The Conjuring’s Patrick Wilson on Annabelle Doll Expert’s Death

“I think anytime something happens in real life—I never sensationalize it. There’s a lot of unexplained things,” he exclusively told E! News’ Francesca Amiker. “Anytime you’re dealing with real people, real families, real friends—that’s much bigger than any of this other stuff.”

Indeed, Wilson and his longtime costar are more than a little familiar with the ominous Raggedy Ann doll as the Warrens’ investigation into Annabelle is what kickstarted The Conjuring franchise back in 2013—and later earned the doll her own spinoff.

Rivera, 54, too had links to the Warrens as he was a member of the New England Society for Psychic Research (NESPR), an organization founded by the couple in 1952 (Ed died in 2006, followed by Lorraine’s 2019 passing). 

And NESPR’s haunted adventures are encapsulated in The Conjuring films. In fact, the swan song Last Rites is based on the Warren’s experience with the Smurl family, who claimed they were taunted—and even assaulted—by supernatural forces inside their Pennsylvania home throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s.  

The infamous paranormal case neatly captures what’s made The Conjuring universe a hit with horror fans, providing a fitting big-screen sendoff for the Warrens, even if, as Farmiga put it, there was nothing “nostalgic, poignant, ooey gooey” about her and Wilson’s final moments together on set. 

“There was no big, grand farewell between him and me. It was pretty unceremonious,” The Departed actress revealed, citing their exhaustion toward the end of filming and Wilson getting wrapped on the set before Farmiga. “We [looked] like zombies. We kind of just blinked at each other and he left.”

The Conjuring: Last Rites releases into theaters on Sept. 5. For more new movies releasing this fall, keep reading…