The Conjuring: Last Rites director Michael Chaves spoke with ComingSoon about the horror movie’s huge box office success. Chaves also revealed a late creative change that led to the casting of young Ed and Lorraine Warren, while also discussing the series’ lasting appeal. Last Rites is currently playing in theaters and is available to rent and own on Digital. It’s out on 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD on November 25, 2025.
“The film delivers another thrilling chapter of the iconic Conjuring cinematic universe, based on real events,” reads the official synopsis. “Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reunite for one last case as renowned, real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren in a powerful and spine-chilling addition to the global box office-breaking franchise.”
Tyler Treese: Congrats on The Conjuring: Last Rites. I wanted to ask you about the casting of Young Ed and Lorraine. I thought you really nailed it there. It’s crazy how much he looks like Patrick Wilson, especially. I’d be totally down to watch them in a TV show or a future movie. That’s how well they did. How was it filling these now iconic roles with fresh faces? How was that process?
Michael Chaves: It was quite the process, and honestly, I gotta give the credit to my wife. She’s a casting director [and] basically helped me with all my short films and commercials. She wasn’t the main casting director on this film, but we were shooting in London, and it wasn’t the plan to cast young versions of them originally. In fact, like that whole opening wasn’t even in the original script.
I basically came in and pitched the idea that it would open with the birth of Judy. And the first question the studio asked was, “Well, how are you gonna do young and Ed and Lorraine?” And without even thinking, I was like, “Well, we’re gonna de-age Patrick and Vera, of course, that’s like the only way to do it.”
Then everyone nodded and assumed that was the way to go, and then we got into it and, you know, we were talking to like the best companies that did that stuff – the bleeding edge of it. I just started getting a really weird feeling the more we got into it. I just started feeling like it was… I think now there’s actually been this backlash against de-aging that’s really just kind of come down really fast and hard. But it wasn’t that way when we were prepping. I think that was still kind of so polarized, de-aging, and also AI. Now I feel like there’s such a big blowback against AI, and that’s like one of the key technologies that they’re using now to do de-aging is AI. Just to keep it consistent.
So we kept on going. I had this pit in my stomach. I was like, “I don’t know if we’re making the right decision anymore,” the more I learned about it. Then Vera came back, and she was like, “I think you should just cast it.” It was so relieving to hear that. Because once you have the lead of your movie, say that she doesn’t want to be in something, or she feels like there’s a better way of going, it’s all the ammo that you need to kind of go back.
And I just went back to the studio, and I said, “I think we’re making a huge mistake.” They were like, “Yeah, but show me a young Ed and Lorraine that’s gonna be convincing, that’s gonna pull you into the movie.” And I was like, “Okay, I’m on it.”
I turned to my wife – you know, she was with me in England with the kids. They brought the family. Her casting company is based in LA. And I was like, “I need you to just do the biggest search ever and just find me a young Ed and Lorraine.” And we looked all over, or they looked all over the country, and she looked at so many different Ed and Lorraines. [Then] we finally found Orion and Madison, and I think they’re amazing. What I love about it is when people are watching the movie and they first see Orion, because he looks so much like Patrick, they think that it’s de-aging. They think it’s a visual effect because it’s just so uncanny.
Long story, long answer, but yeah, that was something I’m really proud of.
The Conjuring: Last Rites did so incredibly at the box office. This was meant to be a goodbye, and you had that lovely wedding scene with so many callbacks. I saw James Wan there. That was really cool. But why do you think this franchise is more popular than ever? It’s not slowing down any.
Yeah, I think it’s a testament to how much people love the old-fashioned filmmaker. I think there’s something very traditional about this that almost bucks trends. It kind of tries to go for something that is a little bit more old school. I think people love the characters probably most of all. They’re fascinated by what will happen to them.
I went to the to the Burbank AMC the weekend that it opened until… You know, not every showing, but almost as many showings as I could, I would like to go out in front to introduce the movie. I think on Saturday night there was this really rowdy crowd, and it was amazing. This guy was like, “How does it end?” I was like, “I can’t tell you. You gotta watch the movie.”
But I think what drove so many people is they wanted to know what happened. They wanted to know what happened to Ed and Lorraine. I think that – especially on this one, when you’re saying it’s gonna be the last one – I think that’s a very compelling, dramatic question.
Thanks to Michael Chaves for taking the time to talk about The Conjuring: Last Rites.
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