The Conjuring 4: James Wan Teases Bad News for Future of the Franchise

Even though The Conjuring Universe is the highest-grossing horror franchise to ever hit theaters, the writing may be on the wall for New Line's demonic stalwart. While on the press tour for M3GAN, the latest horror flick produced by James Wan and his Atomic Monster production house, it was revealed The Conjuring 4 may be the final film featuring Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as Ed and Lorraine Warren.

"Yeah, we are working on it right now. With the Conjuring films, we are very precious about [them]," Wan told Collider in a recent chat. "And so we kind of want to just take our time to make sure we get it right and to make sure the emotion of the Warren stories that we want to tell, and moving into, and potentially wrapping up, we just want to make sure that it's the right thing, the right story that we're telling."

Eight films currently reside in the franchise, including three The Conjuring films and three featuring the possessed doll Annabelle. Two standalone horror films flesh the world out further in The Nun and The Curse of La Llorona. Now that a spinoff featuring The Crooked Man from The Conjuring 2 has officially been cancelled, only a direct sequel to The Nun and The Conjuring 4 remain in development.

Both Wan and his longtime producing partner Peter Safran have had their hand in developing every film in the franchise, including The Nun 2 and The Conjuring 4. Now that Safran has found himself in a new role alongside James Gunn at DC Studios, combined with the fact Wan's Atomic Monster is in the middle of a merger with Jason Blum's Blumhouse banner to create a horror juggernaut, it's evident the franchise has fallen to the back burner for the biggest players involved.

"I have so many ideas – so many ideas – more than I can handle by myself...It really allows me a bigger canvas to paint on, if you will," Wan said of the merger. "Universal is very supportive of filmmakers and brilliant at marketing. To have partners that trust you, that believe in you, that goes a long way."

Most of The Conjuring franchise can be found streaming on HBO Max.