The 2013 horror film The Conjuring successfully launched its own shared universe of horror films. This includes the movie Annabelle, which launched its own set of continuations, and The Nun – which currently has a sequel in production. It was also announced that a spin-off featuring The Crooked Man, a character introduced in The Conjuring 2, would be produced. Sadly, however, it’s been revealed by James Wan himself that The Crooked Man is canceled.
This was shared by James Wan in a post on Instagram. He took the opportunity to demonstrate a few photos of Javier Botet in costume as the creepy character. While explaining that his “movement was almost supernatural,” with some people having “knocked the character for being CGI,” it turns out that he was filmed “in slowmo and reverse playback — all old-school camera trickery.” At this point, however, he gives the sad news about The Crooked Man.
“And, no, unfortunately,” James Wan begins. “The spin-off movie with this character isn’t happening. Outside of my control.”
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He does note, however, that “maybe one day” the project could happen. For now, though, it doesn’t look like there’s going to be any movement on that front. It’s definitely a disappointing bit of news for fans that have been waiting years for the film to happen. Of course, it sounds as though James Wan is equally disappointed, with the fan-favorite filmmaker explaining that the decision was outside of his own control.
With that said, the franchise is still moving forward. The Nun 2 is currently in production, as mentioned above, and The Conjuring 4 has also entered development. So who knows? Perhaps if these new Conjuring films are successful enough, it could renew interest in bringing Javier Botet back for another run as The Crooked Man. It’d certainly be great to see an expanded look at the character outside his short appearance in The Conjuring 2. So stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional Conjuring updates as we have them.