The Conjuring Universe Director Debunks Official Connections for One Spinoff

In the wake of the release of The Conjuring in 2013, some of the more iconic figures earned spinoffs with projects like Annabelle and The Nun, but when The Curse of La Llorona landed in theaters in 2019, it featured an appearance by the creepy Annabelle doll, seemingly confirming the project was secretly part of that franchise. However, director Michael Chaves has more explicitly explained why the movie isn't technically part of that franchise, and it all comes down to the lack of involvement from producer Peter Safran. Chaves would go on to helm The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.

"There's so much debate about it and I think I've played coy in the past," Chaves revealed to Entertainment Weekly. "The idea was that [the Annabelle cameo] was going to be this little hidden thing that you were going to discover as you watch the movie. One of the reasons that it couldn't formally be a part of the Conjuring universe is it didn't include one of the key producers, which is Peter Safran. The Conjuring is his baby, him and James, and they are still the two core producers on it."

Adding more confusion to the situation was that, at the film's world premiere, it was accidentally introduced as being part of the beloved franchise.

"The funny thing is that it was supposed to be a secret, it was supposed to be this Easter egg, and [when the film premiered at] SXSW, there was a slip-up," Chaves confessed. "The presenter introduced the movie as the next entry in the Conjuring universe. So that was a big kind of faux pas. It was a big mess-up, and that's the truth of how that all came together."

Luckily, there weren't heavy mythological connections between the projects, with La Llorona merely featuring a scene in which Tony Amendola as Father Perez appears with the doll. Not only did Chaves shoot down the connections, but Safran himself addressed the distinction between the properties.

"You can't count it!" Safran joked about the film being part of the franchise. "It periodically gets lumped in because of Chaves and because of Atomic Monster, but it is not officially part of the universe. By the way, I think Chaves did a great job on the movie, which is why we stole him for the Conjuring universe."

Stay tuned for details on the future of The Conjuring universe.

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