In 2013, The Conjuring's success spawned a spin-off in Annabelle, a film centered around the cursed doll from the prologue of James Wan's franchise starter. As luck would have it, the micro-budget off shoot made its budget and a hell of a profit in its 2014 release, which has lead to Annabelle 2 coming to our screens in next year. So right about now is a good time to start casting the new crew of victims for the evil playmate's delight, and two have already entered the ring.
The Hollywood Reporter has scooped that Miranda Otto, best known for her roles in The Lord of The Rings, has been cast as one of the newly minted leads, with Variety staking the other role for Spectre's Stephanie Sigman. Not only have the first two roles been cast, but the sequel's plot has also been uncovered, in the following synopsis:
The story follows a dollmaker and his wife, set 20 years after the tragic death of their daughter. They welcome a nun and several girls from a shuttered orphanage into their home, who soon become the target of the dollmaker's possessed creation, Annabelle.
Otto is slated to play the dollmaker's wife, who's described as a "disfigured recluse," while Sigman has been cast as Sister Charlotte, the nun watching over the orphans. Now as much as it can be joked that The Conjuring is putting together a cinematic universe of its own, looking at this synopsis really does remind us of the fact that The Conjuring 2 just happened to have a nun antagonist. And seeing as The Nun has been announced as another spin-off of The Conjuring's universe, it would be a nice and tidy fit if the nun in Annabelle 2 just happened to be The Nun known as Valak. Fighting forces from another realm can do things to a person if they aren't careful.
Looking at both The Conjuring and Annabelle's financial successes, Annabelle 2 looks to be a sure-fire success in the making. With two of the three leads cast in the new sequel, the pivotal role of the dollmaker behind the creation of Annabelle is going to be an interesting casting call to watch out for. In fact, we'd assume that a genre stalwart might get cast in the role, and that thought alone has us thinking that Annabelle 2 could be as least as serviceable as Annabelle. What we do know is that the casting so far has us excited, and we'll keep you updated on any new information as it becomes available.
In the meantime, you can check out The Conjuring 2, which is currently in theaters now. Meanwhile, Annabelle 2 is prepping for a May 19, 2017 release date, so it shouldn't be long before production starts and casting is completed.
