Scott Teems talks about the writing process for the upcoming continuation of The Exorcist, set to be co-written by Halloween writers David Gordon Green and Danny McBride. Teems previously collaborated with Green and McBride on 2021's Halloween Kills alongside producer Jason Blum, the horror studio Blumhouse Productions CEO. Teems is also writing the upcoming Firestarter that will be released on May 13.

The Exorcist follows the demonic possession of a young girl (Linda Blair), and her mother's (Ellen Burstyn) attempts to exorcise it with help from the Catholic church. The original film was a huge hit, scoring a rare Best Picture nomination at the Oscars for a horror film and winning the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. The Exorcist continues to be highly regarded among horror enthusiasts, having a significant influence on pop culture, spawning four sequels and a short-lived tv series.

Related: Oscars: What Was The First Horror Movie To Be Nominated For Best Picture?

In an interview with ComicBook.com, Teems details the writing process he shares with Green and McBride when conceiving the new film. He talks about how the three would meet on Zoom to discuss ideas and how they would write separately and then come back on Zoom to compare what they had written. He says the process took several months of bouncing around ideas before they found the idea that excited them to present to producers. Read his quote below:

So that was our early COVID project, is every Friday morning during the beginning of COVID in early 2020 we would meet over Zoom, me and David and Danny [McBride], Jason Blum, and we would pitch ideas and we would bounce ideas around and I'd go off and write and David would go off and write and we'd come back together and pitch ideas and spent a couple of months doing that. And then we got this story we were excited about and presented it. So it wasn't until we were really sure … We didn't want to just do it to do it. We knew it had to be something we all believed in. And we did, we found it.

Exorcist original movie

He also talks about how The Exorcist has a higher standing in horror than Halloween for many reasons and, as a result, feels more pressured to tell the story the right way. He says that the three didn't even want to make a deal with any producers before they knew they had the right story, hence the months-long writing process. It's been confirmed that pre-production of the film has started, with Gordon set to direct and Burstyn to reprise her role.

Teems is right when saying The Exorcist is more highly regarded, for it paved the way for horror as an elevated genre, showing audiences that horror was far more than slashers and cheap scares. The Exorcist's legendary effects, cerebral terror, and iconic score helped it become a landmark of the genre and will be much more difficult to continue for modern audiences. However, after the success of Halloween, Green, McBride, and now Teems have earned a little credit in continuing horror classics. Hopefully, they can keep it going for The Exorcist when it's released in 2023.

Next: The Exorcist True Story: What Happened To Roland Doe, The Real Regan

Source: ComicBook.com