After we leave each other dangling from a cliff in the White House just before Halloween, Chucky will come back tomorrow to finish its third season. More chaos awaits Chucky and the teenagers hell-bent on hunting him down in Washington, DC, not to mention Tiffany, who’s stuck on Texas Death Row. Also Chucky’s still faced with a new kind of horror: Aging! Fast!
io9 had the opportunity to speak with him Chucky Creator Don Mancini to learn more about what lies ahead for the killer doll and her crew of enemies, friends, foes and (of course) gruesomely mutilated victims.
Cheryl Eddy, io9: We’ve spent three seasons with Jake, Devon and Lexy and we can’t help but root for them. But Chucky is the “hero” of the series and we always want him to succeed. How do you go about writing these characters in a way that appeals to both sides?
Don Mancini: Chucky is the villain. Or maybe the anti-hero. But I love the way you put it, because that’s kind of how I feel about it – I want it all be happy somehow. But I mean, I like putting new obstacles in the way of these kids. [The other Chucky writers and I] I enjoy identifying with Chucky [coming up with ways to] interrupt their path to happiness. I think that’s part of the appeal of the series and why YA as a genre – which we really did for the first time with the TV show – fits well with Chucky.
With Chucky, going back to the cinema, we found that the style was always slightly exaggerated – Chucky himself seems to work best in a slightly exaggerated world, I think because he himself is stylized as a puppet. He’s like a stylized representation of a human being. But there’s this uncanny valley that makes it seem strange. So we try to bring that little stylization into his whole world without overdoing Tim Burton, I always say. I mean, I love Tim Burton, but we always want to stay a little more naturalistic than a Tim Burton movie. And I think it’s the children. The teenage characters do this so well because teenage emotions are naturally heightened and stylized. That’s why YA fits in well Chucky. But yes, I try to serve all the characters.
io9: There’s a moment in the new episodes where Chucky rants about other “killer doll” characters in pop culture, a sort of extension of his social media persona. Have you always had a scene like this in your head?
Mancini: Yes – especially because we’re in the same studio, Universal. In the third season [the story is about] Chucky struggles with his own diminishing power, his own diminishing power as a killer. And in pop culture, I think making a slasher iconic is just an amusingly relatable kind of existential dilemma. I’ve been doing this for decades, so as the Child’s play When the remake came out a few years ago, it was threatening to me, especially because I was developing the TV show at the time. You never knew what could have happened if this film had been a huge success. It could have resulted in our TV show not happening. It was just this big question mark. That was existentially frightening for me – I think that’s a pretty universal feeling when you’ve been doing something for a certain number of years. I just thought it would be fun to show Chucky dealing with a similar feeling. And how could this be done better? [than seeing] He clicks through the channels and sees M3GAN and the boy and Annabelle – all the different ones, and feels somehow threatened by them? I just found it funny and relatable.
io9: You mentioned 2019 Child’s play Reboot movie – which is best left in the past – but there have been rumors lately that you may have a new Chucky movie in the works. What can you tell us about that?
Mancini: Very little. Really, I can’t really say anything more. It’s like the early days of the talks, but it’s an exciting, exciting endeavor. I hope we get another season of the series too. I mean, I think both can happen and both can coexist there. My plan is for everything to make sense in terms of the continuity and general mythology of the world we’re building. we will not object to anything.
io9: So if you had your Druthers, would it be a theatrical release that follows the story of the TV show?
Mancini: Or it could be that if we get a fourth season, we’ll pick up these storylines. And wherever we end season four, the film could come out on top. I can’t say too much because there’s actually an even trickier way it works that makes it kind of cool. I know that you must take this from me with great skepticism. It’s like I can’t say anything, but it’s really amazing.
io9: I want to say that the end of the third season, without giving anything away, really opens up the possibility of a fourth season. Hopefully we’ll get that announcement sooner rather than later.
Mancini: I hope so. I’m glad it worked. It seemed to work for people. They really liked this twist.
io9: It was very cool to see the legendary John Waters return to the franchise in a new role. What is it like working with John Waters as an actor and how much influence did he have on it? Chucky Character?
Mancini: After working with him on it Seeds of Chucky And just knowing him and being a fan of his work, not just the films but his work as a writer, as a writer and as a performer, he’s really impressive. But I know him and I think that me and my fellow writers managed to tailor this character specifically to him. We wrote it with him in mind, because mentally, who better to have caused all the chaos that erupted from the adorable good-guy doll?
io9: This season we finally see Brad Dourif as more than just Chucky’s voice. Was that a cool experience for everyone?
Mancini: It was fantastic. He was only on set for a few days Curse of Chucky, which we shot in 2012 or 2013. So 10 years have passed. Every year, whether it’s a new movie or a new season of the TV show, I always like to give Brad new things to do to keep him challenged and interested. He is one of the greatest actors of his generation and we have him. I would be remiss if I didn’t take full advantage of this. After giving him all these fun variations on the Chucky persona last year, where he played Good Chucky and Colonel Chucky and so on, I just thought, “Let’s have you in the flesh.” I knew I wanted him to Scenes with the doll because even before I figured out how to do that, I knew it would be cool to see. And scenes with Fiona [Dourif, Brad Dourif’s daughter and Chucky co-star] as young Charles Lee Ray. That’s why I think Fiona is great as the young Charles Lee Ray. It was fun to bring them together and give them something to do, and I think it was kind of a fun family event in their lives – something they will always cherish. It was great having him around because everyone was in the loop: “Chucky’s in the house!” Everyone wants to make a good impression, but he’s not intimidating at all. He’s just so much fun. And it was great to have him with us for a month. He hung out with the puppeteers a lot, which was really interesting.
Chucky Season three, part two premieres tomorrow, April 10, at 10 p.m. on USA and Syfy, with new episodes weekly until May 1. You can also stream episodes the next day on Peacock.
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