The upcoming next installment in the popular The Exorcist franchise is set to be a direct sequel to, and not a reboot of the original 1973 Academy Award-winning horror movie. Filmmaker David Gordon Green, who first garnered widespread success in the genre when he wrote, directed and produced the 2018 Halloween, shared the news about The Exorcist while he spoke to GamesRadar.

The upcoming drama’s production company, Morgan Creek Entertainment, is supporting the story that Green developed for the new follow-up seriously. The company encouraged the filmmaker to take as much time as he needed to develop the follow-up, since the project received backlash when it was first announced.

Morgan Creek initially aimed to release the next entry in The Exorcist franchise later this year. However, the company ultimately decided to push the distribution date back to late next year or or in early 2023, so that Green has enough time to develop the story.

While further discussing the new movie, which is currently untitled, Green shared that “The Exorcist has been written. That was one of my pandemic projects. It’s not inaccurate [that it will be a sequel to the original film]. I like all the Exorcist movies. And not only do I like them, I think they can all fall into the acceptable mythology for what I’m doing. It’s not like I’m saying, ‘Pretend that The Exorcist 2 never happened.’ That’s fine to exist. They’re all fine to exist, and I enjoy all of them.”

Like the scribe-helmer mentioned, the next installment in The Exorcist series has been written, and won’t be a complete retcon of the original movie or its initial sequels. Morgan Creek also said in the past that it would never remake the first film.

When the first maze premiered at Halloween Horror Nights. Blair said that seeing The Exorcist reimagined in such a way was something she “could never have imagined in a million years.” She added that it was was “an homage to fans who love The Exorcist so much and with such passion.”