Regan MacNeil

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Regan MacNeil as played by Linda Blair.

Regan MacNeil (born in April 6th, 1959) is a character from the 1971 horror novel The Exorcist, its 1973 horror film adaptation with the same name, and its sequel The Heretic. Regan is a 12-year-old girl and the daughter of actress Chris MacNeil Ellen Burstyn, who gets possessed by the demon Pazuzu (who is also seen in some screamers), making her unable to control her own actions. Regan is caught between her mother's gruelling working schedule and the fact that her parents are in the process of an acrimonious divorce (her father is in Europe and is not seen in the film), and she has an older brother named Jamie, who died at the age of three because of an infection. She is named for the character of the same name in William Shakespeare's King Lear.

She is described as shy, even diffident, and it is not within her nature to behave aggressively. She is devoted to her mother, making clay animals as gifts for her and leaving a rose at her place at the kitchen table each morning. Chris is determined to be a good mother, spending all her off days with her. Because she is an atheist, she does not teach Regan about religion, although Chris' secretary Sharon Spencer (Kitty Winn) teaches Regan about the general ideas of Christianity without Chris' approval.

Even though Chris knows Regan very well, it takes her some time to realise that Regan's bizarre changes are not neurological. As soon as she accepts the idea of possession, she consults Fr. Damien Karras (Jason Miller) and begs him to evaluate Regan for an exorcism. While Karras is initially sceptical, he slowly becomes convinced that she is indeed possessed by the ancient demon Pazuzu, and eventually calls for an exorcism.

Karras and Father Lankester Merrin (Max Von Sydow) perform an exorcism and succeed in exorcising Pazuzu, albeit at the cost of their own lives. Regan retains no memory of her possession. Shortly afterwards, Chris and Regan decide to move. On the day of the move, Father Dyer (William O'Malley) visits their home and, upon seeing his clerical collar, Regan embraces him, implying she has not totally lost her memory.

In the sequel Exorcist II: The Heretic, which takes place four years after the events in The Exorcist, Regan is 16 years old, living in New York City and undergoing psychiatric therapy, claiming to remember nothing about her plight in Washington, D.C., while her psychiatrist believes her memories are only buried or repressed. As the story progresses, Regan is revealed to have psychic healing powers (the reason why the demon attacked her previously).

For The Exorcist III, Carolco Pictures had the idea of a grown-up Regan who gives birth to possessed twins, but it was abandoned, and the story was switched to Blatty's novel Legion instead. John Carpenter was asked to direct The Exorcist III, but backed out when he realised William Peter Blatty really wanted to direct himself and because of creative differences.

Regan MacNeil appears in the television series The Exorcist. As an adult, she changed her name to Angela Rance to escape the demons, but they find her again and attack her family, possessing her younger daughter, Casey; she makes a deal with Pazuzu to allow him to possess her once again to save Casey's life. While possessing her, Pazuzu murders her mother, Chris. Regan, with the help of the priests Tomas Ortega and Marcus Keane, finds the strength to once again exorcise the demon from her body and soul, but he retaliates by breaking her back, rendering her paralysed but still alive.

In December 2020, a reboot of The Exorcist was announced to be in the works from Blumhouse Productions. In July 2021, a trilogy of direct sequels to the original film was confirmed to be in development. Ellen Burstyn was to reprise her role as Chris MacNeil, but Linda Blair wrote on Twitter that she had not been contacted to reprise her role of Regan MacNeil: "As of now, there have not been any discussions about me participating or reprising my role. I wish all those involved the best, and I appreciate the loyalty and passion the fans have for The Exorcist and my character." Blair would go on to reprise the role in The Exorcist: Believer.

Different pictures of Regan are commonly used as images for screamers, with some famous examples including The Maze and Shafou.com as possessed, and as Maze Game 3 appearing eyeless.

Linda Blair

Regan MacNeil's role was played by Linda Blair, an American actress.

Links

• "The Exorcist" film
• All screamers featuring Regan MacNeil

NOTE: The following link contains a screamer image!

• gallery.screamer.wiki/_images/e952b15fd5e14b51bb0d60424e7bf964

Languages

• This article is also available in French
• This article is also available in Russian

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