Conjuring producer says Nun sequel an 'inevitability', story already mapped out

Apparently they want to make this a habit: The people behind the expanding Conjuring horror-verse reportedly have their spirits set on making a sequel to The Nun, and there’s already a story predestined for the next installment.

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Conjuring producer Peter Safran made it sound like a followup to last year’s spinoff is more than just blind faith: “I think there is an inevitability to another Nun movie,” he said. “We have a really fun storyline for that teed up, so I think that that’s the next one that will be written.”

Despite all the mixed reviews, The Nun’s box office success makes a sequel pretty much a no-brainer. Directed by Corin Hardy on a budget of just $22 million, Valak the demon went forth and multiplied, manifesting a miraculous $365 million worldwide, including $117 million domestically. Safran said the thirst for a second Nun movie is a simple matter of having faith not in the critics, but in all those horror-loving moviegoers.

“Even though, obviously, the film was somewhat savaged by critics, you don’t get to that kind of box office success without at least the audience enjoying it,” he said. “It’s impossible, you can’t have that.”

Introduced as a last-minute scare factor for 2016’s The Conjuring 2, Valak (played in both films by Bonnie Aarons) resonated with fans and inspired Safran and Conjuring creator James Wan to green light the demonic nun for her very own prequel, shot to creepy effect on location in Romania.

“Once we knew that people were truly interested in The Nun we said, ‘This is a perfect opportunity to take it outside of America, to take it outside of what people are familiar with, and really place it in a unique environment,’” Safran explained.

While its sounds as though the next Nun movie is also next in the lineup of Conjuring projects on the development horizon, there’s another, already-finished Conjuring movie waiting in the wings: Annabelle is getting all dolled up for her summer appearance when Annabelle Comes Home stalks theaters starting June 28.