James Wan, director of THE CONJURING and THE CONJURING 2 as well as producer of their spin-offs ANNABELLE, ANNABELLE: CREATION, and THE NUN, recently announced that he was passing the directorial duties on THE CONJURING 3 over to Michael Chaves, who made his feature debut on the Wan production THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA (which is not part of the Conjuring Universe). Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga will be returning to star in THE CONJURING 3 as real life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, but before that they will be appearing in ANNABELLE 3 – which makes sense since the third ANNABELLE movie is set in the home of the Warrens.
Written and directed by Gary Dauberman, ANNABELLE 3 has the following synopsis:
Determined to keep Annabelle from wreaking more havoc, demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren bring the possessed doll to the locked artifacts room in their home, placing her “safely” behind sacred glass and enlisting a priest’s holy blessing. But an unholy night of horror awaits as Annabelle awakens the evil spirits in the room, who all set their sights on a new target — the Warrens’ ten-year-old daughter, Judy, and her friends.
Wilson and Farmiga's co-stars in that film include Mckenna Grace as their daughter Judy, Madison Iseman as her babysitter / cousin, and Katie Sarife as the babysitter's best friend.
Speaking with Digital Spy, Wilson revealed that his work on ANNABELLE 3 has been completed, and now he's looking forward to getting to work on THE CONJURING 3.
Oh boy. We just finished Annabelle 3, which is cool. It's nice to dip our toes into that franchise a little bit. Conjuring 3 will be different than anything we've seen, which is fun."
Details on the script THE CONJURING 2 co-writer David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick is crafting for THE CONJURING 3 have not been revealed, but Farmiga has said that she heard the script
has something to do with some werewolf case. I was given a book by Lorraine and Tony, her son-in-law, who has moved into the Ed Warren position in that family, and there’s a book called ‘Werewolf.’ But I’ve not read it yet, so I am sure the answers are in that."
Having the Warrens face a werewolf would definitely make THE CONJURING 3 different than its predecessors. The case of "the Southend Werewolf" was one the real Warrens investigated in the 1980s.
THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA will reach theatres on April 19, 2019, followed by ANNABELLE 3 on July 3, 2019. We'll keep you updated on THE CONJURING 3 as it moves toward production.