The Nun may be the fifth movie in the Conjuring Universe, but it's hardly the last. With unlimited potential for future sequels and spinoffs based off the real-life cases of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (as well as storylines and characters inspired by said cases), the Conjuring Universe will likely last for as long as audiences are willing to stay on board.
The Warrens have explored everything from a haunted house in Amityville, New York, belonging to the Lutz family (see: The Amityville Horror) to the former funeral home belonging to the Snedeker family in Southington, Connecticut (see: The Haunting in Connecticut). After forming the New England Society for Psychic Research, they spent roughly fifty years surrounded by the supernatural, and the Conjuring Universe takes a deep (if not embellished) dive into their real-life stories.
Related: 15 Things You Didn't Know About The Conjuring
The long-term future of this franchise is mostly in the dark, but there is a small slate of sequels and spinoffs already greenlit and ready for production. They'll not only dig deeper into the Conjuring's lore, but take inspiration from the now infamous cases that the Warrens have spent a lifetime examining.
Annabelle 3
In Annabelle and Annabelle: Creation, the real-life possessed doll (now locked away in the occult museum belonging to Ed and Lorraine Warren) is moved from home to home, destroying the lives of every family it touches. Now, the as-yet-untitled Annabelle 3 will explore a timeline that takes place - oddly enough - in between the events of the very first Conjuring movie. From director Gary Dauberman (who penned the first two Annabelle movies, as well as The Nun, IT, and IT: Chapter Two), the third Annabelle will take place shortly after the Warrens first came into possession of the doll, but before they investigated the Perron family hauntings.
The movie is expected to involve the Warrens themselves, but will focus primarily on their daughter Judy. Annabelle will possess other haunted items located in the occult museum, making them come to life a la Night at the Museum - only scarier.
The Conjuring 3
Though there is currently no official synopsis for The Conjuring 3, director James Wan (who may only return as producer on the third installment) has revealed some minor details regarding its direction.
Related: Here's How The Nun Connects To Annabelle & The Conjuring
For one, Wan is adamant that The Conjuring 3 deviate from its first two predecessors by not involving a haunted house. Rumors have circulated that the third installment may tackle one of the Warrens' more obscure cases involving a man named Bill Ramsey who was reportedly possessed by a werewolf-like demon in the UK, though this hasn't been confirmed. It would also bring the ghost-hunting couple back to a similar setting as The Conjuring 2, but would introduce a major time jump from the second movie (which the franchise is no stranger to), given that Ramsey's exorcism took place in 1983.
The Crooked Man
Based on the English nursery rhyme There Was a Crooked Man, which is featured in The Conjuring 2, The Crooked Man is yet another spinoff that will expand the growing Conjuring Universe. However, it's unclear how the standalone movie will kick off, given that the haunted zoetrope in which the manifested Crooked Man resides is locked away inside the Warrens' occult museum.
That said, given that Annabelle 3, which will be released before The Crooked Man, revolves around the possessed doll bringing other objects in the museum to life, it's entirely possible that the Crooked Man will somehow escape by the end, leading up to the spinoff - possibly even by transporting itself into another, seemingly innocuous object.
The Nun 2
While there is no official word on a sequel to The Nun being greenlit - or even considered - the likelihood of Warner Bros giving it the go-ahead is entirely possible. So, assuming The Nun's box office warrants a sequel, where could it possibly go? By the end of The Nun, the demon Valak is seemingly defeated. However, considering the fact that it returns around twenty years later for The Conjuring 2, it'd make sense that the Conjuring Universe would want to craft a bridge between the movies to fill in the blanks.
Related: The Nun's Ending & Conjuring Future Explained
Now, the end of The Nun does reveal the direct connection that Lorraine Warren has with Valak, which bridges the two movies, but it doesn't explain how Valak comes back from the dead, so to speak. So, unless Lorraine's clairvoyance somehow helps Valak manifest itself out of thin air through her vision alone, a sequel would help spell out its return.
Then again, a sequel for The Nun could also focus its attention on Maurice (played by Jonas Bloquet), who's been marked by Valak, between the events of The Nun and The Conjuring.
