This past weekend, The Exorcist: Believer opened with $45M worldwide, a high for the classic possession franchise. While that’s not bad, the reviews were not positive, and Universal still has to account for the $400M they paid for the rights. That is going to depend on how well the entire planned trilogy performs. But when the next movies come out, they might not have David Gordon Green at the helm.
During a chat with THR, Green suggested that he might not direct future Exorcist sequels. The next film, Exorcist: Deceiver, is set for April 2025 and would continue to ignore all previous sequels, just as Green’s recent Halloween trilogy did.
“My intention is just to start making things, and as those plans come together, if I find myself in that [The Exorcist: Deceiver] director’s chair, I’d be thrilled… But right now, I’m navigating it from a story perspective and looking at my realities of life as I pivot.”
Green added “One of the things that’s been really great between these horror franchises is doing that comedy series on HBO, The Righteous Gemstones. So it’s fun to be able to step away, take a deep breath, have a big laugh, and then get back to work in the genre.”
To be fair, it was never explicitly stated that Green would direct all three. It was just expected given what he did with Halloween. Although some would say those movies got worse as they went along.
It used to be the Green never did any sequels, but that obviously changed. He’s still a filmmaker who kinda goes wherever his interests take him, making him hard to predict. As an example, one of the projects he’s working on now with his frequent collaborator Danny McBride is a “naughty” animated series based on the Garbage Pail Kids trading cards. McBride’s production banner has been developing the project since 2021.
Green revealed the info on the Happy Sad Confused Podcast…
“Right now, [Danny] McBride and I are trying to do an animated series based on the ‘Garbage Pail Kids’ cards,” said Green. “So, we’re working on that. And we have some really cool ways we can make a pretty naughty animated show. We’ll see if they’ll have us on that one.”
“I use that as an example of pulling something out of I.P. but making it personal and making what appeals to me about it,” he added. “Not necessarily engineering it for everyone in the world. I guess that’s what gets hard for me—making everyone happy. I want to have a point of view, and I want to make something pretty specific and passionate.”
If you know the weird, gross-out characters of the Garbage Pail Kids, you probably know it could be perfect for Green and McBride’s sensibilities. So if Green exits out of Exorcist, you have an idea of what he’s keeping busy with.
