The Exorcist is one of the latest horror movies ing the reboot/legacy sequel trend, but by doing this, the new movie is avoiding one of the biggest mysteries from the original Exorcist sequels. Few horror movies have had the impact that William Friedkin's The Exorcist has, as it’s not only regarded as one of the best movies from the genre but one of the best movies ever made in general, as well as one of the scariest movies in film history. The success of The Exorcist made way for a franchise with sequels, prequels, and TV series, but none of them were able to match the success and quality of the first movie.
Based on the 1971 novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty, The Exorcist tells the story of Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair), a 12-year-old girl who after starting acting violently, speaking in tongues, and killing one of her mother’s friends, was revealed to have been possessed by a demon known as Pazuzu. Desperate for a “cure”, her mother, Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn), asked Father Lankester Merrin (Max von Sydow) for help, and along with Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller), they performed an exorcism on young Regan, but the demon quickly started to psychologically harass Karras. Regan’s story continued in the sequel Exorcist II: The Heretic, but Chris’ fate was left unknown, and the reboot will carry on with this mystery.
The Exorcist Sequels Never Explained What Happened To Regan's Mother
Chris MacNeil is an actress who moved to the Washington D.C. neighborhood of Georgetown with her daughter, Regan, for work, as she was part of the cast of her friend Burke Dennings’ new film. It was at their new home that Regan found an Ouija board she started playing with, and through it, she made a friend she referred to as “Captain Howdy”, who was actually Pazuzu. When Regan started acting strange and violent, Chris took her to the hospital, where Regan was subjected to various traumatic tests, but as the doctors found nothing wrong with Regan and her behavior worsened, Chris’ last resort was asking for an exorcism. At the end of The Exorcist, both Merrin and Karras died but Regan was freed, and Chris and Regan decided to leave as soon as possible.
The sequel, Exorcist II: The Heretic, is set four years after the first movie and brought Regan back, following her recovery after her possession and exorcism. However, Chris wasn’t part of the sequel, and instead, Chris’ former assistant, Sharon Spencer, was brought back to serve as Regan’s guardian. Unfortunately, during the third act of Exorcist II, Sharon was possessed and set herself on fire, dying from her injuries outside the house where Regan’s exorcism took place. Regan was left under Father Lamont's care, but it’s unknown what happened to Chris after The Exorcist, as the sequel didn’t explain if she died or why was Regan now under Sharon’s care.
What Role Chris MacNeil Will Have In The Exorcist's Reboot
Exorcist II was followed by another sequel, simply titled The Exorcist III, and later by two prequels, Exorcist: The Beginning and Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist. After a TV series that lasted two seasons, the Exorcist franchise is coming back to life with a legacy sequel that will kick off a new trilogy. Directed by David Gordon Green and titled The Exorcist: Believer, the movie will serve as a direct sequel to Friedkin’s 1973 movie, and out of the original cast, surprisingly, only Ellen Burstyn is coming back to play Chris MacNeil. What’s known about the story of The Exorcist: Believer is that it will tell the story of the father (Leslie Odom Jr) of a possessed child who is desperate for help and finds someone who had a similar experience: Chris MacNeil. Details about Chris’ role in The Exorcist: Believer are unknown, but based on the footage shown at CinemaCon 2023, Chris will offer more than just advice to a troubled parent, as she tells one of the possessed girls that they “have met before”.
The Exorcist's New Timeline Means The Chris MacNeil Mystery Won't Be Answered
While having Ellen Burstyn back as Chris MacNeil in The Exorcist: Believer is exciting and serves as a direct link to the original movie, the timeline it creates means that the mystery of what happened to her won’t be answered. The Exorcist: Believer is following the steps of the Halloween reboot trilogy and serves as a direct sequel to the first movie, ignoring those that came after it. This means that the new movie won’t be able to answer what happened to Chris MacNeil between The Exorcist and Exorcist II: The Heretic, and instead, it will give her a different fate. Surely, whatever happened to Chris MacNeil in the first timeline wouldn’t really change the sequels, but it would be interesting to know why Regan ended up under the care of Chris’ assistant who quit following Regan’s exorcism.
