The Exorcist: Martyrs Trailer Breakdown - Biblical Clues, Legion, and Connections to The Exorcist III

Mike Flanagan’s first trailer for The Exorcist: Martyrs has arrived, and there’s a lot more going on here than your typical horror movie preview. Between the religious symbolism, biblical passages written in blood, references to Catholic martyrs, and some very familiar details from The Exorcist III, there’s plenty to unpack.

Flanagan is certainly no stranger to horror. From The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass, and The Fall of the House of Usher, to Oculus, Gerald’s Game, Doctor Sleep, and latest adaptation of Carrie, he’s built a career around stories that balance supernatura horror with complex characters and emotional depth. He’s also demostrated an ability to take established material and do something interesting iwth it.

That makes him an especially interesting choice to tackle The Exorcist, a franchise that has struggled to find its footing for decades.

I’ve gone through the new trailer looking for clues about where Flanagan might be takin the story, and what stood out to me most was how heavily it appears to draw from The Exorcist III. There are also some fascinating biblical and historical references that could tell us quite a bit about the film’s central myster.

Let’s get into it.

A Familiar Staircase and a Disturbing Discovery

The trailer opens with a staircase, which immediately caught my attention. Stairways have become a part of the visual identity of The Exorcist franchise, thanks largely to the infamous Georgetown steps from the original film, where a certain character meets their demise. The Exorcist III also revisited that location, and the staircase even appeared in a dream sequence within the film and prominently in the film’s promotional artwork.

The new trailer starts with our protagonist peering down into the darkness before descending. I suspect the imagery is deliberate, representing her decision to enter the darkness, into a world she may not full understand.

We’re then introduced to Scarlett Johansson’s detective character alongside Sasha Calle as they investigate the rituatlistic murder of a young boy. The circumstances immediately reminded me of The Exorcist III, which also begins with a detective investigating a series of disturbing murders.

Carla Gugino, a frequent Flanagan collaborator, appears during the investigation and removes a medallion depicting Saint Andrew from the victim’s mouth.

The is our first significantindication of the movie’s apparent interest in martydom.

In Christian tradition, Saint Andrew is known as the first-called apostle, having been emong the first disciples summoned to follow Jesus. He was later martyred by crucifixion and is traditionally associated with an X-shaped cross.

Given the film’s title, the medallion is almost certainly more than a random religious artifact.

Messages in Blood

One of the most interesting sequences in the trailer features several biblical passages written in blood. They appear briefly, but each offers a possible clue about the motivations behind the murders.

The first comes from Judges 10:13, in which God rebukes the Israelites for repeatedly abandoning him to worship other gods. When they face oppression, they return to him seeking help, only to be confronted with their previous disobedience.

The next passage comes from Revelation 20:7, describing Satan's release after a thousand years of imprisonment in the Abyss. In the biblical account, Satan emerges to deceive the nations and gather an army for a final confrontation.

We then see two passages presented together. The first, from Malachi 2:1, addresses priests who have neglected their responsibilities and dishonored God. The second, from Romans 3:10, declares that no one is righteous, emphasizing humanity's universal moral failings.

Taken together, these passages establish some pretty troubling themes.

We're dealing with references to humanity turning away from God, religious leaders abusing their positions, Satan returning to gather his followers, and the idea that nobody is truly righteous.

Horror has a long history of using distorted religious teachings to justify violence, particularly when dealing with cults, serial killers, and demonic entities. Here, the killer appears to be using scripture to communicate some larger religious purpose.

My initial impression is that whoever is responsible believes these murders are connected to an approaching apocalypse, possibly even that they're helping bring it about.

That would also fit the serial killer investigation at the center of The Exorcist III.

Father William, Serial Killers, and the Number of the Beast

The trailer introduces Chiwetel Ejiofor (Life of Chuck) as Father William, whom Flanagan has described as a prison chaplain.

During a conversation with Johansson's detective, several notorious serial killers are mentioned, including H.H. Holmes, Richard Ramirez, Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, and David Berkowitz.

The detective suggests that these killers claimed to be possessed.

I'm not familiar enough with the individual histories of every one of those cases to say how accurate that statement is, but what's more interesting to me is how readily her character seems to entertain the possibility of demonic involvement.

Why is she so willing to believe in something supernatural? Has she encountered it before?

