At the end of Obsession, Nikki, played by 25-year-old Inde Navarrette, is alone in a house full of dead bodies when she suddenly snaps back to herself. Bear is dead. Sarah is dead. Ian is dead. And Nikki is holding a gun. She’s finally free from the wish, but the surrounding carnage, which she caused under the spell, causes her to scream in horror. How will she ever explain what just happened?
For horror fans, that ending was scarier than the entire film. It’s a conclusion that feels like a gut punch. Now, director Curry Barker has confirmed what happens to Nikki next. And somehow her life has gotten even worse.
How Obsession Gets To That Ending
In case you need a short recap: Bear, played by Michael Johnston, buys a supernatural toy called a One Wish Willow and wishes for his friend Nikki to love him more than anyone else in the world. The wish works, disastrously, of course. Nikki’s feelings aren’t romantic. They’re obsessive. She’ll kill to keep him by her side.
Why Barker Changed The Original Ending
Barker originally wrote a version where she dies too. “I wanted the ending to feel brutal. The original ending, she just ends it all,” Barker told MovieWeb. But, thankfully, the people around him all pushed back and argued that Navarrette’s improv ending where the character lives was “so much more gruesome, because you’re kind of like, ‘Now what?'”
Nikki’s Fate After The Credits, Confirmed By The Director
Speaking at a Q&A covered by Deadline, Barker has confirmed that his new film Anything But Ghosts will contain a small Easter egg about Obsession: a news anchor discussing “a triple homicide by a woman.” The woman they’re talking about is Nikki and the events around the ending of Obsession.
Everyone investing the crime and the general public would believe she killed all three people. She wouldn’t be able to explain it as a supernatural event. That wouldn’t hold up in court.
On top of that, Barker told Inverse that Ian’s dying wish for a billion dollars did actually come true. We saw the cash raining from the ceiling. And so, it’s more than likely that “the cops find the money and she goes to jail.” That adds theft charges to the murder cases.
What Inde Navarrette Thinks Happens To Nikki Next
Navarrette, speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, was pretty direct about where she thinks Nikki goes from there. “I think she starts a grieving process,” she said. “There’s jokes about her going to jail, because obviously, where else is she gonna go? She’s kind of done it all, and nobody believes that the wish is real.”
The Performance That Made It All Work
There’s no doubt that Navarrette is the star of Obsession, and she has a very deep understanding of Nikki. While the film stays in Bear’s perspective throughout, which means the audience never truly sees Nikki’s side or what’s happening internally in her heart and mind, Navarrette explored those details while preparing for the role.
There’s a moment mid-film where Bear hears Nikki, apparently asleep, beg him to kill her. Navarrette believes that is the real Nikki trying to break through the spell. “She’s begging to be killed, because she knows that a person that should protect her and love her, her friend that she has been kind to… he does everything that he’s doing,” Navarrette explained. “That scene in the film really shows how much damage she’s taking and how traumatizing this experience is for her.”
Where The Obsession Universe Goes From Here
Curry Barker said in May 2026 that he’s considering where the world goes from here, whether that’s a sequel to Obsession or an anthology television series where each episode follows a different character making a wish.
Anything But Ghosts, his next film starring Aaron Paul and Bryce Dallas Howard, is already shot and actually sits in the same universe, although its tone is actually closer to comedy than horror.
The Nikki reference in Anything But Ghosts is small (just a quick news flash). But it’s enough to confirm her fate. Whether she actually gets more story than that in a future film remains open.
For now, the ending of Obsession stands as one of the year’s most discussed finales, and Barker’s decision to let Nikki live is precisely what makes it brutal. She gets her life back, but it’s not the one she wanted.
RELATED: The Backrooms Ending Explained: That Final Scene Changes Everything
