The Main Reason Why Linda Blair Agreed To Return To The ‘Exorcist’ Franchise

Former child star Linda Blair is popular for playing the possessed pre-teen, Regan MacNeil, who is known for her unsettling projectile vomiting scenes in the horror film, The Exorcist.  Almost half a century after the release of the original, Blair is set to rejoin the franchise in the new installment, The Exorcist: Believer, which is slated to be a trilogy series.

This marks a significant shift after years of turning down offers to revisit her role in four prior sequels and a short-lived TV series. Recently, the production crew of the movie shed light on the intricacies involved in persuading Blair to return, considering the profound impact and physical injuries she endured while filming William Friedkin’s original.

Producer Jason Blum says Linda Blair initially was not open to reprising her role as Regan MacNeil

The producer of the movie, Jason Blum, in an interview with PEOPLE, revealed that the actress was not interested in the role at all. “She was not game from the get-go,” he admitted to the news outlet. “She has resisted it for 50 years, so she really wasn’t [game], but we approached her very delicately and sensitively. And we had done a similar thing with Jamie Lee Curtis on Halloween [Green and Blum rebooted that classic horror series with a 2018-2022 trilogy], and John Carpenter also on Halloween, and we kind of walked her through that experience.”

RELATED: Original ‘Exorcist’ Star Linda Blair ‘Not Interested’ In Reprising Role of Regan

He further stated that the 64-year-old agreed to feature in the film after meeting with the director, David Gordon Green. “And David is a particularly actor-friendly director, so ultimately she decided to do the movie after meeting with David,” Blum stated. “Hearing his vision for the movie, how he felt he was going to make the movie, and that gave her the comfort to join our team.”

Linda Blair was enthusiastic about ‘The Exorcist: Believer’

The director added that during his first meeting with Blair, he was uncertain about her acceptance. “Before I had her read the script, which I was terrified of doing, I pitched her the idea,” Green confessed. “And when I got to that point, she was quiet and she says, ‘You’re not going to kill me, are you?’ [laughs] So then to stage that and rehearse that, and building a prosthetic that we could actually impale, it was a process. But it was a lot of fun when you have an actresses as curious and playful as Ellen.”

However, Green also recalled the moment he became positive about his bid to get her on the film. “She’s one of the most magnificent, charismatic actresses that I’ve ever been in a room with, and I didn’t know if she would agree to this movie,” he added. “I show up at her apartment and we were having tea and looking out over the park. And then when she said, ‘Would you like to go feed the baby pigeons with me?’ I knew we were about to begin an amazing journey.”