Timeline of The Conjuring Universe
Instilling fear into our waking moments since 2013, The Conjuring Universe first unleashed its frights onto the world with James Wan’s all-consuming supernatural thriller, The Conjuring.
There are now eight films that are part of The Conjuring Universe. Take a look at how the stories develop, with the films in chronological order.
Hold on tight, things are about to get very scary indeed…
The Nun
Released in 2018 | Set in 1952, Romania
While The Nun doesn’t have the oldest release date, it starts the story off by taking us back to 1952. The film unfolds in the Carta Monastery, Romania, the same setting that is teased in the post-credits of Annabelle: Creation.
Directed by Corin Hardy, the story starts with the suicide of a young nun. With the motives surrounding her death shrouded in mystery, the Vatican sends a priest with a haunted past and a novitiate soon to make her final vows to the Carta Monastery to investigate. The cast of The Nun stars Oscar nominated Demian Bichir (A Better Life) as Father Burke, Taissa Farmiga (TV’s American Horror Story) as Sister Irene amongst other memorable names.
On arriving at the tormented site, they soon discover the order’s sinister secret; the same demonic nun that we meet in The Conjuring 2...
Browse our recommendations on where and how to watch The Nun movie here. You can also head to our official YouTube page to watch The Nun trailer.
Directed by David F Sandberg and released as a prequel to Annabelle, Annabelle: Creation is set in 1955, several years after a dollmaker and his wife lost their little girl in a car accident. Desperate to see Bee once more, the Mullins pray for her return to any entity willing to fulfil their wishes. In doing so, they unwittingly invite a demon spirit into their home who possesses one of their handmade dolls – the creation of Annabelle is ignited.
Some years later, the couple open their home to Sister Charlotte and six orphan girls, who are under strict instructions to stay away from a locked room, which unbeknownst to them contains the cursed doll. When one of the orphans, Janice, accidently unlocks the powerful hold of the demon, she too becomes possessed – with devastating consequences.
Her spine-tingling story later unfolds in the second instalment of The Conjuring universe, Annabelle, while a post-credits scene takes us to the candlelit halls of the Carta Monastery in Romania, a head tilt to the fifth instalment: The Nun.
The cast of Annabelle: Creation stars notable Hollywood names like Stephanie Sigman (Spectre), Talitha Bateman (The 5th Wave) and many more.
Check out the official YouTube Warner Bros. UK trailer for Annabelle: Creation here. You can also browse our recommendations on where and how to watch Annabelle: Creation movie here.
The Nun II
Released in 2023 | Set in 1956, France
1956 – France. A priest is murdered. An evil is spreading. The sequel to the worldwide smash hit follows Sister Irene as she once again comes face-to-face with Valak, the demon nun. The cast of The Nun 2 stars familiar faces such as Taissa Farmiga, who returns to the nun movie franchise.
Check out the official Warner Bros. UK trailer for The Nun II on YouTube here. You can also browse our recommendations on where and how to watch The Nun II movie here.
Released in 2014 | Set in 1967, California
Directed by John R Leonetti, Annabelle was the first movie dedicated to the deathly doll in The Conjuring movies. Annabelle is set in 1967, 12 years after the Mullins' doll and subsequently orphan Janice were brutally possessed by a demonic spirit out for blood. The story opens with Janice, now a recluse, and member of a satanic cult who goes by the name of Annabelle. She murders her newly adoptive parents in their bedroom with their help of her cultist boyfriend.
Their neighbours at the time, the Forms, overhear the act, just after John Form gifts a vintage doll to his expectant wife, Mia. Both are then horribly attacked by the demonic Annabelle but survive the ordeal, while Annabelle takes her own life at the scene, with a firm grip on the doll. The cultists have conjured an entity so malevolent that nothing they did will compare to the sinister conduit to the damned that is now... Annabelle.
The Annabelle cast includes familiar names such as Annabelle Wallis and Brian Howe. Check out the trailer for Annabelle on our YouTube channel here. If you are wondering where to watch Annabelle, you can also head to the ‘watch it’ section to explore our recommendations for where and how to watch the full movie here.
Set in Harrisville, Rhode Island in 1971, The Conjuring is directed by James Wan. It’s inspired by the true story of supernatural investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, who are asked to investigate a turn of terrifying paranormal events in Roger and Carolyn Perron’s newly bought farmhouse.
Carrying out a range of investigations at the home, the duo desperately attempts to rid it of a terrifying source of evil on a terrifying mission to possess, manipulate, torture and kill.
The Conjuring cast stars Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson in this dark chiller from the writers of The Reaping and the creator of the Saw films – it the first of the series and is bound to get you hooked on The Conjuring Universe.
Check out our YouTube trailer for The Conjuring here. You can also browse our recommendations on where and how to watch The Conjuring movie, here.
Furthermore, if you want to test your knowledge of this classic horror, click here to take part in our The Conjuring Film Quiz.
Annabelle Comes Home
Released in 2019 | Set in 1972
Determined to keep Annabelle from wreaking more havoc, demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren bring the possessed doll to the locked artifacts room in their home, placing her “safely” behind sacred glass and enlisting a priest’s holy blessing. But a year later, an unholy night of horror awaits the Warrens’ ten-year-old daughter, Judy, and her friends after a visit to the room awakens Annabelle... and all the evil spirits residing there.
Click here to view the official trailer for Annabelle Comes Home, posted to our YouTube channel. You can also head to the ‘watch it’ section to explore our recommendations for where and how to watch Annabelle Comes Home, here.
The Conjuring 2
Released in 2016 | Set in 1977, Enfield
New Line Cinema’s supernatural thriller The Conjuring 2, with James Wan (Furious 7) once again at the helm following the record-breaking success of The Conjuring, brings to the screen another real case from the files of renowned demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren to expand The Conjuring universe.
Reprising their roles, The Conjuring 2 cast includes Oscar nominees Vera Farmiga (Up In the Air, TV’s Bates Motel) and Patrick Wilson (the Insidious films), who star as Lorraine and Ed Warren, who, in one of their most terrifying paranormal investigations, travel to north London to help a single mother raising four children alone in a house plagued by malicious spirits.
The film follows the phenomenal worldwide reception of Wan’s The Conjuring, which marked the largest opening ever for an original horror movie. The film went on to make more than $319 million worldwide and still remains the second highest grossing original horror movie of all time, second only to The Exorcist.
Explore our recommendations for where to watch The Conjuring 2 over on our main page about the movie, here. You can also view the official Warner Bros. UK YouTube trailer for the film by heading here.
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
Released in 2021 | Set in 1981, Connecticut
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It reveals a chilling story of terror, murder and unknown evil that shocked even experienced real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. Exploring one of the most sensational cases from their files, it starts with a fight for the soul of a young boy, then takes them beyond anything they’d ever seen before, to mark the first time in U.S. history that a murder suspect would claim demonic possession as a defence.
The cast of The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It stars Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, who return to star as Ed and Lorraine Warren, under the direction of Michael Chaves. The film also stars Ruairi O’Connor, Sarah Catherine Hook, and Julian Hilliard.
Check out the Warner Bros. UK trailer for The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It here. You can also browse our recommendations on where and how to watch The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It movie here.
Which is your favourite film in the franchise?