Bruce Almighty writers wanted Jim Carrey to play Satan in a sequel with zombie Jennifer Aniston

Hell hath no comedy like a news anchor (and former deity) scorned.

Bruce Almighty screenwriters Steve Koren and Mark O'Keefe recently revealed that they had a diabolically good idea for a sequel to the 2003 Jim Carrey movie which never came to fruition. Aptly titled Brucifer, the pitch flipped Almighty's premise on its head and featured Carrey's everyman character making a deal with the devil.

Koren and O'Keefe told Syfy Wire that they tried to convince Universal Pictures to greenlight the sequel in 2010 but to no avail, despite Carrey being down for the project. "It would have been another giant movie and I don't think they wanted to do it," Koren said. "It just didn't work out for some reason, but a lot of people loved it, including Jim."

The would-be sequel hinged on Bruce turning to the dark side after the death of his wife, Grace (Jennifer Aniston), whom he fell in love with in the first film.

Everett Collection Jim Carrey and Jennifer Aniston in 'Bruce Almighty'

"You tend to lose your faith when the world seems unfair, and that's what got him," Koren said. "It came from a serious place, but we were gonna write it in a very friendly way. We certainly didn't want to depress people. So I think that scared [the studio] a little bit, but to Jim's credit, he totally understood that we were going to make a big comedy and thought everybody would connect with it."

Bruce would then hilariously use his new Satanic side hustle to bring Grace back to life. The only caveat? Per Carrey's suggestion, Aniston's character would initially appear as a horrifically grotesque zombie.

"We had her come back as Jennifer Aniston," Koren recalled of the initial premise. "[Carrey] said, 'No, she has to look like a zombie first and then we'll make her beautiful again.' We thought that was brilliant."

O'Keefe explained that Bruce's character arc would've been based on the Book of Job in the Old Testament. "The world had not gone his way since he was God," he said. "Everything was great for a while; he was married and it all fell apart. He was once again questioning everything and then got a different way to solve things."

Brucifer might have also seen the return of one very familiar actor: O'Keefe said they planned to have either Carrey himself or Morgan Freeman — who famously played God in the original movie — return to portray Satan this time around. He added, "Totally different themes, of course, but the beats everyone enjoys."

The success of Bruce Almighty did spawn a 2007 spin-off, Evan Almighty, which saw Steve Carell engage in some biblical high jinks. But it sounds like it'll be a cold day in hell before Brucifer makes it to the screen.

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