‘Exorcist’: Alfonso Herrera & Ben Daniels To Star In Fox Drama Pilot

Alfonso Herrera (Sense8, The Chosen) and Ben Daniels (House of Cards) are set to topline The Exorcist, Fox’s drama pilot inspired by William Blatty’s 1971 book.

The Exorcist, penned by feature writer Jeremy Slater (Fantastic Four), is described as a modern reinvention of the book, previously adapted into William Friedkin’s classic horror movie. It is a propulsive, serialized psychological thriller following two very different men — Father Tomas Ortega (Herrera) and Father Marcus Lang (Daniels) — tackling one family’s case of horrifying demonic possession and confronting the face of true evil.

Herrera’s Father Tomas is the warm, selfless and compassionate leader of a small but hearty little church. Daniels’ Father Marcus is the intense holy warrior carrying out an occupation that the church no longer acknowledges in public.

Slater, who wrote the script, executive produces alongside James Robinson, David Robinson and Barbara Wall for 20th Century Fox TV and Morgan Creek Prods.

Mexican actor/singer Herrera got the attention of Fox and 20th TV casting executives last year when he was cast as the male lead in their pilot Urban Cowboy. He made his American acting debut with a recurring role on the Netflix drama series Sense8. Herrera is well established in Latin America where he is a telenovela star and has done a slew of popular TV series in movies in his native Mexico, including hit telenovela Rebelde and high-grossing feature The Perfect Dictatorship. He is repped by Gersh, manager Fabiola Pena and Bloom Hergott.

English actor Daniels recurred on Netflix’s House of Cards and recently co-starred on the Starz limited series Flesh and Bone. He is repped by Gersh and Hamilton Hodell.