The Conjuring 4 Will Be Last in the Franchise, But There’s a Catch

Back in 2022, it was announced that The Conjuring 4 was in the works. The first two movies in the franchise were helmed by James Wan, and it was announced back then that Wan would be producing the project alongside Peter Safran. It was also revealed that David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, who co-wrote the third installment with Wan, would be penning the latest script. Now, The Hollywood Reporter has finally revealed the fourth film’s director: Michael Chaves. 

Chaves is no stranger to the franchise, having previously helmed The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It and The Nun II, which had a decent run at the box office in addition to getting better reviews than its predecessor. According to the report, Chaves is still in negotiations to direct the fourth The Conjuring, which is also rumored to be the last story in the mainline franchise that sees Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga playing Ed and Lorraine Warren, who are based on real-life paranormal investigators. While this might be the last film with “The Conjuring” in the title, the franchise is expected to continue with its spinoffs.

The Conjuring, Annabelle, The Conjuring 2, Annabelle: Creation, The Nun, The Curse of La Llorona, Annabelle Comes Home, and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, and The Nun II are all a part of the franchise. 

“You know, I have a tendency to want to go back and forth,” Wan previously explained of his filmography to Collider when speaking about his latest film, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. “So, whenever I make a smaller film, I wanna go and make a big film. Whenever I’m doing a big one, I’m like, ‘Oh, I wanna go and do a smaller film,’ and when I do my smaller films, it tends to be a horror film. So, you know, I feel like the itch for horror is potentially calling, but we’ll see.” 

Michael Chaves Talkes The Nun II:

“I think it’s easily the best film I’ve made yet,” Chaves told ComicBook.com last year when talking about The Nun II. “I think that you’re always trying to get better. You’re always trying to just push things and stretch different muscles. It was amazing shooting this in France. Just shooting in another country I think that added a whole other level to the film, just like the look and the texture.

“It’s funny. Before I did [movies], I shot all these commercials and I was so cocky. I was like, ‘I can do a movie. It’s like a whole bunch of commercials altogether!’” Chaves continued. “Then I do La Llorona and like it’s so much harder than you imagine. Then after that I’m like, ‘Okay, I can do Conjuring 3. I did one movie. This is going to be easy.’ Then you just learn all these new lessons. It’s just always a process. You think all the lessons would just immediately apply to the next movie, but there’s always new challenges. I think that that’s kind of what’s exciting and scary about it.”

Stay tuned for more updates about The Conjuring 4.