Next up on the agenda at Blumhouse is The Exorcist, as a new legacy sequel is in the works with plans to start production soon. Serving as a follow-up to the original movie, the film brings back original Exorcist star Ellen Burstyn to reprise her role. David Gordon Green, who helmed all three installments of Blumhouse’s Halloween trilogy, is on board to direct the new Exorcist film as well.

In a new interview with Variety, producer Jason Blum provided an update on the current status of The Exorcist. Blum says that the Exorcist team is currently preparing to make the movie with great optimism about its potential success. After bringing back Jamie Lee Curtis for new Halloween films turned out to be a financially smart move, Blum says the goal is for The Exorcist to attain similar results. He also teases the “fresh” spin that the new film will bring to the series, making it “worth revisiting.”

“We are getting ready to make it. Hopefully, we will do the same thing with The Exorcist that we did with Halloween – make it in a way that’s fresh and worth revisiting. And feels different enough so that people are happy we did it.”

Because David Gordon Green had helped bring Blumhouse success by directing the Halloween films, Blum says the filmmaker had been the first choice from the very start to take on The Exorcistwith this next reboot. Fortunately for Blum, Green was all too eager to again collaborate with the producer and revisit another famous horror movie franchise.

“He is very good at respecting intellectual property that already exists and putting a new spin on it.”

Related: How the New Exorcist Movies Can Actually Be Good

Ellen Burstyn Returns in the New Film

The new film is a result of Universal and Peacock teaming up with Blumhouse and Morgan Creek, and the project was first announced last summer. Blum is producing for Blumhouse alongside David Robinson and James Robinson for Morgan Creek. Green, Danny McBride, and Couper Samuelson will executive produce, while Ryan Turek will oversee the production for Blumhouse. Along with Ellen Burstyn returning as Chris MacNeil, the film also stars Leslie Odom Jr. and Ann Dowd.

When the project was announced, Jason Blum released a statement noting how the film will be coming to Peacock, much like how Blumhouse’s newest feature They/Them is now streaming on the platform. The producer expressed his excitement on moving forward with the project.

“Blumhouse has always experienced incredible partnership from the team at Universal, and I’m grateful to Donna Langley and Jimmy Horowitz for believing in the vision of David’s film and having the foresight to be flexible with distribution, so the team feels top notch support through the lifeline of the film. They’re committed to theatrical exhibition and will also serve streaming viewers well by bringing an exciting franchise like the Exorcist to Peacock too. I’m grateful to be working with David Robinson and the great team at Morgan Creek on this iconic franchise.”

As of now, the new Exorcist movie is scheduled to be released on Oct. 13, 2023.