Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga have finished their time playing demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren in the billion-dollar franchise The Conjuring, with the final chapter of their saga to arrive in theaters this September with The Conjuring: Last Rites. Thanks to a new exclusive from Entertainment Weekly, we finally have more details to share about the fourth film and what fans can expect from Ed and Lorraine's concluding chapter.
Online sleuths have long theorized that the last movie would focus on the Smurl family haunting and it turns out they were correct. Franchise producer Peter Safran calls the case "one of the more Googleable ones" investigated by the real-life Ed and Lorraine.
In real life, the Smurl family claimed they were being terrorized by malevolent entities in their Pennsylvania duplex from 1974 to 1987. The family, consisting of parents Jack and Janet and their young daughters, alleged they witnessed a wide breadth of terrifying supernatural activity, including people being tossed around rooms, strange odors, mysterious voices, floating black masses, and at least one supposed incident of ghost molestation. This information comes from the New England Society of Psychic Research, which is actually run by the real Ed and Lorraine's daughter and son-in-law, Judy and Tony Spera.
While the Smurl case has been covered at length in various documentaries and podcasts, it was only featured in one movie, a 1991 made-for-TV film starring Sally Kirkland and Jeffrey DeMunn.
Even though The Conjuring: Last Rites will focus on the Smurl family, director Michael Chaves (The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, The Nun II) says this movie will end on a very personal note, centering on Ed and Lorraine's family to bring the chapter started with the 2013 film to a close.
The future of The Conjuring
Previously, New Line Cinema head Richard Brenner called The Conjuring: Last Rites the end of "phase one," meaning this is likely just the beginning for the expansive horror universe that now encompasses nine films including The Curse of La Llorona (also directed by Chavez).
But The Conjuring: Last Rites is the final send-off for Wilson as Ed and Farmiga and Lorraine, at least with them in leading roles. The door is open for them to return someday, but it sounds like the upcoming movie is really designed to give us a proper goodbye to this beloved couple. Wilson is working on the Apple TV+ adaptation of Cape Fear next and Farmiga will soon begin filming Cold War thriller Billion Dollar Spy.
Both actors expressed how much they enjoyed working together to the outlet, with Farmiga calling it "the absolutely best arranged marriage in the history of arranged marriages."
As for what might come next for the horror franchise, everything is still very much in the early stages of development. That said, Safran and director James Wan have confirmed that The Conjuring television series is still in the works at Max.
The Conjuring: Last Rites will hit theaters on September 5.