Conjuring Prequel Casts Young Ed and Lorraine, Sets 2027 Release
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- "The Conjuring: First Communion" prequel will star Garrett Wareing and Amanda Fix as young Ed and Lorraine Warren, taking over from Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga who portrayed the adult versions across several prior films.
- Warner Bros. and New Line set a Sept. 10, 2027 theatrical release for the prequel, with Rodrigue Huart directing the early-years ghost-hunting story.
- Richard Naing and Ian Goldberg, franchise veterans who co-wrote "The Nun II" (2023) and "The Conjuring: Last Rites," are writing the prequel screenplay.
- The Conjuring universe has become the highest-grossing horror franchise in history, generating $2.7 billion across nine films including spinoffs "Annabelle" and "The Nun."
- "The Conjuring: Last Rites" was billed as the final installment but became an outsized hit, earning a franchise-best $487 million globally last year — making a follow-up inevitable.
- Peter Safran returns as producer alongside executive producers John Rickard, Natalia Safran, and Romel Adam; James Wan created the occult-tilted property and Safran has produced every installment.
- Wareing is currently on Netflix's "Ransom Canyon" and appeared in Lionsgate's Stephen King adaptation "The Long Walk," while Fix recently premiered "Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma" at Cannes and appeared in the Duffer brothers' Netflix series "Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen."
Why it matters: The studio reversed course on 'Last Rites' as a franchise finale within a year because the film earned a franchise-best $487 million globally — making a prequel commercially unavoidable despite the prior 'final installment' branding.
