In What Year Is The Nun 2 Set & Where Does It Fit In The Conjuring Timeline?

Fans of "The Conjuring" horror film series are eagerly anticipating the September 8 release of "The Nun 2." It will be the ninth film in the franchise that began with James Wan's original 2013 effort, simply titled "The Conjuring." Wan also directed the sequel, "The Conjuring 2," which was released in 2016. Michael Chaves took over the franchise beginning with 2021's "The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It."

The series also includes three "Annabelle" films," 2019's "The Curse of La Llorona," and 2018's "The Nun." The existing eight films span a timeline stretching from the 17th Century to the 1980s, and the series jumps back and forth in time as it progresses, with much of the action taking place in the mid and late 20th Century. 

According to the recently released trailer, "The Nun II" takes place in France in 1956, placing it third in the series chronology, one year after the events of "Annabelle: Creation," which was released in 2017. "The Nun 2" stars Taissa Farmiga as Sister Irene and Bonnie Aarons as the demon nun Valak. Chaves will direct the film, and Wan returns to the franchise as co-producer alongside Peter Safran.

Katelyn Rose Downey, who made her acting debut in last year's "The Princess," will play a girl named Sophie and appears in the trailer exploring a dusty and cluttered attic with a flashlight. "The Nun 2" will also introduce Storm Reid to the franchise as a young novitiate. Viewers may recognize Reid as Gia Bennett from "Euphoria" or from her guest appearance as Riley in Episode 7 of "The Last of Us." In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Michael Chaves compared Reid's character to Taissa Farmiga's from the first "The Nun" film and prepared fans for where she may be headed in the upcoming installment.

"She is a nun in training and she's debating about whether she's going to take her vows," he said. "She's at this pivotal point in her life, and she gets pulled along with Irene on this mission, on this journey." 

Chaves also had strong words of praise for Bonnie Aarons and her ability to slide in and out of the demonic persona she embodies so well — at least when the cameras are rolling. "Bonnie's incredible," he said. "She can really turn it on, she really knows what's scary, and she's just so easy. It's not like she's always in this dark nun persona, she's not the Method Nun."