The Exorcist: Believer Ending Explained- Did Katharine Die And Will There Be A Demonic Rumble in Deceiver?

The newest dip in the proverbial demonic pond that William K Friedkin presented fifty-some-odd years ago, The Exorcist: Believer, is just the first in the trilogy. It wasn’t reviewed well by critics and didn’t perform well in theaters, but it has seen far more success on the streaming platform Peacock. It wasn’t as bad as the reviews, but it wasn’t a masterpiece like the classic, either. Instead, it floated somewhere in a gray purgatory of watered-down ideas, good intentions, and competent performances. With two more movies slated, it’s important to unpack that tragic ending and how it sets up everything to come in the future.

Instead of one young girl possessed by a demon after accidentally letting it in while playing with a Quija board, writers Peter Sattler, Scott Teams, and writer/director David Gordon Green up the ante and give us two girls possessed by something after doing a silly candle-lit ceremony and going missing for three days. By the time the parents of the two children realize what they are dealing with, things have escalated past the point of return. A group of spiritual guides is assembled to perform an exorcism on the two girls with catastrophic results. Not only aren’t they able to force the demon or demons out, but the priest is summarily executed. At this point, the demon speaking through the girls tells everyone they must make a choice. Choose one girl to live and the other to die.

For a very brief time, the parents remain united and refuse to choose. Katharine’s father caves in, though, and yells that he chooses Katharine to save, condemning Angela to death. At first, it seems like Angela dies and Katharine will live, but then cruelly, Katharine is shone being dragged into a watery hell by demonic hands just as Angela’s heart begins beating again. The epilogue features a monologue from Ann Dowd’s Nurse Ann, who reminds us that loss and grief are part of life and will go on. Angela heals and returns to school alone, Katharine’s parents forgive and move on, and Chris and Regan MacNeil from the original movie reunite. It’s a tidy ending, but it hardly makes much sense if two future movies are planned.

The idea of a Faustian deal is hardly new. But it is intriguing given the parameters of the two girls and their respective parents. Victor(Leslie Odom, Jr.), a widow who lost his wife after a Haitian earthquake while she was pregnant with Angela, believes in something but isn’t as religiously rigid as his counterparts. Katharine’s parents are deeply Christian, and curiously, her father, the one to succumb to desperation, loses his faith to fear. As we learn late in The Exorcist: Believer through the demon taunting Victor, he chose to save his wife over his daughter when he was faced with a similar decision. The doctors told him they wouldn’t be able to save both, and he had to choose. He chose his wife, but when everything was done, Angela was the one who lived. At the time, the demon tells Victor God played a trick on him.

Nurse Ann may be closer to the truth of things. Sometimes, life isn’t fair, and bad things happen. Assuming that the demon in The Exorcist: Believer is lying about the deal from the beginning, the outcome would always be the same. It didn’t matter which parents gave in and begged for their child. The other would be spared. Considering that the demon tells Victor God played a trick, though, it is possible that the endgame was precisely what she said. The chosen child would have lived, and the other dragged to Hell. Further acknowledging the fact that the next movie is called The Exorcist: Deceiver, however, and knowing that the Devil is often referred to as the Father Of Lies, it is more plausible that the demon always planned on tricking them. In theory, both girls would probably be taken to maximize the suffering.

A few clues, however, give hints to Angela’s survival though. Before her mother died in Haiti, Angela was blessed while still inside her mother. Was this blessing powerful enough to offer Angela some form of protection when she needed it most? Additionally, after Victor places the scarf around her neck and speaks to her, she appears to return just a little. Was her bond with Victor and her strength greater than Katahrine’s, and thus, this is why she was saved?

An inevitable Pazuzu versus Lamashtu showdown?

The demon who possessed Regan was Pazuzu, and the one who possessed the girls was Lamashtu. These two were once lovers turned sworn enemies when Pazuzu blinded her for betraying him. Pazuzu, who is primarily a nasty dude, protects pregnant women from Lamashtu out of spite. Lamashtu has an affinity for pregnant women, and thwarting her appears to be his only motivation for protecting them. Ellen Burstyn’s Chris MacNeil confronts Katharine when she is possessed and has both eyes gouged out for the effort. Considering that the same thing was supposedly done to her by Pazuzu, it is a tidy parallel.

Continuing to pull on this thread could mean Angela’s mother was attacked in Haiti. It was probably while she was dying and attached herself to Angela. Lamashtu may have been waiting this entire time for a way in, and Angela is either still possessed or will be again. Maybe the greatest deception is that neither girl was saved. Katharine is in Hell, but Angela is still a demon, just a much craftier one who looks and sounds like a regular girl.

I’ll admit that a twisted part of myself wants a demon cage match. There was a part of me that loved Freddie versus Jason. That ridiculous money grab was campy and absurd but a ton of fun. I fear that the rest of The Exorcist: Believer trilogy will be far too earnest to lean into the entertainment factor. However, if they wanted to completely change things, they could allow us a rumble from down under to never forget. That would be fun to watch! Take a page from the incredibly scary and entertaining The Exorcism Of God. That film manages to be both cheeky and terrifying.

I’m ready for something truly unique. Why do the demons only ever possess females? Is it because we play too much light as a feather during sleeping parties? Is it somehow more sad to watch young girls than young boys be possessed? Please give me a twist. I don’t see coming or accept that you are capitalists. Produce something good enough to stream and avoid a theatric release. Likely, Blumhouse will make the rest of the trilogy and release at least the next one in theaters, all while hoping most of us aren’t smart enough to stay away.

The deal at the end of The Exorcist: The Believer would always end as it did. There were too many early clues that Katharine was a goner. Angela and her father were the central story. They had all the backstory, while poor Katharine and her folks got no screen time. Did any of us think Katharine would come back with an upside-down cross carved into her forehead? Please give me more creepiness and nihilism and fewer life lessons in the future. The Exorcist: The Believer is currently streaming on Peacock