- Linda Blair made a surprise cameo in The Exorcist: Believer, returning to the franchise that launched her career.
- Blair became a consultant on the film to ensure the young stars were taken care of and didn’t experience what she went through during the original film.
- Despite her cameo, Blair’s focus is currently on her animal rights activism, and she may not have a prominent role in the sequel, The Exorcist: Deceiver.
When The Exorcist: Believer was released on October 6, 2023, it included an unexpected cameo by original star Linda Blair, who played Regan MacNeil in the iconic 1973 film The Exorcist and 1977’s Exorcist II: The Heretic. Blair’s return to the franchise that began her career happened despite uncertain reports prior to the film’s release about whether the 64-year-old actress would appear in David Gordon Green’s reboot.
In a conversation with Screen Rant, Linda Blair explained how the film’s producers informed her of the new Exorcist film, which led her to become a consultant on the movie. She was responsible for ensuring that young actors Lidya Jewitt and Olivia O’Neill were well taken care of, as her own traumatic experience filming the original Exorcist in 1973 resulted in a fractured back and subsequent scoliosis.
Blair stated, “They came to me and said, ‘We are going to do this, and we want you to know.’ This is several years ago, and I said, ‘You need to know I went on record saying don’t ever do it to a child again, do not do this.’ So, kind of in all the discussions they said, ‘If you were to come on as a supervisor to help, we want to do the right thing.’ So it’s more to do the right thing to make sure the girls are taken care of…I had a religious specialist there just to talk about things if they needed, psychiatrists in case they needed anything.”
Her involvement in the film led to David Gordon Green asking her about making a cameo in The Exorcist: Believer. According to Blair, the timing and circumstances were right for her to make an appearance in the movie.
Blair recalled how her cameo was kept top secret, with a pseudonym used on call sheets and David Gordon Green hiding her under umbrellas to keep her appearance under wraps until it was time to film the scene.
Fans are now wondering whether Linda Blair will have a more prominent role in the sequel, The Exorcist: Deceiver, set for release on April 18, 2025. However, with her primary focus being on her animal rights activism through the Linda Blair World Heart Foundation, she says her time is not currently available for film work.
Blair maintains that she will not return to film work until the animal problems she is passionate about are resolved. In the meantime, the mixed reception to The Exorcist: Believer leaves the story direction and Linda Blair’s involvement in future sequels uncertain. The Exorcist: Believer is available now on VOD and will begin streaming on Peacock on December 1, 2023.