The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It Director Confirms He Cut a New Demon Out of the Film Entirely

Both The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2 introduced audiences to unsettling entities that would go on to earn their own spin-off films, with The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It director Michael Chaves recently confirming that he originally had a demon in his film that would have gotten their own potential spinoff, but the figure was ultimately cut from the film entirely. The director admitted that the film felt too complicated to include the demon, resulting in it being scrapped from the theatrical release. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is in theaters and on HBO Max now.

“We actually did have what we thought was going to be the new [spin-off] demon, and this is something that was true to the story,” Chaves confirmed with /Film. “We had a demon that was full-on pulled from little David’s interview and description. Arne said he saw the same thing. And it felt like this was going to be the iconic demon. And [producer James Wan] was with this from the very beginning – James, Monster Maestro. And we shot it. We had a cut of the film with this demon in it. The demon worked with Occultist [Eugenie Bondurant]. It was the two of them together.”

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It reveals a chilling story of terror, murder, and unknown evil that shocked even experienced real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. One of the most sensational cases from their files, it starts with a fight for the soul of a young boy, then takes them beyond anything they’d ever seen before, to mark the first time in U.S. history that a murder suspect would claim demonic possession as a defense.

While there are surely supernatural forces in the new film, there are also mortal foils in the adventure, with Chaves detailing how this was fresh territory for the series.

“We’re introducing a human adversary, which was the first time that’s ever happened in the Conjuring Universe,” Chaves pointed out. “So all of a sudden, [the] relationship [between the Occultist and the demon] seemed a little hinky.”

The Conjuring introduced audiences to the creepy Annabelle doll, who has gotten three spin-off films, while The Conjuring 2 introduced the Nun, who got an adventure in 2017. Chaves went on to point out how the franchise has often experimented with frightening figures, with the Nun not originally appearing in that sequel.

“The same thing happened in The Conjuring 2. The Nun was actually totally created in reshoots,” Chaves detailed. “The Nun didn’t exist before. There was another demon in [Conjuring 2] that the Nun replaced. And so we were in a similar situation where we had this story, [and] it was getting a little too complicated. The demon just wasn’t quite connecting.”

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is in theaters and on HBO Max now.

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