The Conjuring: Last Rites Director Reveals the Last-Minute Change Behind Its Box Office Surge

The Conjuring: Last Rites is racking up big numbers, and director Michael Chaves is finally talking about the late-in-the-game decision that changed how the movie opens — and who plays young Ed and Lorraine Warren. It involves scrapping de-aging, a casting search run from a family trip, and one of those behind-the-scenes pivots that feels obvious only after you hear it.

Chaves says the film wasn’t originally supposed to start where it does. While shooting in London, he pitched a new prologue built around the birth of Judy — the Warrens’ daughter — which meant the team suddenly needed younger versions of Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson on screen. At first, the plan was the tech route. Chaves told the studio they’d de-age the leads. Everyone nodded. Off they went to talk to the top vendors who do that work.

Then the doubt kicked in. As they dug deeper, Chaves grew uneasy about leaning on the tech — especially as public sentiment started turning hard against de-aging and anything that reeks of AI. And yes, AI fuels a lot of the de-aging pipelines now because it helps keep faces consistent shot to shot. Chaves could feel the backlash coming, even if the mood at the time was still in that messy middle ground.

"I think we were making a huge mistake."

That was the case he took back to the studio — but not before Vera Farmiga weighed in and basically gave him cover by saying: just cast it. So he did. Well, his secret weapon did: his wife. She’s a casting director, has helped him on shorts and commercials for years, and happened to be in England with him and their kids while her company (based in LA) fired up a large-scale search. They went through a ton of options across the country and eventually landed on Orion and Madison as young Ed and Lorraine. Chaves loves that first moment when Orion shows up on screen — people assume it’s a de-aged Patrick Wilson because the resemblance is that eerie. It’s not a VFX trick. It’s just good casting.

All of this is happening inside a movie that doubles as a goodbye. Farmiga and Wilson are back for what’s billed as one last case, and the film caps things with a wedding sequence stacked with callbacks — including a quick James Wan sighting for the longtime fans keeping score. Chaves was asked why the franchise is still growing when most long-running horror series sputter. His pitch is pretty simple: these movies are deliberately old-school. They don’t chase trends; they play like classic supernatural chillers. And above everything else, people come for the Warrens. They want to see what happens to them, especially when the marketing is hinting there won’t be a next time.

Chaves put that theory to the test opening weekend by popping into the Burbank AMC to introduce as many showings as he could. Saturday night got rowdy. Someone yelled: "How does it end?" Chaves did not answer. He told them to watch the movie. But he’s convinced the curiosity — the need to know where Ed and Lorraine land — is what pulled crowds in.

For the practical details: The Conjuring: Last Rites is the latest entry in the Conjuring universe, pitched as being inspired by real cases and positioned as a final chapter for this core duo in a franchise that’s already blown past plenty of box office milestones. It’s in theaters, and you don’t have to wait to watch at home.

• Now playing in theaters
• Available to rent and own on digital now
• 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD arrive November 25, 2025