Director Mike Flanagan has admitted he is “intimidated” by the prospect by making a new movie in The Exorcist horror franchise.

It was announced in May that the Doctor Sleep filmmaker will write, direct and produce a “radical new take” on the franchise, which began with William Friedkin’s classic in 1973.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Flanagan revealed he chased the project “very aggressively” but is now quite “intimidated” about making a new entry in a beloved franchise.

“I chased The Exorcist very aggressively because I was convinced I had something that I could add,” he explained. “This is an opportunity to do something that I believe has never been done within the franchise – something that honours what came before it but isn’t built on nostalgia. I really just saw an opportunity to make the scariest movie I’ve ever made. I know expectations are high. No one’s more intimidated than I am.”

Flanagan’s new project came as a surprise because Halloween filmmaker David Gordon Green had been slated to direct a new Exorcist trilogy. Although the first entry, The Exorcist: Believer, performed well at the box office last year, it was critically slated and Universal executives scrapped plans for the next two films.

Flanagan is best known for creating Netflix horror shows such as The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass and The Fall of the House of Usher as well as films like Oculus, Gerald’s Game and Doctor Sleep, the sequel to The Shining.

In the interview, he recalled experiencing “heartbreak” when he released the latter movie in 2019.

“I sat in an empty theatre on opening night of Doctor Sleep – the 7:30 show at the ArcLight – and knew we were screwed,” he shared. “I’ve been happy to see Doctor Sleep, which was a very painful box office weekend for me, find its audience over the years on-demand and on streaming.”

While he is well associated with horror, Flanagan has pivoted to drama for his next movie, The Life of Chuck, which stars Tom Hiddleston. The feature will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on Friday night.

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