Today, the teaser trailer was released for the upcoming Chucky TV series that will be airing on USA and SYFY on October 12. Along with the teaser, showrunner and franchise creator, Don Mancini, spoke with Entertainment Weekly about the series premise, the MAJOR cliffhanger ending to 2017’s Cult of Chucky, and the look of the killer doll this time around.
Yeah, I’m gonna need people to do their research before they put a vintage doll up for sale. Has no one heard of the horrors of Chucky in this neighborhood?! Though, admittedly, one of the most entertainings things about Chucky is how so many people shrug him off until they realize he’s a foulmouth, knife-wielding menace who can easily go for the kneecaps.
Mancini told Entertainment Weekly, “The main character is a 14-year-old gay boy who’s bullied and sort of lost after the recent death of his mother. He’s a young artist [making] sculptures with doll parts. He finds Chucky at a yard sale and buys him, but it turns out that he gets much more than he bargained for.” Mancini also expressed a desire to bring the franchise back to its roots by having young protagonists, “But since, with the first couple of movies, we’d already delved into having little kids I wanted to explore something different, so this time we’re exploring young teenagers.”
I’m beyond excited to see a Chucky production that focuses on adolescent protagonists (and I am particularly here for more queer characters in horror). Since Chucky is a doll, it always made sense to me that the heroes of the story would be the kids the doll was made for. The franchise has, in a way, grown up with me, with the original coming out in 1988 (I was 5 at the time). It’s introduced some bizarre concepts over the years, but as Mancini says, they’ve been keeping up with the narrative for over 30 years. “One of the things that we pride ourselves on, and I think makes our franchise singular, is that we have spun a relatively consistent and coherent narrative over the course of 33 years and seven films and now eight episodes of television.”
Spoilers to Cult of Chucky below
Now, you certainly don’t need me to tell you that Bride and Seed of Chucky are… a thing, but what I have found sort of fascinating about Mancini’s work is that he, somehow, makes it make sense. When we got to Curse and Cult of Chucky, elements from the most random entries in the franchise were there, and they worked! Those movies managed to be very dark but kept the humorous tone that makes Chucky, well, Chucky. The idea of multiple murderous dolls is frighteningly amusing, and that cliffhanger ending of Cult of Chucky with the now-possessed Nica driving off with my girl Tiffany (I am contractually obligated to love Jennifer Tilly) is ripe with possibilities.
And Mancini planned it that way.
“I think that’s one of the things that our fans like about the Chucky franchise. I deliberately ended Cult of Chucky on a series of cliffhangers, major cliffhangers, because I knew a TV series would be the ideal place to accommodate delving into the ramifications. So we begin the series introducing our new story, our new milieu, and then we start to bring the veteran characters into the story, and it all comes together for a big showdown.”
And he does mean veteran, as Entertainment Weekly reveals the return of Jennifer Tilly (Tiffany), Fiona Dourif (Nica), Alex Vincent (Andy), Christine Elise (Kyle, Andy’s foster sister), and Brad Dourif (voice of Chucky) This returning cast will come together with franchise newcomers Zackary Arthur and Alyvia Alyn Lind (Transparent), Teo Briones, Björgvin Arnarson, Lexa Doig (Jason X) and Devon Sawa (Final Destination)
What I’m wondering is which Chucky doll are we seeing in the trailer. Cult of Chucky gave us multiple dolls, so there’s no telling which doll our main character has in his possession. It’ll also be interesting to see the old generation come together with the new generation. Not only do we have adults who are purposely causing trouble (Tiffany and Nica), but we have adults who are trying to put an end to Chucky (Andy and Kyle).
It sounds like the new kids are going to be caught in the middle of an ongoing fight and I’m glad we get to see it played off with a television series. I don’t think a movie would be able to cover everything that’s about to go down.
(Image: Entertainment Weekly)
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