Mike Flanagan taking the thriller out-of-the bedroom with The Exorcist: Martyrs, this film is a standalone entry in the series starring Scarlett Johansson who is a single mother and a detective. Universal released a teaser this week and scheduled the full trailer for Friday, October 9, so the first real look is here.
Johansson plays NYPD homicide detective Julie Miller, who catches a serial killer known as Father Sunday, played by John Leguizamo. Julie is a single mother, and her son Max has just turned 12.
The killer’s method explains the film’s title. He recreates the deaths of Catholic saints, turning each murder into a twisted tribute to the martyrs.
The story jumps ahead thirteen years after Julie takes Sunday down, with new murders tied to her past. Her son becomes the target of a demonic force, and Chiwetel Ejiofor plays a priest tied to the investigation.
The cast is deep. Laurence Fishburne, Diane Lane and Sasha Calle are in, along with a pile of Flanagan regulars: Carla Gugino, Rahul Kohli, Kate Siegel, Samantha Sloyan and more. It’s a Universal and Blumhouse production.
This Is A Crime Procedural With a Demon Problem
Flanagan isn’t hiding the references. He cites Se7en, The Silence of the Lambs and The Exorcist III as influences. His stated goal, per Esquire, was to ask what happens when you merge a serial-killer thriller with what we love about the original. He also says possession moves “out of the bedroom,” away from parental torment.

The trailer opens with Miller (Scarlett Johansson) investigating the case and the first question she ask:
“How old is he?”
An altar boy from the church who is just sixteen hanging upside down in a bloodied way. Detective removing chains and old ritualistics circular pendant from the body. Miller talk to Father Williams that FBI didn’t start investigating the serial killers until 1970s and says:
“H.H. Homes, America’s first serial killer, said he was possessed by Satan.”
Describing that many serial killers were claimed to be in possession before. One scene shows that the criminal is eliminated by the injections with a look that it’s not his fault while Miller is watching from the outside. At the end of the trailer, She asked the demon not to call her a mom. The story looks horrifying as Miller digs deeper into the case; she may find herself caught in a web that brings her closer to the very person she’s investigating.

Flanagan says the film does have “that one job from the title,” meaning an exorcism is coming. So no one should worry that the procedural framing swallows the genre. The teaser also winks at the original. Coverage noted a glimpse of the famous stairs, and an Alien-style eeriness in the music.
The franchise needs this more than it will admit. The Exorcist: Believer (2023) was meant to launch a new trilogy. It reportedly grossed about $136 million worldwide on a roughly $30 million budget, which fell short of Universal’s hopes after it spent a reported $400 million on the rights.
Martyrs is not a sequel to Believer. Flanagan says it’s a standalone story with its own characters. That’s a clean reset, and it fits his reputation. He’s the Doctor Sleep and Midnight Mass guy, and he wrote, directed, produced and edited this one himself. His Carrie adaptation also landed on Prime Video this week, so the horror press cycle is all Flanagan right now.
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The Exorcist: Martyrs Bring Different Genre Than Earlier Movies
The smartest thing about The Exorcist: Martyrs is that it skips the Friedkin imitation game and goes after The Exorcist III. That 1990 film, written and directed by William Peter Blatty, is a detective story that happens to be terrifying, and fans have argued for years that it’s the best sequel the series has. A ComicBookMovie commenter even floated the idea that Martyrs could be a secret Exorcist III follow-up. That’s fan speculation, nothing more, but it shows where the audience’s head is.

Johansson also fits the role better than the marketing implies. She does tired, controlled and quietly unnerved well, and a homicide detective with a 12-year-old at home gives her a stake that isn’t “save the possessed girl.”
Serial-killer thrillers and possession horror run on different clocks. One rewards slow deduction, the other rewards escalating dread, and a two-hour movie can end up with two half-built halves. Flanagan’s TV work suggests he can pull off the blend, but a film gives him less room than a series.
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Conclusion
The Exorcist: Martyrs opens on March 12, 2027. So be ready to enjoy the thriller while teasing your teeth. Horror is something that comes naturally and with the new script, it looks promising.
The movie was inspired by the Se7en, which means don’t expect the original’s family-in-crisis dread story. The genre is shifted with more terrible and bloodier cinema which takes your breath away. The first look is amazing, the next full trailer from Universal will come soon.



































