It’s John Cho and The Island of the Damned for THE EXORCIST Season Two
[Featured image courtesy Kent Smith/FOX]
What a difference 48 hours can make. Just two days after I theorized The Exorcist‘s second season might center around wealthy Maria Walters and Police Superintendent Jaffey leading a demonic plot in Chicago, FOX proved me … totally wrong!
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Oh, well. One of the hazards of playing the guessing game is being proven totally wrong. At least we have another season to speculate about. So let’s see what breadcrumbs the FOX press release sets out for us.
“Season Two of The Exorcist finds Father Tomas Ortega (Alfonso Herrera) and a newly collarless Marcus Keane (Ben Daniels) out of Chicago and on the road, searching out evil.”
Interesting. I wonder if Fr. Tomas and Marcus will run into the Winchester boys from Supernatural, who also happen to be “on the road, searching out evil.” It sounds like Marcus Keane wasn’t excommunicated last season, just removed from the priesthood. Will “newly collarless” Marcus act as Bad Cop Exorcist, in contrast to by-the-book Fr. Tomas?
“Across the Atlantic, Father Bennett (Kurt Egyiawan) attempts to weed out those within the Vatican who have turned against God.”
Yay! Father Bennett, Ninja Action Priest, returns! While I hope Fr. Bennett’s storyline brings him back to the US of A at some point, seeing him matching wits against some servants of the Friars of Ascension (or whatever evil threatening Pope Sebastian) will be a treat.
“Ultimately, Tomas and Marcus are led to Andrew Kim (John Cho), a former child psychologist who runs a group home for five at-risk foster children on a secluded private island off the coast of Seattle.”
And THAT is the biggest news for the upcoming season so far. John Cho takes a break from big screen franchises (Harold and Kumar and Star Trek) to return to network television (Cho’s villainous cop Andy Brooks came to a bad end in the first season of Sleepy Hollow). Will Cho’s character be another Brother Simon (Francis Guinan), working tirelessly to bring more demons into our world? Considering the hidden depths Angela Rance revealed last season, I very much doubt that Andrew Kim is “only” a former mental health professional.
The location – an isolated island home for troubled children – brings up a host of similar settings. Wonder if this is more like Samara’s Puget Sound resting place in The Ring (2002), or a Clockworks Psychiatric Hospital (from the shot-in-Vancouver FX show Legion) setup.
“When one of the children under Andrew’s care is targeted by a powerful force, the two priests head west, setting themselves on a collision course with Hell.”
Um, sorry to be nitpicking here – but is Marcus Keane still a priest or not? First he’s described as “newly collarless” (aka no longer a priest), then a few sentences later Marcus is one of “two priests.” A minor point, to be sure. But from a storytelling perspective, Marcus Keane NOT being a priest anymore would be the more interesting option.
Here’s hoping that the “powerful force” targeting one of Kim’s wards is somehow connected to the Friars of Ascension. Here’s double hoping that Fr. Bennett’s Vatican storyline leads him to join Tomas and Marcus by the end of the new season.
Season Two of The Exorcist on FOX will premiere September 29 at 9/8C. SciFi4Me/Horror4Me coverage of The Exorcist, including recap reviews for all Season One episodes, can be found here.
