The Newton Brothers will score The Exorcist: Martyrs, written and directed by Mike Flanagan. Film Music Reporter announced Andy Grush and Taylor Newton Stewart’s involvement on October 10. Universal has dated the theatrical release for March 12, 2027.
The appointment extends an established director-composer relationship. The pair have scored many of Flanagan’s films and series. Bringing that team into The Exorcist does not, however, tell us that the new score will continue the franchise’s earlier musical language. That distinction is the useful part of the news.
A working relationship enters an existing legacy
When a filmmaker takes on a major franchise, the production has to decide what continuity means. It might preserve a character, a visual rule, a narrative premise or a recognizable musical gesture. Hiring regular collaborators adds another kind of continuity: a process developed across previous projects.
Those two histories are not interchangeable. The Newton Brothers already understand Flanagan’s working language. That familiarity can help during spotting, early demos and feedback. It does not reveal how the score will engage with the musical memory attached to The Exorcist.
Flanagan has described the film as unlike the other entries. Variety also reports that it is not a sequel to 2023’s The Exorcist: Believer. The project can therefore seek a fresh dramatic route while still using a title and characters derived from William Peter Blatty’s work.
Trust still needs a new brief
A long collaboration creates shorthand. The director may need fewer temp references to describe a function. The composers may better anticipate how scenes will be recut, where silence matters and how notes are delivered. That can be valuable under post-production pressure.
Familiarity can also create habits. Returning collaborators still need to begin with the current film. Does suspense come from waiting or collision? Whose perspective owns a scene? Should the score connect the criminal investigation to the supernatural element, or keep them apart?
Those questions arise from the published premise, which follows a New York City detective drawn back into her past when a new killer emerges thirteen years after she stopped a satanic serial murderer. They are not descriptions of the music. No public detail about the Newton Brothers’ score has been announced.
Scoring a title that already carries sound
A famous franchise creates an invisible temp track. Even if the editor places no legacy cue against picture, filmmakers and audiences bring musical memory with them. The false choice would be to assume that the new score must either reproduce a known sign or erase the past entirely.
A composer can negotiate legacy in more precise ways. A reference might be reserved for one dramatic point. A score could share a textural relationship without quotation. It could also establish a new language and let the title carry the continuity by itself. There is currently no evidence that Martyrs has chosen any of those routes.
Recognition is not the same as dramatic purpose. A quotation may be right for a scene and properly cleared. It can also become a shortcut that explains the brand rather than supporting the characters.
What the appointment means for production
The announcement comes several months before release. It does not reveal the work schedule, prove that scoring has started or show whether picture is locked. It tells us only that musical responsibility has been assigned.
An early appointment can help coordinate score, music editing, sound design and visual effects. Horror makes that coordination especially important because those departments may share tension, impacts, texture and silence. A boundary discussed during spotting is cheaper and clearer than a conflict discovered at the final mix.
The Newton Brothers’ history with Flanagan may make that coordination faster. Their continuity is a memory of workflow, not simply a sonic signature waiting to be pasted onto another title.
Wait for the score before describing it
The announced cast includes Scarlett Johansson, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Diane Lane, Sasha Calle and Laurence Fishburne, among others. A trailer was presented at New York Comic Con. Those facts establish the scale and public positioning of the film. They do not establish a musical direction.
For now, the defensible conclusion is modest. Flanagan is entering The Exorcist with two trusted musical collaborators. The production is pairing a proven creative relationship with a franchise that still demands a new definition.
The score can be assessed when official excerpts, an album or the film itself makes it audible. Until then, claims about a return to the roots or a radical musical break would be writing on the composers’ behalf.