Original Child's Play Star Open to Returning to Franchise
More than three decades later, Chris Sarandon is open to reprising his role.
Like most horror franchises, the Child's Play series has seen ups and downs since its inception, though thanks in large part to the Chucky TV series, the franchise is arguably hotter than ever, leading fans to wonder if any other former stars could return in the future. In the original 1988 Child's Play, Chris Sarandon played detective Mike Norris, one of the rare figures from the franchise who didn't succumb to Chucky's attacks, and while he opted not to return for Child's Play 2, the actor now says he's open to potentially reprising his role in the future. Season 3 of Chucky on SYFY recently concluded and a Season 4 has yet to officially be announced.
"[Original director] Tom [Holland] wasn't involved in the second one, so I just said, 'Thank you, but no thank you,'" Sarandon shared with PEOPLE about his decision to not return to the series. Of a future return, Sarandon confessed, "Yeah, sure ... It always depends on the circumstance. [But] I would think that, at this point, Mike Norris is retired."
Even if Holland didn't helm the second film, the long-running series has featured a surprising number of consistencies that haven't been seen in other horror franchises. All of the films in the series, as well as the TV show, have been written by Don Mancini, ensuring a tonal and narrative consistency not seen in other franchises, and Brad Dourif has voiced Chucky since the first movie, while even his daughter Fiona Dourif has become a key component of the universe. Additionally, David Kirschner has been a producer on those films. The only installment the trio wasn't involved in was the 2019 reboot, which largely capitalized more on the name of well-known property as opposed to attempting to honor long-time fans.
These most recent comments from Sarandon seem to confirm something of a change of heart for the actor, who was a bit more apprehensive about returning to the franchise back in 2019.
"When it comes to that, because there had been so many follow-ups to the original that had little or nothing to do with Tom's original conception, but used the characters, or at least some of the characters, there was no reason to do it. Nobody said anything to me about it, and if they had, I wouldn't have been interested," Sarandon shared with ComicBook.com.
Stay tuned for updates on the future of the Child's Play franchise.
Would you like to see Sarandon return? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!