Last Rites Director Confirms The Conjuring Universe Has Ended

Ed and Lorraine Warren have closed their last case. No, not just the real-world Warrens, the hucksters whose work ended with Ed’s death in 2006. Rather, the much-more lovable fictional Warrens played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga in The Conjuring. Ever since that 2013 movie directed by James Wan, The Conjuring launched a surprising franchise, spanning nine films, including Annabelle and The Nun. But after 12 years, the spirits of The Conjuring universe have been put to rest.

“It is done,” director Michael Chaves told ComicBook. He referred not just to his latest film, the fourth mainline entry The Conjuring: Last Rites, but all of the spinoffs as well. “This is the final chapter… that’s why we called it Last Rites,” he said. “It’s the last one. There’s no other Conjuring movies. It is absolutely the end.”

There’s no question that The Conjuring franchise should end, at least without original director James Wan at the helm. Between Saw, Insidious, Malignant, and The Conjuring, Wan has established himself as a master at making B-material vibrant and exciting. The original film and its first sequel feel like ’70s satanic panic films, properly unsettling in a way that 2010s horror films rarely were.

But without Wan at the helm, The Conjuring films offer too few charms and leans into the problems of the Warrens themselves. Wilson and Farmiga remain compelling screen presences, and the films generally have strong supporting performances, but their faith becomes sanctimonious and their conservative politics overbearing without proper scares the balance them.

The same is true of the franchise’s spinoffs. The Nun has a fun gothic feel and a great Demián Bichir performance, and David F. Sandberg puts enough audacious thrills into Annabelle: Creation to make it pop. But none of the non-Conjuring movies reach the levels of the Wan entries, and too often become preachy slogs.

Still, despite what Chaves says, it’s hard to believe that the franchise is done for good. Annabelle has become a proper horror icon, a killer doll to rival Talky Tina from The Twilight Zone or even Chucky, and horror icons are never gone for good. We already know that she’ll be crossing over into the world of Batman and Superman for the comic book series DC KO.

It’s only a matter of time before Annabelle invites viewers to play with her again. And where Annabelle is, the Warrens are sure to follow. Let’s just hope it’s the good, fake Warrens and not the awful real Warrens.