Back in 2013, James Wan kicked off horror’s most successful cinematic universe with The Conjuring, but in recent years, the Insidious helmsman’s attention has been diverted by various other projects, most notably last year’s Aquaman. And while Wan still has one foot in the Conjuring Universe in a producing capacity, the filmmaker seems unlikely to direct another entry in the franchise.
Shazam! producer Peter Safran is a regular collaborator of Wan’s, having worked with the man on his Conjuring movies before following him into the DCEU with Aquaman. We can therefore take him as a pretty reliable source on Wan’s plans for the near future. And in an interview with CinemaBlend, Safran suggested that the filmmaker probably ended his directorial run in the Conjuring Universe with 2016’s The Conjuring 2:
“I don’t think he will [direct another Conjuring movie]. That’s just me. My instinct is that he won’t. I think he really left everything out on the field with Conjuring 2. Just being by his side as he made that movie, I feel that he put everything that he’d learned up to that point into that film, from character development to scares to crafting sequences, just everything. I love the movie and I think that he felt like he did it, he really showed people exactly what he wanted to show them. The skills of a filmmaker telling a great story.”
Of course, given Wan’s longstanding ties with the horror genre and his continued involvement in the Conjuring Universe, there’s always a chance that he’ll return in a directing capacity some day. Indeed, even Safran hasn’t ruled out the possibility completely, saying:
“I would be surprised if he ended up doing another one, but you never know. Guys like James, for him scares, it’s in their blood. They need an outlet for it at some point, so maybe he is getting it as a producer. There is something very compelling about sitting there just wanting to scare the shit out of people.”
Regardless, Wan seems heavily occupied these days with the DC brand, including such horror-tinged projects as The Trench and Swamp Thing. A report from earlier this year also alleged that the filmmaker is being courted to direct Aquaman 2, though we’re still waiting for further news on that front.
Meanwhile, the Conjuring Universe continues with the release of The Curse of La Llorona on April 19th, followed by Annabelle Comes Home on June 28th. After that, The Conjuring 3 is set to hit theaters on September 11th, 2020.