Warning for spoilers for Obsession lie ahead.
The internet is still picking through the hit new horror movie Obsession like a cursed junk drawer, and writer/director Curry Barker apparently has no interest in letting us calm down. Between the One Wish Willow, the ending’s lingering questions, like what happened to Nikki after the credits rolled, and the sheer amount of Bear discourse still rotting everyone’s timeline, the 2026 movie release already felt tailor made for fan theories. Now, Barker has cracked open the door to something bigger: a shared universe of sorts, with the tease of a return of the One Wish Willow in his next flick.
Barker’s next movie, Anything But Ghosts, will not be a direct Obsession sequel or prequel, but it will continue the same cinematic universe. According to RUSSH, the new film is a comedy horror about two fake ghost hunters, played by Barker and his longtime creative partner Cooper Tomlinson, who con people with fake paranormal tricks until they run into a real dark entity. Curry shared with the outlet:
Well in my next movie, you will see a One Wish Willow. And – I should not be saying this – there's a news story in the next movie where you hear a news anchor talking about a triple homicide. Which doesn't really make sense because Cooper is in the movie, so it's like, is he Ian or is he?
I’m sorry, Curry. A triple homicide? That is the kind of casual tease that immediately sends every Obsession theory brain into emergency mode. Because, if Anything But Ghosts includes a One Wish Willow and a news report about a triple homicide, then it is pretty hard not to start looking back at Nikki, Ian, Sarah and Bear and wondering how literally we are supposed to take this connection.
The especially twisty part is Tomlinson. He played Ian in Curry Barker’s critically-acclaimed debut, but Barker says Cooper is in the next movie too, which raises the obvious question: Is he playing Ian again, or is this one of those looser shared-universe situations where actors can pop up as totally different people? Barker’s own “is he Ian or is he?” tease makes it sound like he knows exactly how much chaos he just released into the room.
And then there’s Nikki. If you’ll recall, we see Ian and Sarah die at Nikki’s hands while she’s under the control of the One Wish Willow, before Bear takes himself out and breaks the curse over her. So are all those deaths being pinned on our girl? Didn’t she suffer enough, already?
Barker’s admission seemed to catch Obsession cast members Inde Navarrette and Michael Johnston off guard, with Navarrette reacting with the question I imagine plenty of fans are asking now:
Is Nikki going to jail?
That is such a perfect reaction because, honestly, what would the official story even be after Obsession? If the world doesn’t know about the One Wish Willow, someone still has to explain the bodies.
But come on, Nikki better not end up behind bars. She was already trapped in her own kind of prison, stuck under Bear’s wish and forced into a nightmare she didn’t choose. As far as I’m concerned, she gets away with it. That’s my head canon, and I’m clinging to it like plastic wrap.
Unless Curry Barker wants to set a horror movie inside a women’s prison and give us Inde Navarrette going full Andy Dufresne. In that case, fine. I’d watch that immediately. Honestly, any excuse for more Navarrette is where I’m at, because her performance in Obsession is sure to be considered one of the greatest scream queens performances of all time. I said it.
Sure, I’m spiraling. The One Wish Willow is back, there may be a triple homicide, Nikki might have legal problems, and Ian may or may not be Ian. Barker’s horror universe just got bigger, and I suddenly need a corkboard, red string and possibly a lawyer. For now, though, I’ll have to wait until Anything But Ghosts hits theaters and finally reveals what fresh curse-nonsense is going on.
Obsession, which undoubtedly will go down as one of the the best horror movies of the year, is still playing in the theaters, so be sure to check your local listings for showtimes.
