Chucky, has been shocking and charming audiences for decades ever since he sliced and diced his way into the pop culture zeitgeist when “Child’s Play” premiered on the 9th of November, 1988. Directed and co-written by Tom Holland, produced by David Kirschner, and based on an original story by Don Mancini, the film soon became an international sensation, spawning six sequels, all written by Mancini who helmed three of them: Seed of Chucky in 2004, Curse of Chucky in 2013 and Cult of Chucky in 2017.
Chucky’s last outing was the 2019 theatrical “reboot” penned by Tyler Burton Smith and directed by Lars Klevberg but that time round Mancini decided not to get involved. According to Klevberg, Mancini “stood his ground that he didn’t want anything to do with this remake. His version is developed with Universal, but MGM owns the rights for the original Child’s Play movie.”
Aside from the Universal/MGM context, well before the release of Klevberg’s adaptation, reports had already been doing the rounds that Mancini was prepping a television show that would serve as some sort of direct continuation of the original film franchise. This news was shortly followed up with the announcement that SYFY had placed a straight-to-series order for “CHUCKY” with Mancini also serving as showrunner and set to direct the first episode.
This all-new adaptation of the franchise takes viewers to the idyllic town of Hackensack where a vintage/retro Good Guys doll is up for grabs at a suburban yard sale. Naturally, as soon as the freckle-faced doll finds himself a new owner, the idyllic American town is thrown into all kinds of chaos as a series of horrifying murders start to expose the town’s hypocrisies and secrets.
The first episode went down a treat when it premiered on Syfy and USA Network on the 12th of October. And now, following an unexpected trailer drop teasing the imminent arrival of enemies – and allies – from Chucky’s past, SCREAM caught up with Alex Vincent (Andy Barclay in Child’s Play, Child’s Play 2, Curse of Chucky & Cult of Chucky) and Christine Elise (Kyle in Child’s Play 2 & Cult of Chucky) to find out how Mancini will be bringing them back into the fold, whether the show’s new star, Zackary Arthur asked them for any advice before picking up the baton, and how the animatronics continue to blow their minds with each new Child’s Play iteration.
The “Chucky O.G.s” enter the game in the next episode, airing tonight on USA NETWORK/SYFY!
Words: Howard Gorman
