‘The Crooked Man’ Spinoff is No Longer Happening, Per James Wan

The Conjuring Universe continues to grow with The Nun 2 and The Conjuring 4 on the way, but there’s one character no longer getting the spinoff treatment: The Crooked Man.

Director James Wan took to Instagram recently to share throwback photos of his scene-stealing The Conjuring 2 character, played by Javier Botet. The behind-the-scenes images give a closer look at Botet in character and the vibrant red hues of his pinstripe suit. 

Wan got ahead of the inevitable question with the news that the long-awaited spinoff for this character isn’t happening, at least for the foreseeable future. Wan wrote in his post, “And no, unfortunately, the spinoff movie with this character isn’t happening. Outside of my control. But maybe one day.”

The post came with the reminder that The Crooked Man was all Botet and camera tricks, “I filmed him in slowmo and reverse playback — all old-school camera trickery.”

The Crooked Man sprung to life from a zoetrope and tormented the Hodgson family in The Conjuring 2. The character’s striking silhouette and nightmarish twist to children’s rhymes made it an easy standout for spinoff material. 

The horror filmmaker had previously shared his plans for The Crooked Man spinoff ahead of The Conjuring 3, stating, “We think we have a really exciting story,” Wan told the site. “What we want to do, with The Conjuring universe, is we want each of our little offshoots to have a very different flavor, right? So, for example, Annabelle is the classic sort-of haunted doll subgenre. And with The Crooked Man, I would love to push it more down somewhat of that dark fairytale, and more whimsical, subgenre. I love the idea that, within the Conjuring universe, each of our little movies all have their own flavor, so that way they don’t feel like they’re the same films.”

While we may no longer get a spinoff for The Crooked Man, we can expect to see Valak next year when The Nun 2 is slated to hit theaters on September 8, 2023.