what happened to the original start cast of the conjuring last rites

The original main cast of The Conjuring: Last Rites didn’t disappear — Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga still anchor the film as Ed and Lorraine Warren, and the movie’s production even considered digitally de-aging them before choosing younger actors for flashback scenes.

What changed

• The younger versions of Ed and Lorraine were played by new cast members : Madison Lawlor and Orion Smith.
• That means the “original cast” is mostly still present in the film’s present-day storyline, while the younger timeline uses recasting.
• The movie also leans into the franchise’s ending/final-chapter angle, so the casting choices were part of making the story feel more emotional and less like a straight continuation.

Why the recast happened

The production initially planned to de-age Wilson and Farmiga for the younger scenes, but that approach was abandoned in favor of casting separate younger actors.
That decision let the film avoid heavy digital effects and gave the flashback material its own performance style.

Quick scoop

So, nothing dramatic happened to the original stars — they’re still the core of the franchise — but Last Rites uses a split-casting approach for the past-tense material.

TL;DR: The “original cast” wasn’t replaced overall; only the younger versions of Ed and Lorraine were recast, while Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga remained the lead present-day actors.