Obsession director reveals he originally shot a completely different ending for Nikki and Bear
16 June 2026, 12:30 | Updated: 16 June 2026, 12:32
What happens to Nikki and Bear in the original Obsession ending and why did Curry Barker change it?
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Obsession director Curry Barker has confirmed that he originally shot a different ending for Nikki and Bear in the film.
There's no denying that Obsession is one of the biggest movies of 2026 so far. The new horror phenomenon explores what happens when music store staff member Bear (Michael Johnston) uses a One Wish Willow supernatural toy to make his friend Nikki (Inde Navarette) fall in love with him without her consent. The results are terrifying.
Like many great horror films, Obsession has a chilling ending that's left people speechless as they've left the cinema. However, the original ending in the script was different and now Curry Barker has explained what was supposed to happen to Nikki and Bear and why he scrapped it in favour of the final cut of the movie.
How does Obsession end? - WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW
What happens to Nikki at the end of Obsession?
At the end of Obsession, the curse that Bear put on Nikki goes out of control to the point where she brutally kills their friends Sarah and Ian. Unable to live with his actions, Bear decides to overdose before chickening out. However, just as he tries to throw up the pills he's taken, Nikki uses a One Wish Willow to make Bear fall in love with her.
An entranced Bear then goes to be with Nikki and they gaze into each other's eyes. However, as Bear never threw up the pills he took, he then starts choking and dies in Nikki's arms. Nikki picks up a gun to kill herself but, just before she does, the curse breaks. The credits then roll with Nikki screaming in terror until the film ends.
How was Obsession supposed to end?
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Curry revealed that the original version of the Obsession script ended with Nikki shooting herself. Curry said: "I was really obsessed with this Romeo and Juliet ending, actually. We shot both; we shot this ending that you see in the movie, and we shot the ending where she ends it all."
In fact, they only did one take of the final ending: "We had shot a ton of different versions of the official ending, the one that's in the script, the one that I was excited about, and I was like: 'Okay, we'll do one ending where [Nikki] survives, but we'll just do one take of it, and then we'll move on."
Curry added: "It was a very technical shot, and so we only gave her one where she survives."
Why did Curry Barker change the Obsession ending?
Inde Navarrette's "performance was so good" as Nikki that Curry decided to use the alternate ending take.
Discussing it, Curry said: "You see her coming to this realisation that she's alive again, and she's looking around the room, and she looks so disturbed. I just remember my dad and multiple people around me being like, 'Dude, I think it's way more disturbing if she just survives this thing.' I was like, 'Ah, you're right.' And so we switched it."
He added: "I think she's experienced awful, awful things in there. I think she's pretty traumatised by what she saw, and she's traumatised by not having control of her body. That's why the Romeo and Juliet ending works for me, because she was taking control for the first time in a while."
Curry ended by teasing that he may release the other ending in future: "It would be cool to do a director's cut or whatever where we do the alternate ending. And I can make it 20 minutes longer."
What do you think? Did Curry choose the right ending?
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