As confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter, The Conjuring 4 is officially in the works, with a screenplay written by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, who wrote the upcoming DCEU superhero sequel Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, as well as the original. As part of the Conjuring series, he has written The Conjuring 2, as well as The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.
Also, James Wan will return to the franchise as a producer, along with Peter Safran; the two have been involved in the series from the beginning. As part of his Instagram post, James Wan confirmed that Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga will both be returning for the new movie.
Wan continues to say in his post “THE CONJURING 4. Here you go. We’ve been slowly and carefully crafting away on this. We didn’t want to rush this until we’ve got something that is worthwhile. And I’m really excited and encouraged with the direction David is working on. Even more excited to have @verafarmiga and @thereelpatrickwilson back!”
Wan’s Conjuring universe has spawned eight films, with the pair playing paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren in four of them. The Conjuring 4 marks the ninth installment of the series, following The Nun 2, which is currently in filming in France. Last summer, Wilson and Farmiga reprised their Warren roles in The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, which pushed the franchise’s total gross to over $2.1 billion.
Both Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson have expressed interest in The Conjuring 4.
Vera Farmiga said to Empire, “Oh my God, I’d love to [continue].” She said, “It’s interesting, we have to up the fear in each one. Demonology is already so high-pitched and operatic.”
Patrick Wilson added, “We constantly want to push these characters. I would like to – for no other reason than I would want to keep playing opposite Vera.”
Concerning what’s on the horizon for the paranormal investigators, little has been revealed about The Conjuring 4, but it may be based on a real-life investigation of the Warrens.
No director has been confirmed yet for The Conjuring 4 either, but Michael Chaves, who directed The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, could take over again.
Michael Chaves said “There are some really interesting case files in the ’80s and, without giving any of those away, I think it’s also interesting to see the Warrens more as these public figures under scrutiny, skeptics coming at them, them working with police departments,”
He added: “What [The Devil Made Me Do It] hopefully does is open up this new chapter for the Warrens. This has a very unique ending to The Conjuring films. I would be excited to see where it could go from here. What could the Warrens get into? What’s happened to their careers? I think there are so many possibilities…”
There is no official release date for The Conjuring 4, but the franchise will return with The Nun 2 on Sept. 8, 2023.
