The Exorcist: Martyrs Takes Place After Exorcist III

Published on October 29, 2026 01:22 UTC · Updated on October 29, 2026 01:24 UTC

Mike Flanagan sets the new film decades after The Exorcist III, but says it follows new characters and tells a story designed to stand on its own.

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Scarlett Johansson as Detective Julie Miller in The Exorcist: Martyrs — · Photo: Courtesy of Morgan Creek Entertainment

The Exorcist: Martyrs takes place decades after the events of The Exorcist III, but it is not a direct continuation of the 1990 film's plot. In an interview published in October 2026, director Mike Flanagan described the movie as a new story with new characters, designed to work on its own. Scarlett Johansson stars as homicide detective Julie Miller, and Morgan Creek lists the U.S. theatrical release for March 12, 2027.

“It is a completely new story, with completely new characters,” Flanagan told Omelete.
— Mike Flanagan, director
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What the connection to The Exorcist III means

The timeline helps explain how the films relate. Flanagan told ScreenRant that the story is contemporary and set decades after The Exorcist III. That places Martyrs later in the franchise chronology, but it does not make the film an adaptation of William Peter Blatty's novel Legion, which inspired the third movie, or a continuation of detective William Kinderman's case.

Flanagan said the franchise's mythology is not the main engine of the plot. His stated aim is to tell a new story with a new cast of characters, while leaving room for fans to recognize threads connecting the films. The distinction matters: viewers may spot references, but the director says the movie is designed to stand independently rather than require a recap of earlier installments.

The original Ei Nerd headline calls the film a sequel to The Exorcist III. The evidence points to a more nuanced description. Martyrs is set after the 1990 film and draws on some of the same investigative and horror traditions, but the director has described its central story as separate. Calling it a direct sequel would go beyond what has been confirmed.

A homicide investigation drives the horror

According to Morgan Creek's official synopsis, Miller is a New York homicide detective who helped bring down a satanic serial killer thirteen years earlier. A new string of murders tied to that past pulls her back into the case, while a demonic force closes in on her 12-year-old son, Max. The setup combines a criminal investigation, a supernatural threat and a family at risk, instead of beginning only with a conventional possession story.

In an interview with Esquire, Flanagan said the killer, played by John Leguizamo, is caught early in the story and that Miller witnesses his execution. The killings do not stop there. Miller and fellow NYPD detective Gina Restrepo, played by Sasha Calle, must make sense of what follows. The magazine identifies the killer by the criminal alias “Father Sunday” and says his staged scenes echo the martyrdom of Catholic saints.

The official cast also includes Chiwetel Ejiofor, Diane Lane, Jacobi Jupe, Laurence Fishburne and Carla Gugino. Ejiofor plays Father William, a former prison chaplain involved in the execution who later faces a crisis of faith. The studio synopsis confirms that the new murders connect to Miller's past and that the danger reaches her son. Further details about the investigation and supernatural force have not been disclosed by the studio.

Why the 1990 film is a key reference

Released in 1990, The Exorcist III was written and directed by Blatty, the novelist behind the original book. It moved away from a story centered on a child's possession and put a police investigation closer to the foreground. Its detective mystery and supernatural horror, as well as a widely remembered jump scare, helped the film build a cult following despite a complicated production history.

Flanagan told Omelete that this combination directly influenced his approach. He called the film “hugely underrated” and said he also loves Legion, the novel behind it. In the same interview, he described the challenge of bringing a serial-killer thriller together with possession horror. The creative connection is therefore about tone, structure and themes—not confirmation that characters from the 1990 film return.

In his conversation with Esquire, Flanagan also linked religious horror to the question of how people confront evil. He said fiction can provide a way to face experiences that are difficult to name. That perspective helps explain why the new film starts with a criminal case and gradually expands the threat beyond what the detectives can account for through ordinary investigation.

“I think it is a hugely underrated movie. I love that film,” Flanagan said of The Exorcist III.
— Mike Flanagan, in an interview with Omelete
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Cast, release date and confirmed details

Morgan Creek lists Johansson, Ejiofor, Lane, Calle, Jupe, Leguizamo, Fishburne and Gugino in the cast. Flanagan wrote and directed the film; Jason Blum, David Robinson and Flanagan are credited as producers. The studio gives March 12, 2027, as the U.S. theatrical date. Ei Nerd reports March 11 for Brazil, but that local date does not appear on the official studio page reviewed here and should be treated as a reported date pending distributor confirmation.

Detail	Confirmed information
Title	The Exorcist: Martyrs
Writer and director	Mike Flanagan
Lead character	Julie Miller, played by Scarlett Johansson
U.S. theatrical release	March 12, 2027
Connection to The Exorcist III	Set decades later; a new, standalone story

The studio calls Martyrs a new chapter in The Exorcist series, but its official synopsis does not describe it as a direct sequel to the 1990 film. Flanagan has said that connections to the wider franchise will be there for attentive fans to discover, while the main plot follows a different detective and new characters.

A chronological link without repeating the old story

The clearest bridge to The Exorcist III is the timeline and the crime-procedural approach. Martyrs follows a different detective and a new set of characters, using a police case to move toward supernatural horror. That allows the film to acknowledge one of the franchise's more investigative entries without promising a return for Kinderman or a retelling of Legion.

For longtime viewers, the premise points to a story where a homicide investigation becomes a confrontation with something beyond the natural, with Miller's relationship with her son at the center of the danger. For newcomers, Flanagan's comments suggest a standalone entry point. The film is not due until 2027, so the official synopsis and interviews are the basis for what can be said now. The most accurate summary is that Martyrs looks back at the series while aiming to tell a different story.