Universal Pictures has finally let the devil out of the box. On Wednesday, the studio dropped a 15-second teaser for The Exorcist: Martyrs, the new entry in the iconic horror franchise written and directed by Mike Flanagan — and with it, the official title of the film was confirmed, Cinema Express reported. The footage offers the first look at Scarlett Johansson as a homicide detective hunting evil, and the full trailer arrives Friday, October 9. For horror fans, The Exorcist Martyrs trailer campaign is officially on.
The teaser, shared by the film’s official X account, is pure dread in miniature. It opens with an eerie shot of a woman standing at the top of a flight of stairs — an unmistakable echo of the original film’s most famous imagery — then shifts to Johansson examining an empty, basement-like space with a torch. Quick cuts follow: a priest leading a church service, a prisoner strapped to an execution table, a protest, a frightened Johansson, a child attempting to escape, and someone hanging upside down, ComingSoon reported.
What the The Exorcist Martyrs Trailer Teaser Reveals About the Plot
Details are still guarded — no official synopsis has been released — but reporting around the first look fills in the picture. Johansson plays NYPD homicide detective Julie Miller, a single-mother cop whose life is upended after she apprehends a satanic serial killer known as “Father Sunday” and witnesses his botched execution. When a new series of grisly murders begins, linked to the killer she put down years ago, Miller’s 12-year-old son Max becomes the target of a mysterious demonic force, according to Dread Central’s coverage of Esquire’s first look.
Chiwetel Ejiofor plays a priest, and Laurence Fishburne plays another, drawn into the story as the supernatural threat escalates. Sasha Calle appears as a fellow detective, and Jacobi Jupe — recently seen in Hamnet — plays Miller’s son. The cast also includes Flanagan regulars Rahul Kohli, Carla Gugino, Kate Siegel, Samantha Sloyan, Robert Longstreet and Hamish Linklater, plus Diane Lane, Gil Bellows, Carl Lumbly, Matt Biedel and John Gallagher Jr., per ComingSoon.
The film is described as a standalone horror film inspired by 1990’s The Exorcist III — a deliberately modest framing after 2023’s The Exorcist: Believer stumbled with critics and audiences. Flanagan, the filmmaker behind The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass, Doctor Sleep and The Fall of the House of Usher, is widely seen as the right director to rehabilitate the franchise.
Scarlett Johansson’s First Out-and-Out Horror Lead
The The Exorcist Martyrs trailer marks a first for its star. Despite three decades in the business, this is Johansson’s first genuine horror lead. Her closest brushes with the genre are the 2002 horror-comedy Eight Legged Freaks and 2013’s Under the Skin, which blends science-fiction, horror and thriller, Cinema Express noted.
It is also a statement of intent for the franchise’s relaunch. Johansson is one of the most bankable stars on the planet — her films have grossed roughly $16 billion worldwide, spanning Marvel’s Avengers saga and this year’s Jurassic World Rebirth — and her presence signals that Universal is treating this as a prestige event picture rather than a low-budget sequel, MovieWeb reported.
When the Full The Exorcist Martyrs Trailer Arrives — and the Release Date
The 15-second teaser is only an appetizer: the full trailer for The Exorcist: Martyrs debuts Friday, October 9. The film opens only in theaters on March 12, 2027, according to the film’s official X account.
Fan reaction to the teaser was immediate, with many viewers noting the setup’s creative debt to Exorcist III — the detective-hunting-a-possessed-killer framework — and expressing cautious optimism that Flanagan will deliver where the 2023 reboot did not. For a franchise that has been dormant in any meaningful sense for decades, Friday’s trailer will be the first real test of whether the seventh Exorcist film can possess the culture the way the original did. Keep an eye on our movie trailers coverage for the full breakdown when it lands.
FAQ
When does The Exorcist: Martyrs come out?
The Exorcist: Martyrs opens only in theaters on March 12, 2027. The first 15-second teaser dropped October 7, 2026, and the full trailer arrives Friday, October 9, 2026.
Who does Scarlett Johansson play in The Exorcist: Martyrs?
Johansson plays NYPD homicide detective Julie Miller, a single-mother cop who apprehends a satanic serial killer known as Father Sunday. After witnessing his botched execution, she investigates a new series of murders connected to her past while her 12-year-old son becomes a demonic target. It is her first out-and-out horror lead.
Who directed The Exorcist: Martyrs?
Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass, Doctor Sleep, The Fall of the House of Usher) wrote and directed the film, which is a standalone entry inspired by 1990’s The Exorcist III. The cast includes Chiwetel Ejiofor and Laurence Fishburne as priests, John Leguizamo as Father Sunday, Diane Lane, Sasha Calle and Jacobi Jupe.
How is The Exorcist: Martyrs connected to the earlier Exorcist movies?
It is the seventh film in the Exorcist franchise and a standalone story inspired by 1990’s The Exorcist III, rather than a direct sequel to 2023’s The Exorcist: Believer. Universal confirmed the title with the October 7 teaser.
Sources: Cinema Express, Dread Central
Sources: Cinema Express, ComingSoon, Dread Central
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