'The Conjuring' Drama Series Is in the Works
The Conjuring universe is expanding! HBO Max, soon to be rebranded as Max with content from both HBO Max and sibling streamer Discovery+, is currently developing a series based on New Line Cinema's The Conjuring universe, it was announced Wednesday during Warner Bros. Discovery's unveiling of the Max streaming service on the Warner Bros. lot in Los Angeles, per Deadline.
At this time, details of the planned series are scarce. Producer Peter Safran is attached to executive produce the series via his Safran Company banner. Meanwhile, James Wan — who directed both The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2 and whose Atomic Monster Productions is backing the project alongside Warner Bros. Television — is also reportedly in talks to executive produce the series, which will "continue the story established in the feature films." No further information regarding the series, including writers, cast, and plot, is known at this time.
The upcoming series will mark the latest addition to the ever-growing The Conjuring franchise, which got its start back in 2013 with the premiere of the theatrical film. The supernatural horror franchise presents a dramatization of the real-life cases of Ed and Lorraine Warren, paranormal investigators and authors associated with prominent yet controversial cases of haunting. Since the initial 2013 film, six additional movies have been released, including The Conjuring 2 (2016) and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, the most recent film in the blockbuster horror series, which debuted on June 4, 2021.
Outside of the main series of films, the franchise also includes the Annabelle spinoff trilogy about a doll possessed by an evil entity. The first Annabelle film was released in 2014, followed by Annabelle: Creation in 2017, and Annabelle Comes Home in 2019. There are also two additional films connected to the series: The Nun, which is a spinoff prequel set in 1950s Romania, and The Curse of La Llorona, a loosely connected evil spirit story that featured actor Tony Amendola reprising his role as Father Perez from the first Annabelle film.
To date, the franchise has raked in $2.1 billion against a combined budget of $178 million, numbers that will surely increase with HBO Max's The Conjuring drama series as well as the confirmed fourth Conjuring film currently in the works. The upcoming film, confirmed in October, will be written by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick with Wan and Safran attached as producers. Franchise stars Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga are also expected to return. It is unclear if they will be involved in the HBO Max series.