‘The Exorcist: Martyrs’ sets release date as Scarlett Johansson faces a disturbing mystery in trailer
Scarlett Johansson stars in the first full trailer for ‘The Exorcist: Martyrs,’ which is set to open on March 12, 2027. Director Mike Flanagan and co-star Chiwetel Ejiofor presented the footage at New York Comic Con on Friday. Johansson plays an NYPD homicide detective who begins to believe that previous murderers who blamed their crimes on Satan actually told the truth, after she begins investigating a series of gruesome church killings.
The film is a Blumhouse-Atomic Monster and Morgan Creek Entertainment production, in association with Flanagan’s Red Room Pictures. It is his fourth film for the studio, following ‘Oculus’ (2013), ‘Hush’ (2016), and ‘Ouija: Origin of Evil’ (2016). Universal bought the rights to a new ‘Exorcist’ trilogy for $400 million in 2021 and launched it with ‘The Exorcist: Believer’ in 2023, but ‘Martyrs’ is a standalone film. It was initially set for a March 2026 release date before the studio pushed it back to 2027. Universal officially confirmed the title this week after months of speculation. Johansson most recently starred in the ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ (2025) for the studio.
Esquire’s first look, which came out this week, reveals that Julie Miller (Johansson) is a single mother to 12-year-old Max (Jacobi Jupe of ‘Hamnet’), with her mother Mary (Diane Lane) stepping in to help when cases require her to be away. 13 years after she arrested serial killer Father Sunday (John Leguizamo), who staged his murders to be like the martyrdoms of Catholic saints, Miller attends his execution. It goes awry, and similar killings resume. The investigation does not stop with Sunday. The trailer ties his situation to earlier murderers who claimed demonic influence, with mentions of figures like H.H. Holmes and the Zodiac Killer. Julie’s young son, Max, starts showing signs he might be a target or possessed, making the case hit home for her.
Father William, who was the prison chaplain when Sunday was executed, steps in to help out. The trailer even brings up Mark 5:9, “My name is Legion,” to hint at a theme of demonic possession. Images keep flashing between church rituals, bodies, a child trying to get away, someone hanging upside down, and Julie looking upset. It all highlights that these murders are staged around Catholic martyrdom themes. Flanagan has said that he set out to blend the serial-killer dread of ‘Se7en’ and ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ with the possession story of ‘The Exorcist.’
Sasha Calle, Laurence Fishburne, Scoot McNairy, and Gil Bellows round out the cast. Ejiofor previously starred in Flanagan’s ‘The Life of Chuck’ (2025), one of the Stephen King adaptations from the director, which also includes ‘Gerald’s Game’ (2017) and ‘Doctor Sleep’ (2019). Flanagan also directed ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ (2018) and ‘Midnight Mass’ (2021) for Netflix. ‘The Exorcist: Martyrs’ will be the seventh entry in a franchise that kicked off with William Friedkin’s 1973 classic, which was based on the book by William Peter Blatty.
