The last film that featured the doll was the predominantly '50s-set prequel which offers up a true origin for Annabelle, who it turns out was created by a grieving dollmaker after the death of his daughter. Years later, the couple opens their small farm to a group of orphans who quickly fall victim to the evil entity. If you're wondering how this connects to the other films, it's all down to a little girl named Janice who gets possessed by the demonic spirit and ends up escaping the farm, renaming herself Annabelle, and eventually joining the satanic cult that features in the opening of the original Annabelle film. All caught up? That's where we left the little doll who could (kill), and as Annabelle Comes Home begins at the opening of The Conjuring , we can assume that we're going to be joining Annabelle and the Warrens back in 1971.