After 'Halloween Ends,' director David Gordon Green turns his attention to another horror franchise.
After resurrecting the Halloween franchise with Jamie Lee Curtis, filmmaker David Gordon Green is turning his attention to The Exorcist, writing and directing a new sequel that picks up 50 years after the 1973 film starring Ellen Burstyn. And yes, Burstyn is returning to the franchise as Chris MacNeil, the mother of a demon-possessed daughter.
“[We] have our spin on what for me is another iconic movie of my youth culture,” Green tells ET’s Will Marfuggi about getting to work on another classic horror franchise “in a couple of weeks.”
Joining Burstyn is two-time Oscar nominee Leslie Odom Jr., who will play the parent of a possessed child. The desperate father then tracks down Chris MacNeil, whose daughter Reagan was eventually exorcized of the demon spirit.
Much like Halloween (2018), which was a direct sequel to the first Halloween, the film will be the start of a new trilogy, ignoring other installments in the Exorcist franchise.
“The thought is just honoring the legacy of this story and these characters, taking it 50 years down the line,” Green says of expanding the franchise with “a sequel to the original film with Ellen Burstyn and an amazing cast coming together.”
“So, we’ll see Chris MacNeil and the ensemble of actors who surround her,” he continues, explaining that “we start production very soon and we’re waiting to see everybody in rehearsal [before] we start messaging this and discovering what we’re making.”
The filmmaker adds, “We’ve got a great script we’re all excited about and we’ll dive in and have something next year.”
With untitled sequel slated to debut Oct. 13, 2023, fans will have to wait a year to find out how Satan terrorizes a new family. In the meantime, when it comes to Halloween Ends, Green says the final installment in the long-running franchise “is a story about a community that has been fractured in the four years following a massacre and how they did not unify, they did not come together.”
During that time, they didn’t seek therapy or support, “so people that are affected by their own traumas down the line don’t have a community to turn to,” he says. “So, that isolation, that negativity permeates… All these things start to affect our town of Haddonfield.”
And in the midst of all of that, Michael Myers makes his murderous return as he and Laurie Strode (Curtis) have one last showdown.
For Green and Curtis, who has portrayed Laurie for over 40 years, this marks their final outing with the franchise. “For me, for Jamie, for this immediate collective of storytellers, we’re done and we’re really excited about the movie, sharing it with people and seeing with audiences.”
He adds, “It’s just a blast and a rollercoaster ride of defying expectations. So, that’s what we’re here to do and we’ve done it and we’ll move onto the next thing.”
Halloween Ends debuts in theaters and on Peacock Friday, Oct. 14.
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