If you’ve ever tried bingeing this franchise release by release, you already know the problem: the Conjuring Universe chronological order is nothing like its release order. Ed and Lorraine Warren don’t meet Valak before they meet Annabelle in the timeline, even though moviegoers met the demon nun years later on the big screen. Ten films in, jumping between decades 1943, 1952, 1971, and 1981 without a map is the fastest way to lose the thread of what is genuinely one of the most tightly interconnected horror universes ever built.
This guide lays out the Conjuring Universe chronological order exactly as the story unfolds, from the earliest haunting to the Warrens’ final case, with the release year and the in-story year for every entry so you always know where and when you are.
Why Watching in Chronological Order Hits Different
Release order is how audiences discovered this world; chronological order is how the world actually happened. Watching the films in the sequence the hauntings occur lets you track Ed and Lorraine Warren’s career from young investigators to seasoned demonologists, follow Annabelle the doll as she passes between owners, and watch Valak’s influence spread across decades before The Conjuring 2 ever puts a face to the evil.
Once you commit to the Conjuring Universe chronological order, small details a photograph on a wall, a name mentioned in passing, a case file referenced offhand suddenly connect films that seemed unrelated.
1. The Nun (Set 1952) – Released 2018
To understand Valak, you have to go back before the Warrens were ever involved. A priest and a novice nun are sent to investigate a suicide at a Romanian abbey, uncovering the demon’s origins and the sacred relic tied to her power. Chronologically, this belongs decades before The Conjuring 2, proof that watching in the Conjuring Universe chronological order fundamentally changes how Valak’s reveal lands.
2. Annabelle: Creation (Set 1955) – Released 2017
Before Annabelle terrorized a young couple, she terrorized an orphanage. Dollmaker Samuel Mullins and his wife lose their daughter in a car accident in 1943, and their grief opens a door that should have stayed shut. Years later, in 1955, a group of orphaned girls moves into the Mullins home, and one curious resident awakens the malevolent spirit bound inside a handmade doll. This is the true origin point of the franchise’s most iconic villain, making it the correct opening chapter no matter how the studio released it.
3. The Nun II (Set 1956) – Released 2023
Four years later, Valak resurfaces in France, targeting a former student of the previous film’s protagonist. This entry deepens the mythology around the relic that contains the demon’s power, information that pays off once you reach the Warrens’ later cases.
4. Annabelle (Set 1967–68) – Released 2014
Fast-forward roughly a decade. Expectant parents John and Mia Form bring a vintage doll into their Santa Monica home, unaware of what followed it out of that orphanage. A home invasion, a cult, and a demon looking for a human host push the doll’s curse into its next chapter, setting up the object that will eventually land in the hands of the Warrens.
5. The Conjuring (Set 1971) – Released 2013
The film that started it all, even though it isn’t first in the Conjuring Universe chronological order. Ed and Lorraine Warren travel to Rhode Island to help the Perron family, whose farmhouse is under siege by the vengeful spirit of Bathsheba Sherman. This is also where Annabelle is retired to the Warrens’ occult museum, permanently tying the doll’s story to the demonologists who will anchor the rest of the saga.
6. Annabelle Comes Home (Set 1971) – Released 2019
Set just months after the events of The Conjuring, this entry takes place almost entirely inside the Warrens’ locked artifact room. When their daughter’s babysitter accidentally releases Annabelle’s dark energy, every cursed object in the museum wakes up at once a clever way to cameo-drop future franchise threats without breaking the timeline.
7. The Curse of La Llorona (Set 1973) – Released 2019
A loosely connected chapter following a Los Angeles social worker haunted by La Llorona, the legendary “Weeping Woman” of Mexican folklore. A priest who appears here ties this film back to the wider mythology, making it a worthwhile, if optional, detour in the Conjuring Universe chronological order.
8. The Conjuring 2 (Set 1977) – Released 2016
Six years after Rhode Island, the Warrens head to Enfield, England, to help a single mother whose daughter appears to be possessed. This is where Valak, the demon nun, first appears on screen, though her true origins go back much further, which is exactly why the release order and the chronological order diverge so sharply here.
9. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (Set 1981) – Released 2021
A decade after Enfield, the Warrens take on their most controversial case: a murder trial in which the defendant claims demonic possession as his defense. Based on real courtroom history, this installment shifts the franchise from haunted houses to something closer to a supernatural thriller.
10. The Conjuring: Last Rites – Released 2025
Billed as the Warrens’ final case, this most recent installment brings Ed and Lorraine’s story to a close, revisiting a family whose long-running ordeal became one of the couple’s most talked-about investigations. As the franchise’s capstone, it’s the natural finish line once you’ve worked through the Conjuring Universe in chronological order from the beginning.
There’s no wrong way to enjoy this franchise, but if you want the fullest picture of how Annabelle, Valak, La Llorona, and the Warrens all tie together, the Conjuring Universe chronological order is the way to go. It turns ten separate horror movies into one sprawling, decades-spanning story, and once you’ve watched it this way, going back to release order will feel like reading the last chapter of a book first.
What was your favorite horror film from The Conjuring universe?
