Carla Gugino and Kate Siegel Join Mike Flanagan’s The Exorcist
Mike Flanagan’s upcoming entry in The Exorcist franchise continues to build an impressive cast, with Deadline reporting that Carla Gugino and Kate Siegel are among the latest additions to the film. Both actresses are long-time collaborators of Flanagan and have appeared in several of his most acclaimed projects, making their involvement a natural fit as the filmmaker prepares to tackle one of horror’s most iconic properties.
Carla Gugino has worked with Flanagan multiple times over the past decade, most notably starring in his psychological thriller Gerald’s Game and appearing in the critically acclaimed Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House and The Fall of the House of Usher. Gugino has enjoyed a varied career across film and television, with memorable roles in projects ranging from Robert Rodriguez’s Spy Kids films to Zack Snyder’s Watchmen and the disaster thriller San Andreas. Her return to Flanagan’s orbit suggests the new Exorcist will once again feature the director’s trademark focus on character-driven horror.
Kate Siegel, meanwhile, has become one of the most recognisable faces in Flanagan’s work. She first collaborated with the director on the tense home-invasion thriller Hush, which she also co-wrote, before appearing in The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass, and The Fall of the House of Usher. Siegel has developed a reputation for delivering emotionally grounded performances in supernatural stories, often portraying characters caught between grief, trauma, and the unknown.
Gugino and Siegel join an already stacked ensemble that includes Scarlett Johansson, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Diane Lane, Sasha Calle, Jacobi Jupe, and John Leguizamo. While plot details are still being kept firmly under wraps, the film is expected to tell a completely new story within The Exorcist universe rather than serving as a remake of William Friedkin’s original film or a direct continuation of the most recent instalment.
Few horror films carry the legacy of The Exorcist. William Friedkin’s 1973 classic, based on the novel by William Peter Blatty, remains one of the most influential horror films ever made. Its story of young Regan MacNeil’s demonic possession and the desperate attempts by two priests to save her shocked audiences and became a cultural phenomenon. The film was nominated for ten Academy Awards, winning two, and is still frequently cited as one of the scariest movies ever produced.
The franchise continued with Exorcist II: The Heretic in 1977, a film that was widely criticised upon release but has since gained a strange cult following due to its surreal tone. William Peter Blatty returned to write and direct The Exorcist III in 1990, a darker and more psychological entry that many fans consider a worthy successor to the original. Decades later the series attempted to explore its origins with the prequels Exorcist: The Beginning and Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist, both focusing on Father Merrin’s early encounters with demonic forces.
Carla Gugino & Kate Siegel Reinforces Flanagan’s Cast
More recently, the franchise returned with The Exorcist: Believer in 2023. Directed by David Gordon Green, the film attempted to launch a new trilogy but received mixed reviews and underperformed critically compared to expectations. While it generated solid box office numbers, its reception from audiences and critics suggested the series had lost some of the terrifying magic that made the original so legendary.
Mike Flanagan now faces the challenge of restoring the franchise’s reputation. Known for atmospheric horror and deeply emotional storytelling in projects such as Doctor Sleep, The Haunting of Hill House, and Midnight Mass, Flanagan has built a reputation as one of modern horror’s most reliable filmmakers. He has described the new film as an opportunity to honour what came before while telling a completely new story within the universe.
The director has also suggested he wants to make the scariest film of his career, a bold claim given his previous work. “This is an opportunity to do something that I believe has never been done within the franchise,” Flanagan previously said of the project. “Something that honours what came before it but isn’t built on nostalgia.”
With Carla Gugino and Kate Siegel joining the cast alongside a strong ensemble, anticipation for Flanagan’s take on The Exorcist is continuing to grow. Universal Pictures is set to release the film in cinemas on March 12, 2027. For fans hoping the franchise can once again deliver the kind of supernatural terror that made the original a classic, Flanagan may be exactly the filmmaker needed to bring the devil back to the big screen.
