On the heels of exclusively debuting The Conjuring: Last Rites trailer today, IGN also chatted with director Michael Chaves about the film that is billed as the final entry in the horror franchise. (You can watch the interview via the player above or the embed below.)
“This would bring a close to the Ed and Lorraine [Warren] story,” Chaves said, referring to the real-life paranormal investigators portrayed by Patrick Wlson and Vera Farmiga since the original 2013 film that kicked off the blockbuster franchise.
As with the other entries in the series, The Conjuring: Last Rites draws on the Warrens’ case files. This film is based on the demonic haunting of Jack and Janet Smurl’s home in West Pittston, Pennsylvania from 1974 to 1989. The Warrens, who claimed a powerful demon was inhabiting the home, eventually co-authored a book about the case with the Smurls and a reporter.
Chaves credits Conjuring director and the franchise’s creative godfather, James Wan, with selecting the case that would serve as the final movie in the series. “This was James’s brainchild from the beginning, setting the story in the Smurl investigation,” the director said.
“One of the reasons that it was picked is it was one of the last cases that they took, so chronologically, we’re staying true to that. And the other reason was that it was just a return to the haunted house experience, which is something that I was really excited about. I fell in love with the first Conjuring movie as I think a lot of people did, because it was just this great old-fashioned haunted house story. And obviously, in the series and the spinoffs, we’ve explored some other things, but the idea that we would be returning to that for the final chapter felt right and it felt really exciting. Beyond that, it’s one of their most intense cases.”
Chaves – who also directed the Conjuring universe films The Curse of La Llorona, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, and The Nun II – said that what separates the Conjuring series from other horror franchises is “that these are true stories and they’re based on real events. Obviously, we’re taking liberties as you probably will see over the course of the movie, but there’s large chunks that are based on the real stories from these people. And to be able to work so closely with the [Smurl] sisters, as we were developing the movie, I think it brings an authenticity to it. I think it definitely affected me in making it. I am really proud of what we did and I hope it really honors their experience.”
In addition to bringing back the Warrens for one last case, the trailer also heralds the return of a certain demonic doll. “It was important to bring back Annabelle, she’s almost the mascot of The Conjuring,” Chaves explained. “It would be a mistake to do this final movie without some element of Annabelle, so she definitely plays a part in here, even though she isn’t our big bad, there’s another entity that takes that role.”
The Conjuring: Last Rites gives Judy Warren, Ed and Lorraine’s now adult daughter played by Mia Tomlinson, a larger role in the proceedings. “It’s getting a new perspective on their family, and we get a little bit of it in Annabelle Comes Home, but I feel like this is a little bit more of a darker and more grounded take on, ‘What is that experience? The daughter of these famous paranormal investigators, what was that experience like? What is it like to have an artifact room in your house and does that leave some scars? Does that leave some unresolved issues just from a baseline?’ … Even though we’ve seen Judy through the years, we haven’t seen her like this, and I think it just gives us a new perspective on the characters and a new way into the universe.”
While The Conjuring: Last Rites may be the final film featuring the Warrens, recent comments by the president of New Line Cinema have suggested there could be a second phase for the franchise. Chaves offered his thoughts on how the Conjuring series could evolve in the future:
“I think one of the big strengths of The Conjuring series has been the fact that they’re based on true stories, and I think that that’s always exciting, and I think it validates our hopes, our fears, our beliefs, and it’s also just really exciting to watch the movie and then go online and then see what was real, what wasn’t. I think that is a core concept idea tenet of the series that 100%, whoever’s lucky enough to be taking it on should definitely keep going with.
From the very first film, it was this love letter to classic horror, and it had all of these great classic horror references in it, and it was just jam-packed into a modern thrill ride, but still, all of its roots were worn on its sleeve. And I think that taking inspiration from previous movies is wonderful and it’s what gives it its old-fashioned roots. I think that that could still be a tradition. I think it’s probably just updating the movies or just kind of taking it from another generation, because we’re all getting older, and so what was once an old movie is now even older. … I want to see Conjuring movies that take inspiration from movies of the ’90s.”
The Conjuring: Last Rites opens in theaters on September 5, 2025.
