Chucky Newcomer Lachlan Watson Breaks Silence on “New Iteration of Glen & Glenda”

One of the biggest surprises for Chucky fans in the time between seasons of the TV series was that Seed of Chucky characters Glen and Glenda would finally be coming back. The two characters hadn’t appeared in any chapters of the Chucky saga since the 2004 sequel, though a few references to them had been made along the way. Now they’re back and bigger than ever, literally, in season two of Chucky. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina star Lachlan Watson takes on the dual role, playing both characters that have now grown into a pair of healthy teenagers, but ones with foggy memories of their murderous pasts.

As fans may recall, Glen/Glenda began as a doll just like Chucky and Tiffany, only to realize that they were two souls sharing the same little body. Thanks to the vague voodoo magic of the series however they were able to be put into human bodies, where they’ve been ever since the events of Seed of Chucky. Speaking in a new interview about the series, Watson opened up about working with creator Don Mancini to figure out this new version of Glen and Glenda now that they’re older, wiser, and less plastic.

“I’m very aware of this legacy that these characters have, and how meaningful Glen and Glenda are to horror fans and the trans community and the people who fit in both of those categories,” Watson told them. “I knew that I had big shoes to fill – or tiny shoes to fill up, rather. But I’ve been really trying to focus on this new iteration of Glen and Glenda as their own characters, their own people. With Don’s help, I wanted them to feel like real people. The irony of them being dolls comes into play there. But I wanted to highlight the fact that they’ve had all of these lived experiences since we saw them last to add that level of intrigue. They’ve lived these full lives since we’ve seen them.”

Watson went on to reveal how the discussion on set about each character evolved over the course of production, noting the alternative terms that they came up with rather than simply summarizing each of them as either the “masculine” or “feminine” of the two.

“Eventually, we threw out (the terms ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’), and I came up with different ways to describe them, which is that Glenda is more ‘glam’ and Glen is more ‘grunge,’” Watson added. “That’s how we described their difference in costuming and it was perfect. It lasted for the rest of the season. Because it meant so much more and we had to think so much harder and more uniquely about these characters once we got out of  ‘masculine’and ‘feminine.’You wouldn’t describe a cis white female character and her wardrobe as ‘feminine.’ OK, yes, but what does that say about her? What does that mean? Yes, she’s a woman. OK, and so then for them to describe these nonbinary characters as just ‘masculine’and ‘feminine’was like – you wouldn’t do this to a non-trans person. So why are we doing it here? So, ‘glam’and ‘grunge.’Confident and chill. Delicious!”

New episodes of Chucky air Wednesday at 9 PM ET on SYFY and USA Network.