As it goes with any major franchise there’s a timeline of events we can track as a way of connecting each film, although they're not all as complicated and possibly contradictory as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In a new featurette, directors James Wan, David F. Sandberg and Corin Hardy discuss the origin and history of THE CONJURING universe, which began with the first movie back in 2013, and has since gone back in time to explore the demons of the past.
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This is all in prep for next week’s release of THE NUN, which takes place in 1952, only a few years before the events of ANNABELLE: CREATION. After the latter film, the series has a gap for the next 15 years before the first ANNABELLE takes place in 1970, followed by the two main CONJURING movies. We can only hope the next movie in the series covers that gap in the 60's and finds a demon haunting Woodstock and terrifying hippies.
In terms of timeline and setting that leaves the franchise with a lot of room to explore, venturing into different decades like the 60’s and even further back. While it’s still in the development process, I would think the CROOKED MAN movie their working on would go even further back to play up the fantasy elements. It just feels weird for a movie called THE CROOKED MAN to take place during a time that doesn't have horse-drawing carriages and oil lamps.
THE NUN is in theaters September 7 and stars Taissa Farmiga, Demian Bichir, and Bonnie Aarons.