Chucky’s New Episode Should Earn Brad Dourif an Emmy

Spoilers follow for Chucky! Ever since he started voicing Chucky with 1988’s Child’s Play, Brad Dourif’s work as the killer doll has largely been the same voice performance with his signature laugh and trademark quips. Though the concept of Chucky variants was previously introduced in 2017’s Cult of Chucky, season 2 of the Chucky TV series has taken that idea to its next logical step, revealing Chuckys that look and now sound different. This week’s episode gives us the most alternate Chuckys that we’ve ever seen and considering the lengths Dourif is going with the character, the Television Academy needs to do the right thing and give the man an Emmy Award for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance.

In this week’s episode of Chucky Dourif provides the voice for: Good Chucky, the gentle version that has been brain washed into by averse to violence; Hulk Chucky, the version strong enough to punch a hole in someone’s chest; and finally, the much teased “Colonel,” the supposed ring leader of the entire Chucky Army who is a parody of Marlon Brando’s Colonel Kurtz from Apocalypse Now. With three different performances happening in the episode, and a major scene where Dourif is acting opposite himself, the episode is a showcase for his range as a performer and once again confirms that the Chucky franchise as a whole is one that will never run out of ideas.

As Good Chucky, Dourif embodies innocence with a gentle presence. Even if it was the only variant of Chucky in the entire show this would make it a noteworthy performance, but it’s just one of many. Now repulsed by violence, this Chucky has a forward facing spirit that is more concerned with friendship and watching cartoons than violence and mayhem. Hulk Chucky takes the violent aspects of regular Chucky and naturally bumps it up, with a deeper vocal range that harkens more to body builders and Marvel’s superhero than just a doll. Naturally The Colonel is Dourif doing his best Brando, and he’s doing it great. If these three versions of Chucky all appear in just this episode, one has to wonder how many others we’ll get before the season is over. 

Now on to the real matter at hand, getting Brad Dourif his Emmy nomination (and win). In the past Dourif was previously nominated for a Primetime Emmy for playing Doc Cochran on Deadwood. Every year the Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance is given out, and USA Network and SYFY should be putting Dourif up for it next Emmy season.

The late Chadwick Boseman was awarded the prize earlier this year for his work on Marvel’s What If…?; but voice over performances in live-action shows are also recognized in the category as F. Murray Abraham was nominated for voicing Khonshu in Moon Knight and Julie Andrews has been given two nods for narrating Bridgerton. SYFY, USA Network, the team at Universal Entertainment, you know what to do, get Dourif that Emmy.

“When there are different Chuckys, I do a different voice for each one, or at least a different low, medium, and high kind of thing,” star Brad Dourif previously teased at TCA last month. “And then there’s a bit of a personality that comes from reading the script. And I go from beginning to end, in one character, and then go back to the beginning and do the second character. Go back and do the third character. That’s the way I have done it before this season, and I am not talking about anything having to do with this season. Because I will be killed.”  

Where can I watch Chucky season 2?

Currently the only way to watch the new episodes of Chucky season 2 is with a cable subscription, the series airs new episodes on USA Network and SYFY on Wednesdays at 9 PM ET. After the first season of the show premiered however it very quickly made its way onto the Peacock streaming service, where it remains. Chucky season 2 could very well make the same move after it wraps up its new episodes but that hasn’t yet been confirmed.