Conjuring Cast: Actors, Directors and Who Returns

The main Conjuring cast members are Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as Ed and Lorraine Warren, joined by a different family and a different haunting in every film. Wilson and Farmiga are the two leads billed in all four main films, from The Conjuring (2013) to The Conjuring: Last Rites, and the spin-offs borrow them for appearances. If you want the films in sequence, conjuring movies in order lays out both the release and chronological lists.

The 2013 film opens in 1971, when Roger and Carolyn Perron move into a Rhode Island farmhouse with their five daughters. Lili Taylor plays Carolyn Perron and Ron Livingston plays Roger Perron, and the daughters are played by Hayley McFarland (Nancy), Shanley Caswell (Andrea), Mackenzie Foy (Cindy), Joey King (Christine) and Kyla Deaver (April). Shannon Kook appears as Drew and John Brotherton as Brad, while Sterling Jerins plays the Warrens' daughter Judy. The films are based on cases the Warrens claimed to have investigated, and the cast portray those families as the movies depict them, not as a record of anything proven.

The Conjuring 2 moves to Enfield, north London, in 1977. Madison Wolfe plays Janet Hodgson, the girl at the center of the case as the film tells it, and Frances O'Connor plays her mother Peggy. Lauren Esposito, Benjamin Haigh and Patrick McAuley play Janet's siblings, and Simon McBurney plays Maurice Grosse. Franka Potente appears as Anita Gregory, and Bonnie Aarons plays the Demon Nun, the figure Lorraine sees in a vision before the Warrens travel to England.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is set in Brookfield, Connecticut, in 1981. Julian Hilliard plays eight-year-old David Glatzel, Sarah Catherine Hook plays his sister Debbie, and Ruairí O'Connor plays her boyfriend Arne Cheyne Johnson. John Noble plays Father Kastner, and Eugenie Bondurant plays The Occultist. Shannon Kook returns as Drew Thomas, and Steve Coulter returns as Father Gordon.

In The Conjuring: Last Rites, the story jumps to 1986 and the Smurl family of West Pittston, Pennsylvania. Elliot Cowan plays Jack Smurl, Rebecca Calder plays Janet Smurl, and the other Smurl roles are played by Tilly Walker (Carin), Kíla Lord Cassidy (Heather), Beau Gadsdon (Dawn) and Molly Cartwright (Shannon). Mia Tomlinson plays an adult Judy Warren, and Ben Hardy plays her partner Tony Spera. Peter Wight appears as Grandpa Smurl.

The spin-offs each bring their own ensemble. Annabelle (2014) stars Annabelle Wallis as Mia Form and Ward Horton as John Form, with Alfre Woodard as Evelyn and Tony Amendola as Father Perez. Annabelle Creation (2017) stars Stephanie Sigman as Sister Charlotte, with Talitha Eliana Bateman as Janice, Lulu Wilson as Linda, Anthony LaPaglia as Samuel Mullins and Miranda Otto as Esther Mullins. The Nun (2018) stars Taissa Farmiga as Sister Irene and Demián Bichir as Father Burke, with Jonas Bloquet as Maurice Theriault. The Curse of La Llorona stars Linda Cardellini as Anna Tate-Garcia, with Raymond Cruz as Rafael Olvera and Patricia Velásquez as Patricia Alvarez. Annabelle Comes Home (2019) centers on Mckenna Grace as Judy Warren, with Madison Iseman as Mary Ellen, Katie Sarife as Daniela Rios and Michael Cimino as Bob Palmeri. The Nun II brings back Taissa Farmiga and Jonas Bloquet, and adds Storm Reid as Sister Debra and Anna Popplewell as Kate.

The cast credits also answer the common ghost and nun searches. Bonnie Aarons plays the Demon Nun in The Conjuring 2 and the title figure, billed as The Nun / Valak, in The Nun (2018), and she is credited as The Demon Nun / Valak in The Nun II. Gary-7 is credited as Late Father Michael Morrisey / Priest Spirit in Annabelle Comes Home (2019), and Joseph Bishara, the saga's usual composer, is credited as the Annabelle Demon in Annabelle Creation (2017). For more on the figures themselves, see the conjuring characters index.

