‘The Exorcist’ Is Coming To Fox Friday Nights
The Exorcist is considered by many to be one of the greatest films of all time and certainly one of the greatest horror films. Given the current trend of turning classic horror movies into television shows, it should come as no surprise to anyone that The Exorcist is getting one.
According to Deadline, Fox just announced that The Exorcist will air at 9 p.m. on Fridays this fall.
Lethal Weapon, Exorcist Film-to-TV Reboots Launch on FOX Fall 2016 https://t.co/Zc5r51lxa1 pic.twitter.com/X0zoSOyaoQ
— ComicBook NOW! (@ComicBookNOW) May 16, 2016
News of The Exorcist TV series first emerged nearly three years ago, when rumors began to surface that it was in the works. In January, things got official. We learned at the time that the series would be a modernized update of the classic William Peter Blatty novel, The Exorcist, which inspired the film. Blatty, of course, also wrote the screenplay for the legendary film, and had the luxury of approving who directed it. As the story goes, he was the one that convinced the studio to bring on William Friedkin, who created the terrifying film as we know it.
The Exorcist spawned two sequels and two separate versions of a prequel. The Exorcist II: The Heretic, the only other film in the franchise to star the original’s Linda Blair, was pretty much universally panned by critics and audiences alike, though The Exorcist III, which Blatty directed based on his own novel, Legion, was much more well-received. Some even consider The Exorcist III to be scarier than The Exorcist, which is widely regarded as the scariest movie of all time. The two prequels – The Exorcist: The Beginning and Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist – were mostly disappointing to fans, despite the latter being directed by Paul Schrader, who is best known for writing the Martin Scorsese classics Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and The Last Temptation of Christ.
As we learned previously, episodes of The Exorcist will be an hour long, with Jeremy Slater (The Lazarus Effect, Fantastic Four) writing. James Robinson and David Robinson were also previously announced as executive producers for 20th Century Fox Television and Morgan Creek Productions.
Bloody Disgusting provides a description of what viewers can expect from this incarnation of The Exorcist:
“It is a propulsive, serialized psychological thriller following two very different men — Father Tomas Ortega (Alfonso Herrera) and Father Marcus Lang (Ben Daniels) — tackling one family’s case of horrifying demonic possession and confronting the face of true evil. Geena Davis will play Angela Rance. Naturally beautiful, regal and proud but weighed down by stress, Angela does everything she can to stay positive and keep her faith even though her family is currently struggling. She can’t help but think, however, if perhaps her nightmares about a demon are a sign of what’s wrong.”
As mentioned, The Exorcist is just one of many horror movies that have been turned into television shows, which is a trend that seems to be going even stronger these days than feature film remakes. Other horror movies besides The Exorcist that have recently gotten the television treatment include: Psycho (Bates Motel), Manhunter/Red Dragon/Hannibal (Hannibal), The Evil Dead (Ash vs. Evil Dead), Scream (Scream), The Omen (Damien), and From Dusk Till Dawn (From Dusk Till Dawn). There have even been reports of Suspiria and Friday the 13th television shows being in the works, though it remains to be seen if either will ever come to fruition.
The Exorcist is of course just one of many shows debuting or returning this fall. The network just set its prime time lineup for the fall 2016 – spring 2017, which you can take a look at here.
[Photo by Jonathan Leibson / Getty Images]
