Inde Navarrette has met her match. The Obsession star visited Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood and came face to face with the performer roaming the park as Nikki, the character Navarrette plays in Curry Barker’s horror hit.
Focus Features shared the meeting in a two-photo Instagram carousel captioned “Nikki, meet Nikki.” The park’s Nikki wears the character’s full horror makeup, with fake blood streaked across her face, while Navarrette matches her pout for the camera, glasses on and a One Wish Churro in hand. In the second photo the act drops: the performer smiles with her eyes closed while Navarrette laughs and takes a bite of the churro.
The visit closes a loop that opened last month, when Halloween Horror Nights creative director John Murdy said Navarrette had an open invitation to play Nikki herself at the event, following a tradition of horror stars surprising guests in the park. She did not end up stepping into the role, but she found the roaming Nikki as a guest, which is its own kind of fulfillment. Nikki wanders the event rather than anchoring a haunted house, and guests who track her down can say the nightly password Murdy shares on social media to receive a One-Wish Willow keepsake, a nod to the film’s cursed wishing toy and the namesake of Navarrette’s churro.
UPDATE, Friday, Oct 30, 9:19 a.m.: Inde Navarrette HHN comments added.
Navarrette has since spoken up in support of Nikki’s place at the event. After some fans online questioned whether Horror Nights was casting Nikki as a villain, she told Entertainment Weekly‘s Awardist podcast she sees it differently: “I don’t think [Halloween] Horror Nights is portraying her as a villain. I think they’re wanting to have people experience a character that they’ve gotten to love,” an experience she called genuinely cool. She also explained that part of the reason she visited was to give the scare actors bringing Nikki to life a high-five, and she met two of the performers in a single night. “I am so proud of her and that she’s doing a great job,” she said of one of them.
Fans who miss Nikki at the park will not have to wait long to meet her at home: Obsession arrives on Netflix on November 17.