A decades-old franchise is getting a startling new face. On Friday, the first trailer for "The Exorcist: Martyrs" arrived online, revealing that Scarlett Johansson will lead a radical reimagining of the horror series under the direction of Mike Flanagan. The film is scheduled to reach theaters on March 10, 2027.
The preview wastes little time establishing that this is not the possession saga audiences have known since 1973. Johansson plays Det. Julie Miller, a New York City police officer who, thirteen years before the events of the film, brought down a satanic serial killer known as Father Sunday. According to the official synopsis, that case turned her into a hero, and she has poured herself into the job ever since. The new killer's calling card changes everything: her name, written in an altar boy's blood on the walls of a church crypt. The discovery pulls Julie back toward a darkness she thought she had buried along with Father Sunday.
The casting of Johansson represents perhaps the sharpest break yet from the franchise's established lineage. Where earlier installments centered on child possession and the clergy who intervened, the new film positions a seasoned investigator as its emotional anchor. It is a pivot that trades demonic bedroom set pieces for a murder procedural wrapped around occult horror, at least judging by the trailer's rhythm and imagery.
Flanagan, who has built a reputation across prestige small-screen horror and features, directs from a script whose details remain under wraps. The cast surrounding Johansson is unusually deep for the genre. John Leguizamo takes the role of Father Sunday, the killer whose shadow hangs over the story even in his absence. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Father William and Laurence Fishburne appears as Father Nichol, suggesting the church will remain a central institution rather than mere backdrop. Diane Lane is set as Mary Miller, with Jacobi Jupe as Max Miller. Sasha Calle plays Det. Gina Restrepo and Scoot McNairy rounds out the ensemble as Clay Silver.
Very little about the production has been made public beyond the roster of names. The runtime is currently unknown, and the film carries no rating information yet. TMDb's rating stands at 0/10, reflecting only the absence of audience scores at this early stage rather than any critical judgment.
What the trailer makes plain is tone. The crypt setting, the blood-scrawled name, and the notion of a detective haunted by a case she already closed all point toward a story about the long tail of violence rather than a single night of terror. Whether audiences accept an Exorcist film built around a cop instead of a possessed child is the open question the marketing will have to answer over the coming months.
The release date places the film in a crowded early-spring corridor, a window that has increasingly become a home for mid-budget horror with franchise recognition. March 10, 2027 gives the studio roughly seventeen months of runway from today's trailer drop, a timeline long enough to suggest further teasers and a full campaign are still ahead.
For Johansson, the part marks a return to large-scale genre work after a stretch of projects across drama and franchise blockbusters. For Flanagan, it is a chance to apply his signature slow-burn dread to one of the most recognizable titles in horror cinema, and to do so with a premise that appears designed to frustrate expectations at every turn.
The film arrives in theaters on March 10, 2027. Further marketing materials, including a possible full-length trailer, are expected in the months ahead.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
