A trailer for The Exorcist: Martyrs dropped Friday, giving the first full look at writer-director Mike Flanagan’s take on the long-running horror franchise. The footage centers on Scarlett Johansson as an NYPD homicide detective chasing a killer whose crimes carry a demonic edge, and it sets up a theatrical release date of March 12, 2027.
The Exorcist: Martyrs trailer frames the film as what The Hollywood Reporter called a radical new vision of the most terrifying title in horror cinema history. For fans who have watched the franchise stumble through two uneven reboot attempts, the clip signals a sharper, more character-driven direction built around a detective story rather than a straight possession tale.
What The Exorcist: Martyrs Trailer Reveals
Johansson plays Julie Miller, a homicide detective investigating a string of killings tied to a murderer called Father Sunday, played by John Leguizamo. The case turns personal because the violence threatens Miller’s 12-year-old son, played by Jacobi Jupe. Chiwetel Ejiofor appears as a priest drawn into the investigation.
Flanagan told IGN that the film leans on a structure he admires from The Exorcist III, the 1990 sequel he calls the strongest entry outside William Friedkin’s original 1973 film. “The Exorcist III is an awesome movie. It’s so underappreciated.
Outside of the original, it’s my favorite of the franchise. I think it’s just a marvelous film. It’s terrifying, it’s sophisticated, it’s beautifully acted,” Flanagan said.
He pointed to that film’s blend of genres as the model for Martyrs. “To harmonize a serial killer investigative thriller with the demonic possession story is something that I think that movie first tries to introduce and gives us a chance to truly run with, and that was irresistible,” Flanagan said. He added that longtime fans will find a thread connecting Martyrs back through The Exorcist III to Friedkin’s original.
How This Reworks The Exorcist Franchise
Universal paid $400 million in 2021 for the rights to the Exorcist franchise, a deal that funded a planned trilogy of films, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The first entry, David Gordon Green’s The Exorcist: Believer, brought back original star Ellen Burstyn in 2023 but earned poor reviews and made $137 million worldwide. The planned second film, The Exorcist: Deceiver, was scrapped in 2024. Universal then turned to Flanagan to reboot the reboot, putting a filmmaker known for genre work like Gerald’s Game, Doctor Sleep, Carrie, Midnight Mass and The Fall of the House of Usher in charge of resetting the franchise’s direction.
Flanagan’s approach pulls the series away from the Believer era and back toward the tone of The Exorcist III, pairing a police procedural with possession horror. That shift gives Johansson’s detective character room to drive the story, a structural choice consistent with his character-first style.
Release Date And What’s Next
The Exorcist: Martyrs is scheduled to open in theaters on March 12, 2027. No additional cast, crew or marketing beats have been detailed beyond the trailer’s reveal of Johansson, Leguizamo, Ejiofor and Jupe in their roles.
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