The fourth (and supposedly final) film in The Conjuring series started with the 2013 movie is supposedly coming to an end with The Conjuring: Last Rites, due in theaters this September. But while the mainline movies centering around demonologist couple Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) Warren might be coming to an end, that doesn't mean the overarching The Conjuring Universe is finished.
In fact, I'd imagine the billion dollar-grossing franchise still has a lot of life left in it, with New Line Cinema head Richard Brenner even calling Last Rites simply the end of "Phase One." James Wan, who directed the first two movies, recently provided an update on at least one potential future film, a spinoff centering on the Crooked Man introduced in The Conjuring 2.
Chatting with Entertainment Weekly as part of the outlet's in-depth Last Rites profile, Wan mentioned his hopes that a movie about The Crooked Man could still get made someday.
"I still have a movie in my head that I would hopefully love to get off the ground one day, but we'll see. I get fans that reach out to me every now and then, begging us to make a Crooked Man movie. Just as a fan, I would love to do it one day, if I can convince the studio to do so."
Valak the nun was more appealing the Crooked Man
So, why haven't we seen one already? The character was introduced in one of the 2016 film's most frightening scenes, featuring an eerie zoetrope and a distorted nursery rhyme. Valak takes on the form of the spindly and terrifying man as hegrows in size and lumbers after poor Billy. The portrayal of the Crooked Man was so unsettling, that many viewers wrongly attributed his jerky movements to stop-motion animation, but that can be attributed to performer Javier Botet.
According to Wan, he expected the Crooked Man to be the breakout star of The Conjuring 2, similar to what happened with Annabelle in the original movie. The creepy doll would go on to launch her own trilogy of movies. Instead, people found the nun scene with Lorraine to be more startling and that's what led to The Nun and The Nun II, while The Crooked Man concept fell into limbo.
But it's a positive sign that Wan still wants that movie to come into fruition someday. After all, the plans for "Phase Two" of The Conjuring Universe are still in the early stages.