Regan MacNeil

Introduction
Regan Teresa MacNeil is a character from the novel The Exorcist and its film adaptations, portrayed by actress Linda Blair. In the 2014 BBC Radio 4 adaptation of the novel, she was played by Lydia Wilson. Regan is the daughter of famous actress Chris MacNeil, a shy, creative young girl who is taken by the demon Pazuzu and gradually assumes a strange, agressive and completelly different behaviour which worries and scares her mother, forcing Chris to consult an exorcist.

Regan became an icon of horror films and a primary influence for subsequent films depicting demonic possession. The character has being spoofed in many parodies (in one occasion by Linda Blair herself), such as the Scary Movie series.

Histroy
Regan MacNeil is an 11-year old girl and the daughter of actress Chris MacNeil. Regan is caught between her mother's grueling 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 movie).

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, but when Regan has questions about God, Chris tries to answer reassuringly.

Even though Chris knows Regan very well, it takes her some time to realize that Regan's bizarre changes are not neurological. As soon as she accepts the idea of possession, she consults Fr. Karras and begs him to evaluate Regan for an exorcism.

In the sequel Exorcist II: The Heretic, which takes place three years after the events in The Exorcist, Regan is 15 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).

Trivia

 * Regan is 11 in Exorcist, and 15 in Exorcist II: The Heretic.
 * Regan is portrayed by Linda Blair, and Lydia Wilson in 2014.