Demian Bichir Will Don a Cowl for ‘Conjuring’ Spinoff ‘The Nun’

The Conjuring’s fictionalized paranormal investigator couple have a room in their house that’s like Princess Ariel’s secret trove in The Little Mermaid, except theirs is full of items that are probably haunted and definitely want to do you harm. After Annabelle, the latest spinoff to come out of the Conjurverse is The Nun, based on the demon who takes the shape of a nun in The Conjuring 2, and The Hateful Eight’s Demian Bichir has just been cast.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, fresh off of Alien: Covenant, Bichir is taking on The Nun, which will see him play a priest named Father Burke who is sent by Rome to investigate a nun’s mysterious death. In The Conjuring 2, Ed and Lorraine Warren save a family beset by a demon, which takes the shape of a nun in what is possibly the creepiest painting ever made. Only by learning the demon’s name, Valak, is Lorraine able to defeat it. The plot of The Nun is being kept under the habit for now, but it probably has something to do with the nun whose shape the demon ends up taking, and why.

The demonic nun was actually added to The Conjuring 2 pretty late in the game during reshoots, and replaced the original demon that James Wan had had in the screenplay at first. But she’s she’s scary as, well, hell, and is obviously popular enough with the fans that she’s getting her own movie.

The Nun, which hits theaters July 13, 2018, starts shooting in Romania (naturally) this summer.