The Nun 2 director teases first plot details and The Last of Us star's new novitiate

The first plot details for The Nun 2 have finally been unleashed – and they promise quite the unholy reunion for the original's Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) and Jonas Bloquet's possessed Frenchman Maurice. 

As part of Entertainment Weekly's first look at the horror sequel, director Michael Chaves also teased the film's new locations. This time around, the events take place in Italy and France, rather than Romania, as Sister Irene takes a job in a convent to try and move on from her run-in with demon nun Valak. Elsewhere, Maurice signs up to be a handyman at a boarding school in his home country, unaware that the titular entity has essentially used him as a human vessel. 

"He has a friendship and a flirtation with one of the teachers there, and you can see him starting to mature," Chaves, who previously helmed The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, says of the character. "But we know from the first film that there's something terrible inside of him, that Valak escaped within him, and events pull Irene back on this collision course with her old friend."

Elsewhere in the chat, which was published alongside the first-look image above, Chaves revealed that The Last of Us star Storm Reid plays a novitiate, much like Farmiga's character in the first film. "She is a nun in training and she's debating about whether she's going to take her vows," he continued.

"She's at this pivotal point in her life, and she gets pulled along with Irene on this mission, on this journey, hunting down Maurice through these horrible events that happen."

While Bonnie Aarons reprises her role as the eponymous villain, who made her big screen debut in The Conjuring 2 before getting her own spin-off, other franchise newbies joining the returning cast onscreen include Katelyn Rose Downey and The Chronicles of Narnia's Anna Popplewell. 

From Malignant writer Akela Cooper, The Nun 2 releases on September 8. While we wait, check out our guide to the most exciting upcoming movies coming our way in 2022 and beyond, or have a look over our list of best horror movies.