TV’s Chucky continues the doll-possessed-by-a-serial-killer franchise that began with the 1988 feature Child’s Play. The second half of Season 3 premieres on Wednesday, April 10, on Syfy, USA Network cable and Peacock streaming.
In Season 3’s first half, Chucky (voiced as always by Brad Dourif) infiltrated the White House. He’s pursued by his teen foes Jake (Zack Arthur), Devon (Bjorgvin Arnarson), and Lexy (Alyvia Alyn Lind).
Chucky creator/showrunner Don Mancini devised the Chucky character, wrote on all of the features, and directed the last three. He and actors Arthur, Alyn Lind, and Devon Sawa (so far Jake’s father, Jake’s uncle, a rigid priest and the U.S. President) are at a party thrown at Pasadena’s Langham Hotel by NBC/Universal for the Television Critics Association (TCA) 2024 Winter press tour. They’re all happy to talk about their bonkers horror show.
Mancini says the storylines are planned yet flexible. “When I first pitched the show, they wanted to see that it has the potential to last. So, broadly speaking, a lot of these arcs have already been thought out. But once we get into the writers’ room, there are always surprises. For example, when we were doing Season 1, I didn’t have any thought about where we have ended up going with the character of [Lexy’s little sister] Caroline. It was really because Carina Battrick [as Caroline] is so talented that I saw, ‘She would be a great evil kid.’”
The young cast has matured along with their characters. “I started the show when I was thirteen, now I’m getting my driver’s license,” Alyn Lind says. For Season 2, she did research in order to convincingly portray Lexy’s drug addiction. “I wanted to get it right, and I wanted to make it as accurate as possible [in terms of] what teens going through drug abuse can look like. My favorite part [of Chucky] is that it's craziness, a lot of blood and gore and killer dolls, but the show is grounded in the way that real teenagers would be acting. It’s a great balance.”
“I’ve grown up three years on the show now,” Arthur offers, “These are some pivotal moments of my life. I’ve been able to meet some great people and get great advice. Jake obviously has gone through a lot in three seasons.”
Jake and Devon’s romance continues to evolve. Mancini believes, “Most fans, like me, feel, ‘I like them, I like those characters as a couple, and I want the best for them.’ It’s very sweet. I think those actors have done a great job playing those characters and their bond. Certainly, as a gay teenage horror fan, I would have loved to have seen characters like Jake and Devon on TV shows. It’s so nice that we get to do that now.”
As for other developments, Sawa contributes, “Season 1, [Arthur] started off at about my shoulder height, and now he’s taller than me.”
“No, I’m not taller than you,” Arthur objects.
“You’re getting there,” Sawa tells him.
Arthur’s locks add an inch or two. “Maybe with the hair,” Arthur concedes.
When he started on Chucky, Sawa had no idea he’d appear as different characters each season. “I knew both characters [in Season 1] were going to die, so I was at peace with it. Then, at the end of the season, Don Mancini asked me if I’d like to come back the following year. It’s a blessing.”
“It was a delightful surprise,” Arthur adds. “I love working with Devon. It’s very easy to get there emotionally when you’re working with great actors.”
Sawa’s Father Bryce was also possessed by Chucky in Season 2. Did Dourif give him any tips? Initially, Dourif was prevented from visiting the set due to the COVID pandemic. “He came to set on the third season. He didn’t give me any Chucky lessons, but we had some amazing conversations about old-school Hollywood.”
Does Dourif ever have any requests for what he would like to do as Chucky? “Not really,” Mancini responds. “I think he trusts me to keep it interesting – that’s his main thing, ‘Give me something fun.’ So, that’s my mission: we have this amazing actor, we should give him cool new shit to do at all times.”
Fiona Dourif, Brad Dourif’s daughter, reprises her feature characters, Nica Pierce and Chucky-possessed Nica. For the TV show, she also plays twentysomething Charles Lee Ray in flashbacks. The senior Dourif portrays the older Charles Lee Ray, whose soul inhabits Chucky.
“I guess it’s like father, like daughter, but Fiona is a magician,” Arthur observes. “It’s amazing the way that she can transform. But living with Brad, I’m sure you pick up some characteristics.”
“Fiona’s laugh in real life is Chucky’s laugh,” Mancini relates. “When I was working with her for the first time on Curse of Chucky, I thought, ‘You look so much like your dad, you’ve got to play Chucky at some point.’”
We saw Brad Dourif in the trailer for Season 3 Part 2. “You are looking at the ghost of Charles Lee Ray,” Mancini explains. “We teased the possibility of ghosts in the first half of the season. There’s more going on at the White House than just Chucky.”
This “more” also includes Lexy’s flirtation with the President’s older son, Grant (Jackson Kelly). Alyn Lind reveals, “She feels seen by him, she connects with him, and she hasn’t felt that sort of connection with somebody in a really long time.”
How do the actors deal with the ever-present Chucky puppeteers clad in chroma-key green spandex?
Alyn Lind remembers with a laugh, “When I first came onto the show, I didn’t know how Chucky worked. I didn’t know if it was going to be animatronics, I didn’t know if it was VFX, and then I walk on set, it’s guys in green suits, and it’s like, ‘What the heck is going on?’ But you’re so focused on the fact that this doll is so alive, right there, giving his best performance, you forget about the green people surrounding it.”
Arthur concurs. “They’re so good at their jobs that they all disappear. [Acting opposite Chucky is] like acting with another person. [The puppeteers] get really into it. You can see them making the faces of what he’s doing and trying to act it out as best as possible.”
Each elaborate Chucky opening title sequence is unique to the episode it accompanies. Mancini designs some; others are suggested by Huge Designs, which executes the credits. “I love title sequences,” Mancini says, “It was important to me, because I love the sense of ritual and ceremony.”
As far as Chucky highlights, Mancini opines, “There have been a lot. When Chucky pushed Lexa Doig out the window, that was a long time in planning and executing. [Episode director] Samir Rehem did a great job.” He similarly credits director Jeff Renfroe with the Season 3 episode where Nia Vardalos plays a convict voodoo-manipulated into self-destruction. “Nia was like channeling Bruce Campbell, that kind of physical comedy where there’s a disconnect between brain and body.”
Chucky fans are vocal and supportive, Arthur reports. “I’ve been delighted that there are lots of people messaging me, saying that they relate to Jake’s character, some of the experiences that he’s been through. It’s really heartwarming. We love the fans, and with the horror fans, everybody is so dedicated.”
What should viewers know about Part 2 of Chucky Season 3?
Sawa says, “It blew me away, how gigantic a production it is.”
Mancini declares, “We set some kind of record in terms of the amount of blood we ordered for the last two episodes. So, that’s what I would leave people with – record-setting amounts of blood to come.”
For more of our favorite killer doll, check out Chucky creator Don Mancini and star Devon Sawa on the subscriber cover of FANGORIA #23. And to keep the Chucky train rolling, Don Mancini recently confirmed a new Chucky movie in the works.
