execution into context. Johansson plays NYPD homicide detective Julie Miller, who apprehends a serial killer known as Father Sunday, played by Leguizamo. She witnesses his execution, but things don’t go according to plan.
Sasha Calle (The Flash) plays a fellow detective, while Jacobi Jupe (Hamnet) plays Johansson’s 12-year-old son. Chiwetel Ejiofor (Backrooms) and Laurence Fishburne (Event Horizon) play priests drawn into the story.
Flanagan is approaching this as a crime procedural, bringing possession horror into a serial-killer investigation.
“How can we explore those ideas in a serial-killer thriller in a way that starts to combine these subgenres a little, that takes what we love about a movie like Se7en or The Silence of the Lambs and combines it with what we love about a movie like The Exorcist?” Flanagan tells Esquire. “We’re talking about humans under the influence—or in some cases direct control—of evil itself.”
That also means taking the possession beyond the familiar confines of a bedroom.
“It does have that one job from the title,” he says. “We do have to deliver that for sure. But hopefully it’s a lot more than a simple possession story. The connections to the serial-killer mystery are where it gets really fun and takes the possession out of the bedroom and out of parental torment and into something much, much bigger.”
While the film has connections to the franchise, Flanagan emphasizes that this is a standalone story.
“I think the first job is to tell people they’re not seeing a retread of The Exorcist,” he explains. “They’re not seeing any attempt to reboot or remake or to step into the Friedkin film. They’re actually seeing a story within the Exorcist universe that has not been told before, that is unique within the franchise and taking it in a very different direction than it’s gone in the past.”
Flanagan writes, directs, and produces the film, which Universal will release in theaters on March 12, 2027, as we announced.
For now, get a taste of what he has waiting for us. Friday cannot get here fast enough.
