The Exorcist's upcoming 2023 legacy sequel has just cast a big country music star in a major role. The film, which is due in theaters on October 13, is the newest collaboration between horror movie production company Blumhouse and writer-director David Gordon Green, who previously teamed on the trilogy of Halloween legacy sequels that ran from 2018's Halloween through 2022's Halloween Ends. The Exorcist, which does not currently have an official title, is also meant to kickstart a new movie trilogy, following directly from the events of the 1973 classic.
Per Variety, Jennifer Nettles has just been cast in a currently unspecified major role in The Exorcist 2023. Nettles is best known for being one half of the country music duo Sugarland, but she began acting in the mid-2010s, including playing Roxy Hart in a 2015 Broadway production of Chicago. She has also held onscreen roles in the TV movie Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors, the comedy series The Righteous Gemstones, and the Oscar-nominated biopic Harriet.
Who's Who in the New The Exorcist Cast?
So far, most details of the plot and characters of The Exorcist have been kept under lock and key. The only two parts that have been officially confirmed are those played by Ellen Burstyn and Leslie Odom Jr. Burstyn will be reprising her original 1973 role as Chris MacNeil while Odom Jr. will play a father who comes to her when he needs advice regarding a potential possession.
The remainder of the film's currently announced cast includes Ann Dowd, Lidya Jewett, Olivia Marcum, and Raphael Sbarge, who will be playing a pastor. Jewett, who played Young Nakia in 2018's Black Panther, seems to be the most likely candidate for playing Odom Jr's possessed child given her age. However, the film may subvert expectations and have the possessed child be a young boy, as it was in the original case files that inspired The Exorcist. They could also have multiple siblings present, leaving some doubt as to which member of the family is truly the one who is possessed, a trick that was pulled by Fox's The Exorcist series in 2016.
The role that Nettles will play is similarly murky. Marcum is another young actor, so she may be playing Nettles' daughter, meaning that the pair may potentially be part of Odom Jr.'s family or at least next-door neighbors who become involved in the possession. However, Sbarge playing a pastor doesn't necessarily mean he will be the titular exorcist in The Exorcist, so that role that might go to Nettles when the time comes to rid the child of its demonic presence.
Source: Variety