The Curse of La Llorona is NOT part of The Conjuring Universe

Last Updated on July 24, 2023

The Conjuring Universe is the highest-grossing horror franchise in the world, but one installment of the series doesn’t belong. The Curse of La Llorona is based on Latin American folklore and follows a mother in 1973 Los Angeles who must save her children from a malevolent spirit trying to steal them. While The Curse of La Llorona has several notable connections to The Conjuring Universe (including an Annabelle easter egg and Tony Amendola reprising his role as Father Perez), its place in the franchise hasn’t always been clear… until now.

While speaking with Entertainment Weekly, The Curse of La Llorona director Michael Chaves confirmed that the movie is NOT part of The Conjuring Universe. “There’s so much debate about it and I think I’ve played coy in the past,” Chaves said. “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.“

Michael Chaves added that while Peter Safran wasn’t involved in The Curse of La Llorona, he did give his blessing for Annabelle to be there. However, the inclusion of the character was blown out of proportion early on. “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 said. “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.”

Peter Safran confirmed Chaves’ statement, firming stating that The Curse of La Llorona is “not part of The Conjuring universe. You can’t count it! 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.” Michael Chaves took the helm of The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. He also directed the latest installment of the franchise, The Nun II, which will hit theaters on September 8th.