The series premiere of The Exorcist on Fox ended with a big twist that I didn’t see coming—and neither did show stars Hannah Kasulka, Brianne Howey or Alfonso Herrera.
[Spoiler warning: Stop if you haven’t caught up!]
I chatted with the actors on the Chicago set of the thriller, which hinted in its opener last week that the older Rance daughter, Kat (played by Howey), was the one an evil entity chose to possess. It wasn’t until late in the episode we, and Herrera’s Father Tomas, discover that youngest daughter Casey—Kasulka’s character—is the victim.
“Casey is like an empath I think. She’s just so burdened by everyone’s problems,” Kasulka said, explaining how the demon was able to possess sweet Casey. “It just became too much. Her spirit was broken a little bit.”
Howey didn’t get to play possessed, but she laughed when I asked if that upset her. “No, I’m OK,” she said.
Kasulka and Howey hint that the evil isn’t finished with the Rance family—or Chicago—any time soon.
“The evil is not going to go down without a fight,” Kasulka said, teasing that “we get into in the second episode. The audience isn’t going to have to wait.”
That second episode airs at 9/8c Sept. 30 on Fox. In “Chapter Two: Lupus in Fabula,” Bishop Egan (Brad Armacost) denies Father Tomas (Herrera) permission to perform the exorcism on Casey. Father Marcus (Ben Daniels) breaks out of Saint Aquinas and joins forces with Tomas. The Rance family’s relationship with the demon deepens. When Marcus catches Angela (Geena Davis) stealing holy water, he instructs her on how to use it. On Chicago’s South Side, a series of bizarre ritual killings begin taking place.
The evil targets more than just the Rance family, Herrera said. His dreams warn Father Tomas of the demonic presence.
“Even though those signals are not very clear, he understands that that is a call that he has to go into battle not just with that entity but with himself,” Herrera said.
Watch my interviews with the cast here and at my YouTube pages.