‘The Curse of La Llorona’ Is Not a Part of the ‘The Conjuring’ Universe!!

While it was previously reported that the 2019 film The Curse of La Llorona was to be the sixth installment of the The Conjuring franchise, director Michael Chaves has revealed that the film is not actually part of that series’ continuity, despite its Annabelle cameos. According to the director, the confusion stemmed from a misunderstanding at the film’s premiere at the SXSW film festival.

The film, which is based upon Mexican folklore, takes place in 1973, following a mother named Anna (Linda Cardellini) and her family who are haunted by a ghostly entity known as La Llorna. The film also includes a cameo from haunted doll Annabelle, as Anna enlists the help of Father Perez (Tony Amendola), who had previously appeared in the 2014 doll-centric spin-off. While one would think this would comfortably place the film in The Conjuring‘s universe, it seems the truth is not so simple. As Chaves sat down with Entertainment Weekly to discuss The Conjuring‘s 10th anniversary, the director commented on the film’s connection to the wider franchise, saying “There’s so much debate about it and I think I’ve played coy in the past. One of the reasons that it couldn’t formally be a part of the Conjuring Universe is it didn’t include one of the key producers, Peter Safran. The Conjuring is his baby, him and James [Wan, director of the series’ first two installments], and they are still the two core producers on it.”

Safran reportedly wasn’t involved in La Llorona “because it was such a small low-budget movie,” but Chaves explained “Peter still gave his permission to let the character be in there.” The cameos were apparently a fun Easter Egg for fans which were blown out of proportion, as Chaves said “The funny thing is that it was supposed to be a secret, it was supposed to be this Easter Egg, and [when the film premiered at] SXSW, there was a slip-up. The presenter introduced the movie as the next entry in the Conjuring universe. So that was a big kind of faux pas. It was a big mess-up, and that’s the truth of how that all came together.” Safran himself chimed in on the topic, firmly agreeing that La Llorona is “not part of The Conjuring universe,” saying “You can’t count it!”

Wan’s Connection Also Led to the Misunderstanding

The film was produced by Wan through his production company, Atomic Monster, which also created a misleading connection to the franchise. Safran added, “It periodically gets lumped in because of Chaves and because of Atomic Monster, but it is not officially part of the universe.” He did praise the La Llorona director however, saying “By the way, I think Chaves did a great job on the movie, which is why we stole him for the Conjuring universe.”