The Conjuring's New Movie Subtly Retcons Last Rites

The Conjuring Universe is just about the only successful cinematic universe outside of Marvel’s noble efforts. The DCU has stumbled with just its second movie, the Dark Universe stumbled with its first, and the less said about Sony’s Spider-Man villain universe, the better. The Monsterverse has been pretty successful, but only The Conjuring Universe has reached the MCU’s record-breaking heights. It’s the highest-grossing horror franchise of all time, and it’s not slowing down any time soon.

The success of The Conjuring franchise is hard to explain. There are plenty of other hit horror franchises from that era — The Purge, Insidious, Sinister, the Halloween reboot — but none of them came close to matching The Conjuring’s numbers; none of them have been anywhere near as consistently successful as The Conjuring saga. The last Conjuring movie, The Conjuring: Last Rites, grossed half a billion dollars at the box office. That kind of gross is unheard of in the horror genre, especially in a franchise that’s on its ninth movie. Those are Exorcist/Obsession/It-style numbers; the crème de la crème of horror box office glory.

As its title would suggest, The Conjuring: Last Rites was supposed to be the final chapter in The Conjuring series. It was marketed as the grand finale of Ed and Lorraine Warren’s ghost-hunting adventures. But when it made half a billion at the box office, all that “final movie” talk went straight out the window, and Warner Bros. instantly greenlit another Conjuring movie.

But it’s not undoing the finality of Last Rites’ ending; they’ve figured out a way to do a new Conjuring movie without reversing the finale (at least for now). The Conjuring: First Communion, set to be released on September 10, 2027 (two years and five days after Last Rites “ended” the franchise), will be a prequel exploring Ed and Lorraine’s origin story.

The Conjuring: First Communion Is Recasting Young Ed & Lorraine Warren

The Conjuring: First Communion is already subtly retconning the franchise. The prequel is pretty much guaranteed to contradict some details and plot points from the earlier films, because it’ll be impossible to keep track of all that stuff after more than a decade’s worth of movies. If the filmmakers are doing their jobs right, their focus will be on what makes this prequel the best movie it can be, not what makes it the most faithful to the established Conjuring canon. The producers have already confirmed one major retcon in the prequel: they’re recasting young Ed and Lorraine.

Ed and Lorraine have been played brilliantly by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga since 2013 — their performances and their on-screen chemistry are arguably more of a draw for audiences than the characters themselves — so a prequel is risky. We could end up with another Solo: A Star Wars Story situation, where audiences reject the new actor playing the younger version of their favorite character. We could also end up with Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi situation, where the younger actor becomes even more iconic in the role than their predecessor. That all hinges on the casting.

Last Rites had two unknown actors — Orion Smith and Madison Lawlor — playing the younger versions of the Warrens, but the producers aren’t bringing them back for First Communion. Instead, they’ve tapped Garrett Wareing and Amanda Fix to play those roles. Time will tell if they can fill Wilson and Farmiga’s massive, formidable shoes, but they certainly look the part.

I’ll reserve judgment until The Conjuring: First Communion arrives in theaters next year, because we’ve enjoyed a hot streak of great horror prequels lately. We’ve seen Pearl, The First Omen, Orphan: First Kill, and we’re getting prequels filling in the origins of Aunt Gladys and the Longlegs killer.