James Wan directed the first two main films, The Conjuring (2013) and The Conjuring 2 (2016), and Michael Chaves directed the next two, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021) and The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025). Chaves has directed four films in the universe in total, because he also made The Curse of La Llorona (2019) and The Nun II (2023).

The spin-offs passed through a wider range of directors. John R. Leonetti directed Annabelle (2014) after working as cinematographer on The Conjuring (2013), and TheWrap reported that Gary Dauberman wrote its script and that Wan and Peter Safran were producing. David F. Sandberg directed Annabelle Creation (2017), a film first announced as Annabelle 2 (2017) and later retitled, according to Daily Dead. Corin Hardy directed The Nun (2018), which shot in historic Romanian castles, and Dauberman made his directing debut with Annabelle Comes Home (2019), also credited with the story and as a producer.

Behind the camera, the sound of the universe has mostly belonged to Joseph Bishara. He composed The Conjuring (2013), Annabelle (2014), The Conjuring 2, The Curse of La Llorona, Annabelle Comes Home and The Devil Made Me Do It. Benjamin Wallfisch scored Annabelle Creation (2017) and The Conjuring: Last Rites, Abel Korzeniowski scored The Nun (2018), and Marco Beltrami scored The Nun II. The conjuring soundtrack page covers the albums and songs in more detail.

The next film has a new director. Variety reported that Rodrigue Huart will direct The Conjuring: First Communion from a script by Richard Naing and Ian Goldberg, with Peter Safran producing. TheWrap reports the film is dated for September 10, 2027 and that filming is underway, and the conjuring first communion page tracks its status and date.

Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga are the franchise's fixed points: they play Ed and Lorraine Warren in all four main films and also appear in The Nun (2018) and Annabelle Comes Home (2019). In my opinion, that continuity is the main reason the saga holds together while the families, countries and decades change around them. It could be argued that the saga is really a two person drama with a haunting attached.

The most visible recast is Judy Warren. Sterling Jerins plays her in The Conjuring (2013), The Conjuring 2 and The Devil Made Me Do It, Mckenna Grace plays her in Annabelle Comes Home (2019), and Mia Tomlinson plays the adult Judy in Last Rites. Perhaps the shift to Tomlinson works because the film treats Judy as a grown woman with her own relationship, so it does not ask the audience to compare her with a child. Grace's turn is different again, since Annabelle Comes Home (2019) is built around Judy and her babysitter Mary Ellen while the Warrens are away overnight.

Several supporting actors return in the same role. Shannon Kook plays Drew in the 2013 film and Drew Thomas in The Devil Made Me Do It and Last Rites, and Steve Coulter plays Father Gordon in The Conjuring 2, The Devil Made Me Do It and Last Rites. John Brotherton plays Brad in the 2013 film and Brad Hamilton in Last Rites. Tony Amendola plays Father Perez in both Annabelle (2014) and The Curse of La Llorona, which is how the latter links back. Lili Taylor even returns as Carolyn Perron in The Nun (2018).

The monsters are cast with the same consistency. Bonnie Aarons has played the demonic nun across The Conjuring 2, The Nun (2018) and The Nun II. Taissa Farmiga and Jonas Bloquet play Sister Irene and Maurice Theriault in both Nun films, and Samara Lee plays Annabelle "Bee" Mullins in both Annabelle Creation (2017) and Annabelle Comes Home (2019). That being said, in my opinion the spin-offs Annabelle (2014), Annabelle Creation (2017) and Annabelle Comes Home (2019) never keep one lead for long, since each swaps its central family.

The next recast is the biggest. Variety (Australia edition) reported on July 15, 2026 that Garrett Wareing will play Ed Warren and Amanda Fix will play Lorraine Warren in The Conjuring: First Communion, with Charles Parnell, Marta Kessler, Caleb Dolden and Matthias Schweighöfer also reported as joining, per TheWrap. These are reported castings, and the characters for the four additional actors have not been reported. I think recasting the Warrens is the safer choice for a prequel, since it spares the films from having to make Wilson and Farmiga look younger.