THE CONJURING 3 is coming down the line with Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga set to reprise the roles of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, but before we get that film we'll be seeing Wilson and Farmiga make a special appearance as Ed and Lorraine in ANNABELLE COMES HOME.
Written and directed by Gary Dauberman, the third entry in the ANNABELLE spin-off section of the Conjuring Universe is set in the home of the Warrens.
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.
Judy is played by Mckenna Grace, with Madison Iseman as her babysitter / cousin and Katie Sarife as the cousin's best friend.
An Entertainment Weekly article reveals that the evil Annabelle is unleashed in the film by Sarife's character Daniela, "who recently lost her father". Dauberman says,
Daniela will do whatever she can to find out whether or not there is an afterlife. Annabelle’s presence causes all these other things to come to life. Annabelle is the orchestrator of the madness."
Also included in the article, and featured below, is an image of Farmiga and Annabelle from the film. Farmiga talked to EW about playing Lorraine again, saying that
I do love playing this character, I really do. To be honest with you, in this climate of dissension and rancor and division, I love exhibiting [Ed and Lorraine’s] unity and their closeness and their togetherness. It’s something special for me."
I'm glad to hear that, because Ed and Lorraine's relationship is my favorite thing about the entire Conjuring Universe – which has been very hit and miss (mostly miss, really) for me outside of THE CONJURING and THE CONJURING 2.
Dauberman previously wrote ANNABELLE, ANNABELLE: CREATION, and THE NUN. The idea for setting ANNABELLE COMES HOME in the home of the Warrens struck him while he was working on THE NUN.
I was over in Romania for THE NUN, and just being away from my family and stuff made me very homesick. I was like, ‘Man, I want to go home, and it would be nice on this one to bring the franchise back home, literally, into the Warrens’ house.’ So I was excited to do that. While THE NUN is this sort of men-on-a-mission movie, on this one I wanted to go back to a little bit more of a traditional haunted house, but different, because the house is the Warrens’, which is so unique and unusual. It feels like some kind of ticking time bomb."
ANNABELLE COMES HOME is scheduled to reach theatres on June 28th.
The most recent Conjuring Universe film, THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA, is in theatres right now.