Though the latest movie was once intended to be the end of his tenure in the franchise, Patrick Wilson is open for more Ed Warren stories in The Conjuring Universe. The Emmy and Golden Globe nominee has co-led the mainline series of films in the horror franchise alongside Vera Farmiga as Lorraine Warren, a real couple of paranormal investigators, with the films exploring some of their cases.
After three mainline films and five spinoffs, the franchise came back with The Conjuring: Last Rites, which was touted as the finale for the Warrens as they investigated the Pennsylvania family of the Smurls as they found themselves tormented by a demonic entity, their final case. While failing to match the critical success of early installments, the movie did go on to become the highest-grossing installment of the franchise, grossing just shy of $500 million worldwide.
Now, in an interview with ScreenRant‘s Ash Crossan for the Netflix drama Jay Kelly, Wilson was asked about his potential future in The Conjuring Universe after Last Rites. The star laughed as he acknowledges having learned about the upcoming prequel movie focused on Ed and Lorraine’s early cases in the news “just like you guys,” having been in the dark on the plans to expand the franchise.
He then went on to confirm he still doesn’t know whether there are plans to bring him or Farmiga back as Ed and Lorraine, expressing that “I have to take it as it is” and calling Last Rites “the end of this chapter.” However, he’s not entirely ruling out the possibility of his return:
I adore Vera. We’re super close. And Ed Warren lived into his seventies. I think there’s more story somewhere. But this is the end of this chapter. We’re told that. I’m not being coy — that’s literally what we’ve been told. And that’s fine. It’s all good. We had a great run. What lies ahead? No idea.
Much to Wilson’s point of how long Ed Warren lived, there are roughly 20 years between the events of The Conjuring: Last Rites and his death. The movie’s marketing of the Smurl case being the Warrens’ last isn’t entirely inaccurate, therefore making any future stories regarding the pair likely to be about one of the six books they wrote, or handful of books they were featured in and consulted on.
However, as evidenced by both the upcoming Conjuring prequel film and the various spinoffs, the franchise has rarely ever taken a linear approach to its timeline. In particular, Annabelle Comes Home shifted events back to the beginning of the original movie, and subsequently to just after it, all with Farmiga and Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine.
One of the other major possibilities for Wilson and Farmiga to return in the franchise’s future is the in-development Conjuring series at HBO Max. After years of silence, the project started gaining ground in September with Nancy Won being brought on as showrunner. Plot details still remain unknown for the show, though shifting to a televised format for the Warrens could help to further close some of the timeline gaps for Farmiga and Wilson’s iterations of the paranormal investigator couple.
8 The Conjuring Movies That Can Still Happen After Last Rites
Phase one of The Conjuring has come to an end with Last Rites, but there are still plenty of opportunities for more stories in this world.
Though Wilson himself may not yet know what’s to come for him, it does seem hard to believe he and Farmiga wouldn’t return in some capacity in The Conjuring Universe. So much of the horror franchise revolves around the Warrens and their cases, even the spinoffs to some degree, and while the prequel is sure to launch further stories if successful, the fact that Last Rites set a new box office record for the series proves audiences will always be keen to watch the original pair.
- Cast
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Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Ron Livingston, Lili Taylor, Joey King, Mackenzie Foy, Madison Wolfe, John Noble, Ruairi O’Connor, Ward Horton, Annabelle Wallis, Alfre Woodard, Tony Amendola, Anthony LaPaglia, Miranda Otto, Brad Greenquist, Lulu Wilson, Talitha Bateman, Grace Caroline Currey, Mckenna Grace, Taissa Farmiga, Bonnie Aarons, Demián Bichir, Jonas Bloquet
- Movie(s)
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The Conjuring, The Conjuring 2, The Conjuring 3, Annabelle, Annabelle: Creation, Annabelle Comes Home, The Nun, The Nun II
The Conjuring is a multi-film franchise that started in 2013 with James Wan’s The Conjuring. Since then, it has expanded with spinoffs like Annabelle, The Nun, and sequels to the original film. Due to the popularity of the movies, The Conjuring has become one of the most profitable franchises in Warner Bros.’ portfolio.
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