While already expected to be one of the darkest of the franchise, director Michael Chaves is addressing how The Nun II may connect to the in-development The Conjuring: The Last Rites. The upcoming sequel to the hit 2018 spinoff sees Sister Irene learning of Valak’s return at a French boarding school and races to discover how the demon is back and find a way to put a stop to its terror once and for all. Taissa Farmiga returns to lead The Nun II‘s cast alongside returning stars Jonas Bloquet and Bonnie Aarons in the eponymous role, as well as franchise newcomers Storm Reid, Anna Popplewell and Katelyn Rose Downey.
In anticipation of the movie’s release, Screen Rant spoke exclusively with Michael Chaves for The Nun II. When asked how the spinoff sequel might tie into the upcoming The Conjuring 4, the director largely kept his lips sealed on any direct connections, but did tease that there is “a lot of fun stuff” in the movie and inviting fans of the horror franchise to dive deeply into it. See what Chaves explained below:
No comment. I don’t know, you have to see the movie! I think that there is…because I wouldn’t want to give anything away if there was anything in there that could tease anything. I would love that as a fan. I would just encourage fans to discover if it existed in there, but I think that the movie is filled with… this is 10 years that The Conjuring universe has been around and there’s a lot of threads that lead to this moment and to this movie. I’m excited for people to discover it. I wouldn’t want to ruin it, but I think there’s a lot of fun stuff in there.
Editor’s Note: This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, and the movie covered here would not exist without the labor of the writers and actors in both unions.
The Conjuring Universe Still Has More Room To Expand
Set four years after its predecessor, and subsequently 15 years before the original The Conjuring, the Nun sequel marks an important and tricky new chapter for The Conjuring Universe. The 2018 spinoff seemingly brought the story full-circle by revealing Valak had latched itself on to Bloquet’s Frenchie to survive Sister Irene’s attempts to send it back to Hell, with Frenchie being the possessed figure who gave Vera Farmiga’s Lorraine Warren the premonition of Ed’s death during his exorcism.
The various images and trailers released for The Nun II thus far have confirmed Frenchie is still latched to Valak in some capacity, though also indicates the demon is spreading its influence to others at the boarding school. Given Valak was confirmed to have survived her previous encounter with Lorraine in Frenchie’s exorcism to haunt her again in The Conjuring 2, it seems just as likely that the upcoming sequel will see the demon attach itself to yet another figure in order to continue its reign of terror on the larger Conjuring Universe.
Though not explicitly confirmed by any of the creatives behind the franchise, The Conjuring: Last Rites has been teased to be the final installment in the mainline movies, but doesn’t necessarily need to conclude the property as a whole. A Conjuring TV show is said to be in the works for Max taking place after the Conjuring movies, while The Nun II still looks to leave over a decade of events unexplored for Valak before her encounters with Lorraine. With a variety of other spinoffs said to be in the works, including a potential fourth Annabelle movie, there’s clearly a wealth of material yet to be tapped into for The Conjuring Universe.
Key Release Date
The Nun II
Release Date:2023-09-08
