Chucky's Don Mancini Breaks Down Season 2 Finale, Franchise Future (Exclusive)

A Very Chucky Christmas

CB: How long has Christmas Time Chucky been something you've wanted to do? It must have been there since Seed of Chucky or before.

DM: Oh yeah, I mean decades. We dipped our toe into it in Seed of Chucky. We did that one little scene that Jason Flemyng was in, which was in the film within the film that Jennifer is making. I wanted to do it and that's one of the great things about having moved to the TV format. We have all of this stuff at our disposal and it's like, "Oh, we're not in movies at the moment. We're in the TV series, but let's aim toward our climactic Christmas finale." Which is something that, as a kid watching various shows, I always enjoyed about those shows. So, that seemed like a fun, no brainer thing to do. But like I said, in terms of the drama, it was about making the characters think that they can relax and what morons they are.

CB: Now, because of the way you leave things, obviously you have a lot of possibilities. There's a lot of threads that are still there, but what are the next steps? Were you consciously setting season three or are you just leaving the franchise in a place where if you come back to it eventually, you will have places to go?

DM: Well, that's the thing is there are no guarantees...And we haven't gotten our pickup yet. Fingers crossed. But just as you say, I mean, if we don't get a pickup, I can continue the story in a movie.

Chucky Season 3 Story

CB: Yeah

DM: And it's an interesting cliffhanger that we've left things on because now those kids are much more, what's the phrase, front footed than they've ever been before with regard to what they need to do to deal with Chucky. Because now Caroline has gone off with Tiffany. Now, they're confiding in Miss Fairchild. So, it's basically taking those characters who have aged as kids, but also as Chucky survivors. And now, they're more in the category of Kyle and Andy. They know the truth about Chucky. They have to be more on the offensive now than they've ever been going into the future. I just thought that was a fun new place to bring them to.

Chucky TV Show Gore

CB: I do want to touch on the level of gore that you're able to get away with. Episode 7 Devon Sawa explodes, episode 8 you cut a woman down the middle with a chainsaw. Is there a line? Or was that the line that the studio gives you?

DM: I started to learn about how that line is moving rapidly in television when I first worked on Hannibal. I was often shocked. It's like, "Oh, you can do that on network television now? Oh, where have I been?" There's a little bit of that. I think they're on board. They're on board with all this mayhem, God love them. They've been incredibly supportive. So, I don't think we haven't done anything that's offended them yet. So, thank God.

CB: You haven't gotten a call from standards and practices that's like, "Maybe less here."

DM: Nope.

CB: That's amazing.

DM: Really, it's great. That's one of the great things about working with the people that we do on this project. UCP is our studio, and SYFY USA, our network, they're all horror fans. I mean, maybe not so surprising with a network called SYFY. But it's not always the case. I've definitely worked on some of the movies working with studio execs where this isn't really their kind of movie, which isn't to say they weren't supportive of our film, but it's not really their thing. And one of the upsides of being older, I guess, is that now the network and studio are being run by people who grew up with Chucky. And they like it. They're legit fans. So, I'm very lucky in that regard that I think they're, as I said, they're very supportive of our brand of mayhem.

Chucky franchise length

CB: I know you just finished the season two finale, but has it really registered with you that, in the past two years with these two seasons, you've basically doubled the run time of the entire franchise?

DM: Oh, I've noticed. I feel it in every cell of my body. And I'm constantly, whether it's in a situation like this, so many Zoom meetings, interviews on set, I'm constantly looking at images of myself and I see what it's taken out of me. I can see myself aging along with the characters. So, yeah, I feel it. I'm aware.

An Emmy for Chucky

CB: I'm genuinely not joking when I ask you this. Are you guys going to consider putting Brad up for an Emmy for his voiceover work?

DM: Yeah! He deserves it. He deserves it. He absolutely deserves it.

CB: The different Chucky variants this season, it really was an amazing performance. I really would love to see some sort of recognition for Brad.

DM: Totally agree. And I think Jennifer deserves some kind of recognition, as well. I think arguably Fiona does. One of the great things about the show, and I think one of the reasons for success, is we're very fortunate to have a lot of great actors. And many thanks to our casting directors, Bonnie Zane and Tina Gerussi, for finding a lot of them for us. So, yeah, I am very on board for an Emmy campaign for anyone. Anyone.

Seed of Chucky's original Glen/Glenda Returns

CB: Let's switch gears to one of the big surprises in the finale, you get Billy Boyd back as GG. I'd love to hear how your plans for Glen and Glenda may have evolved from Seed of Chucky to now.

