The Conjuring 2: James Wan reveals demon that was replaced by The Nun

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

The evil nun featured in director James Wan's THE CONJURING 2 (watch it HERE) went over so well with audiences that the character got her own spin-off called, appropriately, THE NUN (watch that one HERE). But Wan didn't originally intend to have the nun in THE CONJURING 2. She was added in reshoots, put in to replace a large, horned demon that Wan decided was "too out of left field" for the film.

Wan took to social media to share several images of the demon that was dropped from THE CONJURING 2, including shots of the creature on set and concept art by Aaron Sims. The director also revealed that the design of the demon was inspired by the way Dracula was meant to look in the CASTLEVANIA movie he was attached to direct several years ago.

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONJURING 2 is one of my personal fav. I focused on character-storytelling above anything else. Here’s my first design of the demonic entity haunting the family and Lorraine. Aaron Sims (concept designer) and myself took inspiration from our Dracula design for a movie I was attached to a long time ago called Castlevania. @justin.raleigh/Fractured FX built an awesome animatronic suit, and we were going to augment it with CGI wings. But alas, during editing, I deemed this beautifully designed/sculpted horned demon too out of left-field for the film. It needed to be more grounded and personal — something that would take Lorraine’s faith and try to test/corrupt it. I remember the real-life Lorraine Warren talking about her love and reverence for her nun friends, and a lightbulb went off — thus… the Demon Nun was born. So we went back and replaced all the Horned Demon with the Nun during additional photography. I call the last image “Beauty and the Beast”. #Halloweenretrospect

A post shared by James Wan (@creepypuppet) on Oct 21, 2020 at 3:28pm PDT

The demon looks really cool, but I agree with Wan's decision not to include it in THE CONJURING 2.

Written by Wan, Chad and Carey Hayes, and David Leslie Johnson, THE CONJURING 2 stars Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. The story follows their attempts to 

to help single mom Peggy Hodgson and her four children, particularly daughter Janet.

Wilson and Farmiga were joined in the cast by Madison Wolfe, Frances O'Connor, Patrick McAuley, Benjamin Haigh, Lauren Esposito, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Simon Delaney, Simon McBurney, and Franka Potente.