I think there's a very good chance she has, and we'll get to that shortly.

During this conversation, we also get several quick images, including a shot of Father William that reminded me of Father Paul in Midnight Mass.

Rahul Kohli also appears, looking rather upset in what seems to be a room filled with FBI agents. He's another familiar face from Flanagan's work, and while the trailer doesn't establish his role, the way everyone appears to be watching him makes me wonder whether he has some authority over the investigation.

My guess is that he's a senior agent frustrated with the lack of progress, although he could just as easily be a government official or someone else entirely.

Another image shows a directory of stores, apparently inside a shopping mall, with a biblical passage written across it in blood.

This one references Revelation 13:18, the passage associated with calculating the number of the beast: 666.

Within the Book of Revelation, the number is connected to the beast and its authority over humanity. Combined with the earlier references to Satan's release and the end times, it adds another piece to the larger religious puzzle.

But the next image is where the connections to The Exorcist III become considerably more interesting.

The Gemini Killer Connection

We briefly see another murder victim, this time with the index finger removed from the right hand.

If you're familiar with The Exorcist III, that detail should immediately stand out.

In that film, Detective Kinderman investigates murders attributed to the Gemini Killer, a serial murderer who had supposedly been executed years earlier.

One of the killer's signatures was removing the index finger from a victim's right hand.

The police deliberately misreported the detail to the press, claiming the finger had been removed from the left hand. That allowed investigators to distinguish someone with genuine knowledge of the murders from people merely repeating information they had heard publicly.

So when the new trailer shows a victim missing the index finger from the right hand, I have a hard time believing that's a coincidence.

The Gemini Killer also left a Gemini zodiac symbol on his victims' palms, and I didn't notice that symbol in this particular shot.

That raises an interesting possibility. Maybe we're seeing a new killer working toward the same goal as the Gemini Killer

Or perhaps the connection goes considerably deeper.

Another quick shot shows a victim who has been decapitated, which also recalls the murders in The Exorcist III.

These are very specific similarities, and they make me convinced that Flanagan is drawing heavily from the third film.

Legion, Father Sunday, and Julie Kinderman

Father William later quotes Mark 5:9, in which Jesus encounters a man possessed by demons and asks his name.

The response is one of the most recognizable passages in biblical possession stories: "My name is Legion, for we are many."

That line is significant for several reasons.

First, Legion is the title of William Peter Blatty's novel that served as the basis for The Exorcist III. The film also incorporated the concept directly into its story and marketing, including the tagline The Horror Is Legion.

While Father William speaks, we see John Leguizamo's character preparing for execution.

The character has reportedly been identified as Father Sunday, a serial killer whom Johansson's detective captured early in her career.

This immediately creates another parallel with The Exorcist III, where the Gemini Killer's execution fails to put an end to his murders.

But there's an even bigger detail.

Johansson's character is listed as Julie, and during a brief shot of her in a police uniform from earlier in her career, the name Kinderman appears on her badge.

For anyone familiar with The Exorcist III, that name should ring some serious alarm bells.

Spoilers for The Exorcist III follow.

Near the end of that film, the Gemini Killer attempts to murder Detective Kinderman's daughter, Julie. Kinderman manages to save her, but the killer makes it clear that the threat isn't necessarily over.

If Johansson is playing that same Julie Kinderman, now grown up and working as a detective herself, it would explain a lot about her apparent willingness to believe in demonic possession.

She wouldn't simply be investigating something supernatural for the first time. She would have already survived an encounter with it.

And if the murders are deliberately recreating the Gemini Killer's methods, this could be an extremely personal story.

Between the badge, the character's first name, the execution imagery, and the similarities in the murders, there's a pretty compelling case that this is a direct continuation of those storylines.

The Following

As Father William discusses Legion, the trailer flashes through several images of people who appear to be followers or acolytes.

Some wear bags over their heads, similar to those associated with Father Sunday's execution.

One of these figures may even be Julie's son.

There are a couple of possibilities here. We could be dealing with a demonic entity moving between different hosts, something along the lines of the possession mechanics in the 1998 Denzel Washington movie Fallen, which also features a serial killer continuing on following their execution.

Personally, I'm leaning toward the idea that we're seeing an organized group of followers, possibly working toward whatever apocalyptic objective the earlier biblical passages suggest.

