The Conjuring Universe Timeline In Order - Digital Spy

The Conjuring universe has returned to cinemas in The Conjuring: Last Rites, said to be the final outing for Ed and Lorraine Warren.

If the new movie has you hankering for a rewatch of the series, it can be tricky to keep on top of. We're not quite on Halloween or Saw territory, but it's still a series that includes prequels and sequels and sequels to prequels. (And that's before we even get to The Curse of La Llorona which is no longer considered a canon Conjuring movie.)

So we're here to help with the definitive Conjuring timeline. We've stuck to the official timeline and ordered where the majority of a movie takes place, although we disagree that Annabelle Comes Home takes place in 1972. (More on that in a bit.)

Annabelle: Creation – 1946 / 1952 / 1958 / 1970

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Annabelle: Creation is a prequel to Annabelle, itself a prequel to The Conjuring.

It expands on how the evil doll we first saw in James Wan's original movie came to be possessed, starting out with a car accident in 1946, before moving into an orphanage in 1958, where it gets good.

But if you really want to see these movies chronologically, you actually need to watch the beginning of this movie, before switching to the post-credits scene as that's a teaser for The Nun, set in 1952.

Then you can watch the majority of The Nun and The Nun II, before switching back to Annabelle: Creation, all the way through to its coda in 1970.

The Nun – 1952 / 1971

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The Nun is set in 1952 and, thankfully, stays there for the majority of its running time as Catholic priest Father Burke (Demián Bichir) and nun in training Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) investigate the suicide of a nun at a convent in Romania, unaware it's linked to the demon Valak.

However, then, the very final scene of the movie skips ahead to 1971 and a scene we saw in The Conjuring as it's revealed that Frenchie (Jonas Bloquet) is actually Maurice Theriault.

He's the person we saw being exorcised by the Warrens in The Conjuring, so if you wanted to watch the whole series chronologically, you'd actually have to stop The Nun here and watch this scene at the exact same time it occurs in The Conjuring. (We won't blame you if you skip that exercise.)

The Nun II – 1956

Watch now: Prime Video | iTunes

Like the first movie, The Nun II remains quite stable in terms of the timeline as it takes place four years after the events of the first movie.

Sister Irene is happily living in a convent in Italy, but her peace is interrupted when she's called to investigating the brutal murder of a priest in France. It brings her to an unexpected reunion with Maurice – and the demon nun Valak, who is still using poor Frenchie as a conduit.

The post-credit scene then skips forward to 1981 where the Warrens receive a phone call with a new case. If you were determined to watch in timeline order, you'd have to watch this brief scene after finishing The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.

Annabelle – 1970

Watch now: Prime Video | iTunes

You can now get through Annabelle, which sees the creepy doll making its first movements into the realm of the damned.

Unfortunately, this is definitely the worst of the series – but watching it after Annabelle: Creation does improve it somewhat.

The Conjuring – 1968 / 1971

Watch now: Prime Video | iTunes

Now we finally get to the first movie in the series, which is also arguably the best. James Wan leaned into his influences for The Conjuring, updating movies such as The Changeling and Burnt Offerings for a modern generation.

As with those movies, the terrifying events take place in the '70s, specifically 1971 as Ed and Lorraine Warren help out a large family who have moved into a haunted farmhouse. It's based on a "true" story, if you believe ghosts and farmhouses are real (farmhouses probably are real, to be honest).

The cold open takes place in 1968 and reveals the Warrens' first encounter with Annabelle. It's here where the timeline gets iffy as, officially, Annabelle Comes Home apparently takes place in 1972, despite that movie only taking place a year after the Warrens bring Annabelle home.

So if you wanted to go that route, you'd have to watch Annabelle Comes Home after The Conjuring opening, before returning to The Conjuring after that movie.

It's probably more straightforward to just watch Annabelle Comes Home after The Conjuring and ignore the timeline mix-up.

Annabelle Comes Home – 1971 / 1972

Watch now: Prime Video | iTunes

The third Annabelle movie – Annabelle Comes Home – kicks off with the Warrens bringing Annabelle to their cursed artefacts room. It's an extension of the scene we saw in the cold open of The Conjuring, set in 1968.

The movie skips ahead a year to 1969 and takes place across one night as Annabelle decides to wake up fellow evil spirits to target the Warrens' daughter, Judy, after her babysitter's friend makes the mistake of letting Annabelle loose.

As mentioned above, there's the timeline confusion which has seemingly shifted that Conjuring cold open to 1971. We've stuck to the official timeline that places the majority of this movie in 1972 (despite the fact we disagree).

The Conjuring 2 – 1976 / 1977

Watch now: Prime Video | iTunes

Another movie that's based on a true story – if you think that ghosts making people levitate is more likely than a teenager jumping off a bed.

The Conjuring 2 saw the Warrens investigate the Amityville house in 1976, before moving on to a case in the UK in 1977, which we knew as the Enfield Hauntings, which is where the potential bed-jumping shenanigans took place.

Throwing in the aforementioned Nun for good measure, as well as a creepy dude known as The Crooked Man, The Conjuring 2 marked a turning point for the franchise, where it really started to become the MCU of horror movies.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It – 1981

Watch now: Prime Video | iTunes

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It generally follows the real-life timeline of the story upon which it's based – that of Arne Cheyenne Johnson.

It starts on 18 July 1981 with the exorcism of 11-year-old David Glatzel, which Johnson was present at. This is a slight alteration to the real-life story as, by this point, Johnson was already in prison for killing his landlord, Alan Bono.

Otherwise, the movie sticks to the real-life timeline, culminating in Johnson being convicted of manslaughter on 24 November 1981. Along the way, it takes a lot of creative licence with the reported true story though.

The Conjuring: Last Rites – 1964 / 1986

Watch now: In cinemas

The final outing for Ed and Lorraine Warren appropriately takes us back to their first-ever case in 1964, which also just happened to be on the night that Lorraine gave birth to Judy Warren.

But after this cold open, The Conjuring: Last Rites takes place in 1986 as the demon from the opening scene comes back to haunt the Warrens as they become involved with the Smurl haunting.

As ever, it's loosely inspired by the real-life haunting, but is mostly used as a way to bring a definitive end to Ed and Lorraine's story, even culminating in an Avengers: Endgame-esque finale that brings back characters from the previous three Conjuring movies.

The Conjuring: Last Rites is out now in cinemas.

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Sam is an entertainment writer with NCTJ accreditation and a twenty-year career as a film journalist.

Starting out as a staff writer at Total Film, moving up to Deputy Online Editor, Sam was responsible for Total Film’s YouTube channel, where he revolutionised the magazine’s approach to video junkets, creating influential formats that spread to other outlets.

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Sam has also interviewed several comic creators, including Stan Lee, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, and he has a zombie cameo in The Walking Dead comic. In 2014, Sam went freelance, working directly for film studios including Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox and Disney, as well as covering red carpet events for film marketing company PMA Productions.

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In 2012, Sam made it to the final of the Leicester Square Theatre New Comedian of the Year competition, and went on to become a filmmaker himself, directing three features that have all played major festivals, and secured distribution – starring in two of them.

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Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.