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But Reagan hugs him at the end seemingly to mean she is thanking the church for getting rid of the demon.
I think you are right that Kinderman probably looked into Dyer because he was there that one night but he also mentioned he believed a powerful man had killed Dennings, and Dyer is certainly not that and is not going to overpower Dennings and turn his head around in a ritualistic black mass. Dyer was just a little effeminate, some men used to be that way before people started believing anyone exhibiting features typically attributed to the opposite sex were born into the wrong body.
Yes, Regan hugs him. But she thought him to be someone else , Karras I suppose. She looks at his collar thing, and we see a (rather alarming) shot of Dyer without his head. She kind of remembers a priest, but not that priest. Then she hugs and kisses him and you can see her confusion.
As for the 'powerful man' well, Regan was just a girl but she owerpowered several adults while possessed. Kinderman didn't know about this kind of thing.
Also I noticed this. Father Dyer waving good bye at the end:
https://pasteboard.co/XreLCFE5aEcI.png
Well, Reagan and Dyer at that moment is up to interpretation I suppose but to me it just seemed like she noticed he was a priest, and it was her way of saying thank you.
Kinderman said he was looking for a powerful man and that is why I think he wouldn't have considered Dyer to be a suspect.
The picture of Dyer at the end could symbolize something, we'd really need to see his other hand to know if he is posing like the demon or the devil. Otherwise it's just how someone waves goodbye.
I don't think there is much to go on with the Dyer possession theory, the film is directly adapted from the novel and there is nothing on it in there either. It might have made an interesting sequel idea instead of the retarded way they went, they could have built on that creepy last moment between Karras and Dyer, having the demon start trying to pry its way into the priests life after he gave his friend the last rites.
Thanks for the reply!
Again, Kinderman didn't know that you are capable of doing things beyond your strength when you are possessed. And he didn't know (in this theory) if Dyer was gay or not. Had he known those two things, maybe he would have watched Dyer more closely.
The film is directly adapted from the novel', yes, but it is still an adaptation, and not a mere transcription. In this theory, the Dyer thing would be more Friedkin -'Boys in the Band', 'Cruising'- than Blatty.
As for the sequel idea, I don't know if you have seen Oz Perkins' Blackcoat's Daughter but this is how it begins (vs the exorcist's ending):
https://pasteboard.co/yxVNtSN3r9fL.png
Not a real sequel, since it doesn't happen in that universe, but it comes close in some aspects. Regan is 12; the girl in Perkins' movie is 14.