Late Night with the Devil Ending Explained: What Happens to Delroy?

This follows the broadcast of a Halloween special of a fictional 1970s American talk show, starring David Dastmalchian as the charismatic host Jack Delroy, who we learn suffered from declining ratings in the months preceding the broadcast.

Early on, we’re told that Delroy had recently lost his wife to lung cancer and regularly attended a California camp for the rich and powerful called The Grove – which appears to have some cult-like properties.

Regardless, in a desperate attempt to revive his show’s popularity, he books a series of occult-related guests for the Halloween special – which, unsurprisingly, has some pretty drastic consequences.

More like this

It all leads to a chilling conclusion that may leave some viewers a little perplexed – if that’s you, read on to explain the ending of Late Night with the Devil.

*WARNING: SPOILERS FOR LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL*

Late Night with the Devil Ending Explained: What Happens to Delroy?

Things begin to change when one of Delroy’s guests, a medium named Christou, performs a routine in which he claims to put audience members in contact with the dead.

Although his first attempts are unsuccessful and he appears to be some sort of hacker, he suddenly seems to be spectacularly affected – and genuinely shaken – by what appears to be a genuine premonition about someone named Minnie.

During the commercial break, Christou insists that he has to leave because he isn’t feeling well, but the show’s producer insists that he stays because the show is already seeing an increase in viewership due to this strange premonition.

After the break, Delroy welcomes his next guest, a former magician named Carmichael the Conjurer, who has now dedicated his life to debunking what he believes to be the pseudoscience of the occult.

He instantly begins criticizing Christou and calling him a charlatan, but Delroy defends the medium – claiming that the Minnie he had been referring to was actually a nickname for his late wife Madeleine.

Then things get really weird. Suddenly, Christou begins to spray a mysterious black liquid and is rushed to the hospital. Although Carmichael continues to claim that this is all a hoax, it’s clear that something very strange is going on.

This continues when Delroy brings in his next guests: parapsychologist author June Ross-Mitchell and the subject of her new book, a girl named Lilly.

We’re told that Lilly was the only person not to die in a mass suicide committed by a satanic church that worshiped the demonic entity Abraxas, and that she has the ability to ward him off at will.

Carmichael is once again extremely skeptical, but June and Lilly agree to perform a conjuring spell to dissuade his doubts. However, during the preceding commercial break, Delroy learns something very disturbing: Christou died on his way to the hospital.

Obsessed with maintaining audiences, Delroy continues the series anyway, despite advice to the contrary from his sidekick Gus, and the conjuring continues.

While possessed, Lilly claims that June and Jack are having an affair, and also says something about having previously met Jack “under the big trees”.

The conjuring seems very convincing, but Carmichael remains extremely doubtful – and to prove it, he performs hypnotism himself, in which grotesque worms explode from Gus’s chest.

He then proves by rewinding the images that the public alone thought they had seen this, and it was actually a hallucination, before he suggested that something similar had happened during Lilly and June’s conjuring.

Only, when they rewind that footage, it appears exactly as it was during the conjuring. In fact, not only that, but Delroy also notices that an apparition of Madeline has appeared directly behind him – which naturally freaks him out.

As Delroy and Carmichael begin to argue – the latter still believing the whole thing to be a hoax – Lilly suddenly becomes possessed again, much more violently this time. Her head splits open and she telepathically kills Gus, June and Carmichael while Delroy desperately tries to get out.

But instead, he finds himself transported to a nightmare-like world and sees himself reliving moments from his past. It also becomes clear that the demon possessing Lilly had previously met him at The Grove – where he made a deal with him to ensure the initial success of his chat show.

It was this deal that caused his wife to contract cancer, making him responsible for her death.

Still in the nightmare world, Delroy is visited by the spirit of Madeleine, who tells him to stab her so that she can escape from her pain and misery. Although initially hesitant, he agrees – only for the scene to suddenly cut back to the studio where we see that he has stabbed Lilly instead.

The film ends with Delroy surrounded by dead bodies and the sound of police sirens in the distance – suggesting that far from relaunching his show, Delroy will spend a lot of time behind bars..

Late Night with the Devil airs on Shudder starting Friday, April 19, 2024.

Check out more of our movie coverage or visit our TV guide and streaming guide to find out what’s on. To hear more about TV’s biggest stars, listen to The Radio Times podcast.