DM: Well in the writer's room, what we were guided by was this notion that I always wanted to do. I wanted to honor and depict the trans experience through the crazy metaphorical genre lens that we have. And so, I knew that in the broad strokes that the story that I wanted to tell was that these two entities, they were never meant to be two entities. They were born just one entity. And the so-called divisions in their character were to be embraced, not shunted aside. That's the story we tried to tell. And I knew that I wanted to end with both personalities, both sides of the coin, back in a single body. Because the characters of Glen and Glenda is portrayed by Lachlan throughout the season.

When they're separated after episode four, they're missing each other as if they're apart. And they've never felt whole, as Glenda tells Tiffany, well, she thinks it's Jennifer at that point. She doesn't know. They don't know that their mom is not actually Jennifer Tilly at that point, but they say, "We've never fell whole. Why?" And so, we wanted to make them whole again. So, I wanted them back in the same body. But I knew I had to evolve it because of the metaphor of the trans experience that it had to be a new evolution. So single entity now named GG. And I knew I wanted to hear Billy Boyd voice that character again. That just only felt right. And so, it was fun coming up with a way to accommodate that. And I'm interested to how it worked for you as a viewer, because I thought it was funny and clever the way Tiffany says, "Yeah, I'm clocking the English thing. This accent you're doing is over top." And she says, "Look, this is my accent. You might want to reel it back." And then GG going, "What would Jennifer Tilly do? Crank that sh*t.

Woke Chucky

CB: I want to backtrack a little bit to season one, just very briefly, which is after Jake and Devon finally got to share their kiss, was it crazy to you the amount of people who were like, "Chucky's gone woke. I can't believe it." That's insane, isn't it?

DM: I mean, I'm pretty used to it. I'll always get that kind of thing. I mean, if Chucky is woke, he's been woke for a long time, it's because his creator is gay. And we've been putting LGBTQ stuff into the franchise for a long, long time now. So, I just roll my eyes at that. To me, it's not that he's woke, I just think it's funny. To me, it's funny that Chucky would say, "Of course I don't have a problem with my queer kid. I know." In addition to being, I think a legit, good message to put out in the world mainly, I just think it's funny for Chucky to say that.

Chucky Crossover Finally Happening

CB: I know in the past, you and I have even talked about it before, is everyone always wants a crossover. They want Chucky to crossover with something. But has anyone ever actually approached you about that possibility? Has Jason Blum been like, "Chucky meets M3GAN?"

DM: Well, I think M3GAN is too new. I think wants to see how M3GAN is going to do on her own as the new kid on the block, as it were. And it looks to me like M3GAN is poised to make quite a splash. I haven't seen the movie. All I've seen is what everyone else has seen and that's very fun. I wouldn't be opposed to it. You probably read or heard about how I've always wanted to do a Freddie versus Chucky crossover. I think that would be really fun. But now that we're doing well in this different medium at Universal, there are other Universal owned monsters that theoretically could be at our disposal. So, it's something that we do talk about. I'll put it that way.

CB: Okay. Good to hear.

DM: I won't say too much about it, but stay tuned. It's definitely an interest of mine, as well.

The Chucky Film Franchise WITHIN The Chucky Film Franchise

CB: if I can leave you with one last quick nerdy question, which is, in this season you established Bride of Chucky exists as a movie in your universe.

DM: No, I reiterated that Chucky Goes Psycho-

CB: But Jake and Devon talk about Bride of Chucky, a movie that stars Jennifer Tilly.

DM: Okay, let's re revoice the exact dialogue.

CB: Okay.

DM: They're talking about the doll, and Devon says "She looks like the bride of Chucky. Remember that movie?" But he doesn't say, "Remember that movie called 'Bride of Chucky?'" What they're saying in their own mirror Universe, in Chucky Goes Psycho. The Bride of Chucky is played by Jennifer Tilly. Only we know that Jennifer Tilly really is different.

CB: But that leads to my larger question, what does the Chucky movie franchise look like in this universe? Is it just Chucky Goes Psycho? Or are there others?

DM: It's just Chucky Goes Psycho in that world. That's the biggest horror of all. Imagine a universe where there's only one Chucky movie. That's horrible.

CB: And they probably didn't even get to finish it because of everything that happens in Seed of Chucky.

DM: Apparently, they did finish it because that's it's reference. Remember in episode four, Meg Tilley says, "Ever since you did that stupid Chucky movie, you got weird." And Tiffany says, "No, it wasn't stupid. It was a big hit."