Exorcist II: The Heretic Exorcist II: The Heretic Exorcist II: The Heretic is a 1977 American horror film directed by John Boorman and written by William Goodhart. It stars Linda Blair, Richard Burton, Louise Fletcher, Max von Sydow, Kitty Winn, Paul Henreid and James Earl Jones. It is a sequel to William Friedkin's 1973 film "The Exorcist" based on the 1971 novel by William Peter Blatty and the second installment of "The Exorcist" franchise. The film is set four years after the original film and centers on the now 16-year-old Regan MacNeil, who is still recovering from her previous demonic possession. The film was
The Exorcist III film), as the protagonist. Blatty conceived "Legion" as a feature film with William Friedkin, director of "The Exorcist", attached to direct. Despite the critical and commercial failure of the previous sequel, Warner Bros. was keen to proceed with Blatty and Friedkin's plans for another "Exorcist" film. Blatty said that "everybody wanted "Exorcist III"... I hadn't written the script, but I had the story in my head...and Billy [Friedkin] loved it." Friedkin, however, soon left the project due to conflicting opinions between him and Blatty on the film. The project went into development hell, and Blatty wrote "Legion" as a novel