Martha Marcy May Marlene Director to Remake The Exorcist as a TV Series

Posted by on May 24th, 2012   Filed under: Horror, Remakes, TV
Source: Vulture

We’ve been hearing rumours about it for years, but somehow up until now The Exorcist has remained one of the few iconic horror movies that has yet to be remade. About five years ago, Linda Blair caused an uproar when she mentioned at a film festival screening that a remake was in the works. Nothing seemed to come of that, but then in 2009, William Peter Blatty revealed that he had written scripts for a TV mini-series adaptation of his own novel, and that William Friedkin had agreed to direct. Now this week it appears that same TV version of The Exorcist will be moving forward but without Friedkin in the director’s chair; Martha Marcy May Marlene writer-director Sean Durkin will be taking over the reins instead. Clearly it could have potential, but is this something that fans of the original film would be willing to be embrace?

According to Vulture, Sean Durkin will be adapting the novel into a ten-episode TV series for Morgan Creek with Roy Lee (The Departed, The Ring) on board as a producer. The wording of the article is still a bit unclear as to whether or not Durkin will be writing, directing or both, but this version supposedly “follows the events leading up to a demonic possession and especially the after-effects of how a family copes with it.” It is expected to be shopped around to networks at some point within the next couple of weeks.

We’ve seen a handful of horror movies being adapted to TV as of late with shows based on Silence of the Labs, Scanners and Psycho all in development. The Exorcist seems a little bit different in that it is a mini-series with a predefined length, which makes it a little more credible in my opinion. I was a big fan of Martha Marcy May Marlene so even if William Peter Blatty is no longer involved, there is a good chance I will actually check this out. What do you think of The Exorcist getting remade as a TV mini-series?



  • I’m kinda for this. I mean, it was pretty much already done in a 6-episode British series called Apparitions, back in 2008 and that was REALLY good. I mean, it wasn’t directly adapted from The Exorcist, but it was the next closest thing, and easily a better Exorcist ‘movie’ then any of the sequels were.

  • Scott Harrigan

    Why? That is my only question. Not only are they remaking a film, they are changing mediums. I do not hold any hope for this idea at all. At least it will only be a miniseries instead of stretching it out into an undefined length. I still do not see why it needs to be redone, and I cannot help feeling it will lose a lot of its fear and impact by being made into a television show. Really it was fine the way it was.

    http://www.videodetective.com/movies/the-exorcist/3009#.T7-WauuWclc

  • Marcus Mallard

    I think that returning to the source material–something other remakes haven’t been able to do because the sources were the films (except films such as I am Legend)–would be perfectly fine. I think that adaptations of the same source material are okay, and they can stand on their own, arguably without much comparison between the two.

    William Peter Blatty also felt that the novel was unfinished, and for the 40th anniversary, he rewrote sections of the book. Here is the article from NPR where he talks about it: http://www.npr.org/2011/10/29/141683620/after-40-years-grisly-exorcist-book-gets-a-rewrite

    I will watch this mini-series if it ever sees light, and I will be glad to see it. I think we need to see a well-done exorcism film/series because I think they have been lacking (and I haven’t seen Apparitions as mentioned by Slushie Man).