The Conjuring: Last Rites stars Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga have shared their thoughts on the future of the horror movie universe. The 2025 film is the fourth installment in the flagship Conjuring franchise (which has also spawned the spinoff franchises Annabelle and The Nun), in which the stars play real-life demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren.

The upcoming The Conjuring: Last Rites, which debuts on September 5, has been promoted as the final installment in the franchise, to the point that the trailers promise that viewers will find out why the case adapted by the movie was the Warrens’ last. However, that supposed grand finale may not turn out to be the case after all.

During a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, New Line president and CCO Richard Brener said that “this is the last of what we call phase one” and that “we are hopeful that we can make more,” though “phase two is TBD.“

In an interview with ScreenRant‘s Tatiana Hullender while promoting The Conjuring: Last Rites, Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga shared their reactions to the announcement, which Wilson says he had not heard about until that day. The stars revealed that they both approached Last Rites with the understanding that it would be the concluding chapter in the Warrens’ story.

Neither of them knows what Wilson refers to as the “grand plan” for the franchise, though he suggested that “we could go on“ because the real-life Warrens lived well beyond their fifties.

However, Farmiga had a much more finite reaction, saying that “as far as we know, we hung up the rosaries“ and suggesting that new installments not bear the Conjuring name. Read the actors’ full comments below:

Vera Farmiga: I love all the speculation!

Patrick Wilson: I love it. Like, Phase One? I’ve never heard that before it was mentioned today. I have no idea. It’s so hard. I cannot realistically separate me and Vera from The Conjuring, so I have no idea what that means. If they went off and did The Conjuring movie without us, I don’t even know what to say to that!

Vera Farmiga: Name it something else.

Patrick Wilson: All I know is this is the end of our journey right now, and that’s how we approached this. It’s definitely the rightful way to end this series that we created right now.

I mean, sure, we could go on. We’re in our 50s, and Lorraine lived into her 90s while Ed was in his 70s, so we’re still around. There’s that, but I don’t know what that means. There are so many other questions that are above our pay grade and really our responsibility. We’re not creators, and we’re not producers on this. So, we don’t know some grand plan about which we’re withholding information.

Vera Farmiga: Absolutely. As far as we know, we hung up the rosaries. The crucifix is back on the wall, and that’s it. Our flashlights have run out of battery.

What Other Conjuring 4 Cast Members Have Said About The Franchise’s Future

During a separate interview with ScreenRant, other members of the cast of The Conjuring: Last Rites chimed in with their thoughts on the franchise continuing beyond phase one.

Mia Tomlinson (who plays Ed and Lorraine’s daughter Judy Warren, a character previously portrayed at different ages by Sterling Jerins and Mckenna Grace) said that she’d “love to come back” in any future installments, while Madison Lawlor (who plays Young Lorraine) suggested a prequel where “Lorraine first starts getting in touch with these feelings.”

Orion Smith (who plays Young Ed) added that “they haven’t done Amityville yet” and seconded the idea of a prequel, which could “explore their characters from the perspective of being less experienced and figuring things out as they go.” Read the cast’s full comments below:

Mia Tomlinson: Let’s promote that. I’d love to come back to work with Ben [Hardy, who plays Judy’s boyfriend Tony] and see more creepy stuff. Let’s do it!

Madison Lawlor: I don’t have a great specific answer to [what Warren cases should be made into new movies], but there are so many cases that I would love to see how they’re interpreted still. They have just done so much, and their work is so prolific.

Orion Smith: They haven’t done Amityville yet. Ed and Lorraine did investigate that, and they were there for a little bit. I don’t know if that would work fully with the timeline, but I think the most interesting thing for me would be to explore their characters from the perspective of being less experienced and figuring things out as they go. That would be such a cool thing to explore.

Madison Lawlor: Yeah. I think I’d love to explore when Lorraine first starts getting in touch with these feelings and what that journey’s like for her. I imagine it would be very hard to find your footing, and very confusing too… We haven’t heard anything [from New Line], but yeah, it’s definitely interesting.

Orion Smith: For me, just having a fingerprint on this movie and being a part of this world is already such a gift, and it’s so exciting. If there are any spinoffs, I’m not going to say no, but this is already enough. This is already so incredible, and I’m just grateful to be a part of it.

It is worth noting that, while there is not a full Conjuring movie adapting the “Amityville Horror” case, in which Ed and Lorraine Warren were involved, the case was featured in the extended opening sequence of The Conjuring 2, which otherwise covered the case of the Enfield Poltergeist.

What This Means For The Conjuring Franchise

Ultimately, even if there is a phase 2 featuring more Conjuring movies after Last Rites, it seems likely that the franchise will take Farmiga’s suggestion and avoid presenting more installments from the flagship branch of the franchise, instead continuing to produce new spinoff franchises.

There is already a precedent for spinoffs performing well even without the Warrens, because the highest-grossing movie in the franchise ahead of the debut of The Conjuring: Last Rites is 2018’s The Nun. However, unless a prequel about young Ed and Lorraine is mounted, this approach would make it unlikely that any cast members from the new installment would return.