{"id":2118886,"date":"2025-10-27T18:54:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T18:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2118886"},"modified":"2025-10-27T18:54:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T18:54:11","slug":"guillermo-del-toro-once-pitched-a-sequel-to-the-greatest-horror-movie-ever-and-failed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/guillermo-del-toro-once-pitched-a-sequel-to-the-greatest-horror-movie-ever-and-failed\/","title":{"rendered":"Guillermo Del Toro Once Pitched A Sequel To The Greatest Horror Movie Ever (And Failed)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slashfilm.com\/562561\/unmade-guillermo-del-toro-movies\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Guillermo del Toro's list of unmade projects;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Guillermo del Toro&#8217;s list of unmade projects<\/a> is full of great ideas he could bring to life with aplomb, and knowing they won&#8217;t ever see the light of day is incredibly frustrating. Some examples include his <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slashfilm.com\/1887479\/prometheus-sci-fi-movie-killed-guillermo-del-toro-at-the-mountains-of-madness\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:planned adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's &quot;At the Mountain of Madness&quot;;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">planned adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft&#8217;s &#8220;At the Mountain of Madness&#8221;<\/a> and &#8220;Hellboy 3,&#8221; both of which fell apart due to factors beyond del Toro&#8217;s control. Heartbreakingly, we can also add &#8220;The Exorcist 4&#8221; to the list of dreams that won&#8217;t ever come true \u2014 an idea the Oscar-winning director pitched after making &#8220;Mimic.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In a 2006 interview with <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/film\/2006\/nov\/21\/guardianinterviewsatbfisouthbank1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:The Guardian;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">The Guardian<\/a>, del Toro revealed that he wanted to helm a film that was tentatively titled &#8220;Exorcist: Chapter 4 Verse I,&#8221; which would have centered around Father Merrin investigating the death of a priest who was killed by a possessed child in the Vatican. Here&#8217;s what the director had to say about the unrealized project:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"mb-4 border-l-2 pl-5 italic text-tertiary\">\n<div class=\"\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;This is the second time [Father Merrin] faces the devil, the first time being in eastern Europe. In my take, the devil, in the guise of a young Nazi officer, says at the end of that episode, &#8216;You and I will face each other again. I will attempt to take three children in your lifetime. If you succeed in saving one of them, you will be free. If you don&#8217;t, you will be mine.&#8217; And that was very epic, setting up what followed.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slashfilm.com\/673267\/every-guillermo-del-toro-movie-ranked\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Guillermo del Toro's movies;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Guillermo del Toro&#8217;s movies<\/a> often contain thought-provoking religious themes, and his credentials as a horror auteur are undeniable. In short, he is arguably the perfect filmmaker to helm a movie of this ilk, so what led to his &#8220;Exorcist 4&#8221; pitch being rejected?<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Read more: <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slashfilm.com\/1939339\/disturbing-horror-movies-only-watch-once\/?zsource=yahoo\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:15 Horror Movies So Disturbing You Will Only Watch Them Once;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">15 Horror Movies So Disturbing You Will Only Watch Them Once<\/a><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"mb-4 text-xl font-bold md:text-2xl\">Why Guillermo del Toro&#8217;s Exorcist sequel was rejected<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-3 right-3 size-10 md:size-[50px] lg:inset-0 lg:size-full lg:bg-transparent\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-0 right-0 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed inset-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-white hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p>A possessed Regan lying down in The Exorcist &#8211; Warner Bros.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Guillermo del Toro&#8217;s unmade &#8220;Exorcist&#8221; sequel sounds like a fitting companion piece to the other movies in the franchise, but the project didn&#8217;t make it past the pitching stage since possession movies weren&#8217;t popular at the time. In the aforementioned interview, the director recalled his idea being warmly received at meetings with studio execs, only to be derailed by one deal-breaking decision:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"mb-4 border-l-2 pl-5 italic text-tertiary\">\n<div class=\"\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;So, I finished my take about &#8216;The Exorcist,&#8217; and they listened patiently and then said, &#8216;That&#8217;s fantastic, but there&#8217;s only one thing. We want the movie but we don&#8217;t want there to be an exorcism in it.&#8217; So, I said, &#8216;But it&#8217;s called &#8216;The Exorcist.&#8221; &#8216;Yeah, but the last movie had an exorcism, and it didn&#8217;t make money.&#8217; That was the last meeting I took on that one.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The good news? Hollywood is open to this franchise telling stories about possessions again. As of this writing, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slashfilm.com\/1592003\/new-exorcist-movie-director-mike-flanagan-wont-be-sequel-horror\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Mike Flanagan is working on an &quot;Exorcist&quot; movie;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Mike Flanagan is working on an &#8220;Exorcist&#8221; movie<\/a>, which will probably be awesome as knows a thing or two about making acclaimed horror flicks with religious themes. Be that as it may, there are many horror fans out there who probably long to see del Toro&#8217;s take on an &#8220;Exorcist&#8221; movie, but that ship appears to have sailed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">If you&#8217;re looking for the easiest way to keep up with all the major movie and TV news, why not <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/subscribe.slashfilm.com\/newsletter-syndicated\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:sign up to our free newsletter;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">sign up to our free newsletter<\/a>? You can also <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=slashfilm.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:add us as a preferred search source;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">add us as a preferred search source<\/a> on Google.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Read the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slashfilm.com\/2008826\/guillermo-del-toro-pitched-horror-sequel-the-exorcist\/?zsource=yahoo\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:original article on SlashFilm;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">original article on SlashFilm<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Guillermo del Toro&#8217;s list of unmade projects is full of great ideas he could bring to life with aplomb, and knowing they won&#8217;t ever see the light of day is incredibly frustrating. Some examples include his planned adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft&#8217;s &#8220;At the Mountain of Madness&#8221; and &#8220;Hellboy 3,&#8221; both of which fell apart due [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2118887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[402155,103955],"class_list":["post-2118886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-father-merrin","tag-guillermo-del-toro"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Guillermo-Del-Toro-Once-Pitched-A-Sequel-To-The-Greatest.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2118886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2118886"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2118886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2118888,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2118886\/revisions\/2118888"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2118887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2118886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2118886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2118886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}