The Exorcist Devotion: 50 years later, is the possessed girl from the first film back?

WARNING – This article contains spoilers for “The Exorcist – Devotion”.

A year after concluding the new Halloween trilogy, David Gordon Green and producer Jason Blum return with The Exorcist – Devotion, a direct sequel to William Friedkin’s classic released in 1973.

If William Friedkin did not wish to be involved in the project, as for Halloween, the duo managed to bring back the heroine of the first film. Until now Ellen Burstyn had always refused to reprise the role of Chris, the mother of young Regan (Linda Blair) possessed by the demon Pazuzu, this is the first time that the actress – now 90 years old – agrees to come back. But it is not the only one…

Until now the return of Linda Blair in the new films was not clear. However, the interpreter of Regan is very present in The Exorcist – Devotion.

Awarded in 1974 by the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for her masterful portrayal of a possessed child and nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress, Linda Blair then reprized her role in John Boorman’s sequel released in 1978 : The Exorcist 2 – the heretic. This is therefore the third time that the American actress has reprized her role in front of the camera. But his presence in Devotion is more of a cameo.

In David Gordon Green’s feature film, Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom Jr) raises his daughter Angela alone. One day, Angela and her friend Katherine disappear in the woods before resurfacing 72 hours later without the slightest memory of what happened to them… From then on, strange events follow one another and Victor must face formidable forces evil. Desperate and terrified, he calls on the only person still alive who has ever witnessed such phenomena: Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn).

During his meeting with Victor, Chris quickly brings up Regan and explains that his daughter cut ties with her after the publication of a book telling their story. If Regan’s presence hovers throughout the film, notably via the demon who quotes and engraves her first name, the latter appears at the very end of the film. Regan comes to visit her mother. We then imagine that this reunion will be at the center of the second part of the trilogy entitled The Exorcist: Deceiver and scheduled in our theaters on April 16, 2025.

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Linda Blair, advisor

But Linda Blair didn’t just appear on screen in the last minute of the film. The actress was present during the filming and provided valuable advice to young actresses Lidya Jewett and Olivia O’Neill. During our interview with the director David Gordon Greenthe latter confided to us: “Lidya and Olivia are incredible. Their role was physical and emotional and they did an incredible job. We had Linda Blair as an advisor, she explained to them how to go safely into dangerous places.“

The latter adds to the microphone of Fandango : “It was great to have Linda as a consultant. She helped us a lot to understand the psychology of our young talents. Lidya and Olivia are wonderful young actresses – and we were asking them to go to very dangerous, very provocative, very spiritual places.

From a psychological point of view, we wanted to do it as safely as possible… The fact that Linda had already experienced this was very helpful to all of us, because it allowed us to chart a path healthy to go to places that were not healthy“.

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When The Exorcist was filmed in 1973, Linda Blair was only 14 years old. Upon its release, the film was accused by religious fanatics of “praising Satan” and the young actress had to be protected for 6 months by bodyguards.

Last August, after the death of William Friedkin, Linda Blair published a tribute on her Instagram account in which she thanked the director for having “fiercely protected” her and added: “He understood my need to stay grounded in nature, my love for animals, and gave me my first horse”.

Linda Blair therefore used her difficult experience on the set to help young Lidya Jewett and Olivia O’Neill play the possessed girls in getting hurt and manage to get out of character once filming was over.

The Exorcist – Devotion is currently in cinemas.