That would connect the idea of Legion, meaning many, with the references to Satan gathering an army.

The trailer ends with an especially unsettling exchange between Julie and her son. He calls her Mom, and she responds by asking him not to call her that.

Something is clearly wrong between them, and I'm guessing one of them is possessed.

Based on the imagery of the hooded figures, my suspicion is that it's her son.

If that's the case, we may already have our central possession story.

Saint Eulalia’s Descent

There's another image I want to return to because it may be one of the trailer's most disturbing historical references.

At one point, Julie encounters a barrel, apparently inside an abandoned shopping mall. Later, we see someone emerging from it as blood pours out.

Flanagan has suggested that viewers familiar with the deaths of Catholic saints and martyrs might recognize the significance of this image.

One possible reference is Saint Eulalia of Barcelona, a young Christian martyr whose fate includes a series of 13 horrific tortures during the Roman persecutions.

According to accounts of her martyrdom, one of those punishments involved being placed inside a barrel filled with shards of glass and rolled down a hill.

The similarities are difficult to ignore.

There are other historical accounts involving barrels as instruments of torture, so I wouldn't consider the identification definitive. Still, Saint Eulalia seems like a strong possibility given Flanagan's comments.

In a recent interview with IGN, Flanagan discussed his fascination with the disturbing methods by which many Catholic saints were martyred.

He also talked about how The Exorcist stories take religious imagery traditionally considered sacred and transform it into something sacrilegious.

That helps explain why the trailer places so much emphasis on biblical passages, religious symbols, and violent deaths.

The murders may be designed as deliberate mockeries of martyrdom, recreating the suffering of saints while stripping away the promise of salvation or divine intervention.

It's an especially disturbing idea when you consider the religious motivations that appear to be driving the killer.

Laurence Fishburne, Religious Statues, and More Exorcist III Imagery

We also get a very brief look at Laurence Fishburne as another priest.

I'm excited to see him involved. He's an actor I've enjoyed for as long as I can remember, and there's something appealing about returning to the dynamic of multiple priests confronting a supernatural threat, as we saw with Father Karras and Father Merrin in the original film.

Another image shows an enormous room filled with religious statues, apparently in the same shopping mall we've seen throughout the trailer.

Again, this immediately reminded me of The Exorcist III. In that film, some of the Gemini Killer's victims are discovered with their heads replaced by those of religious statues.

Given the other similarities we've already discussed, I wouldn't be surprised if those statues become part of the murders in Flanagan's movie as well.

At this point, the references to the third film are impossible to dismiss as coincidence.

A Detective Thriller Wrapped in Religious Horror

What excites me most about The Exorcist: Martyrs is the apparent combination of two genres I love: detective thrillers and religious horror.

The original Exorcist is obviously a major influence, but The Exorcist III took the franchise in a somewhat different direction by combining a police investigation with supernatural horror.

It remains one of the most interesting entries in the series for exactly that reason.

There aren't nearly enough movies that successfully bring those two approaches together. One other example I always come back to is Scott Derrickson's Deliver Us from Evil from 2014, another possession story involving a detective and a priest investigating disturbing supernatural events.

It's a movie I don't hear discussed nearly enough.

Flanagan has indicated that audiences won't need to have watched the previous Exorcist films to understand his new story, which makes sense. There's no reason a modern installment should require homework.

But if these trailer details are any indication, longtime fans of the original and especially The Exorcist III may have quite a bit to appreciate.

Between the Gemini Killer references, the possibility of Julie Kinderman returning, the religious symbolism and the apparent focus on martyrdom, Flanagan seems to be building something that respects the franchise's history while exploring some pretty disturbing territory of its own.

I've got a lot of faith in Flanagan's ability to tell an engaging and terrifying story, and I'm especially interested in seeing how he handles the detective side of the mystery.

If the trailer is any indication, this one probably won't be for the faint of heart. We're likely looking at plenty of gruesome imagery, some very dark religious themes, and a story that could take the franchise back toward the kind of horror that made its earliest entries so memorable.

After years of missed opportunities, I'm more than ready for another great Exorcist movie.

The Exorcist: Martyrs is scheduled to arrive in theaters on March 12, 2027, from Universal Pictures and Blumhouse.

Let me know on social media if you caught something that I missed.

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