Nick Antosca, a producer who is working on the upcoming Chucky TV series, promised Child’s Play fans during a rececnt interview that they would love what he, star Brad Dourif, and creator Don Mancini have in store. Speaking with io9 in a retrospective interview about his series Channel Zero, which just started streaming on the horror-centric platform Shudder, Antosca said that he was excited to be shouldering the responsibility of continuing the stories of the original Chucky. Dourif, who appeared in seven movies between 1988 and 2017 as the voice of the haunted doll, was not used in the recent theatrical reboot.
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From the moment Dourif wasn’t cast in the new Child’s Play, fans were upset and rumors started to circulate that there were plans in the works to keep Dourif working in the original continuity even if the new movie was a big hit. The new one was a modest success, but there is no word yet on follow-ups. Meanwhile, longtime fans are anxious to see what the original team has in mind.
“Don wrote an awesome show. He’s showrunning it, and he had a great writer’s room,” Antosca told io9. “I’m cautious about talking details, but we’re working on it every day. As a Chucky fan, I’ll just say I’m over the moon that Brad Dourif is back as Chucky, as well as some other familiar characters, and that I think fans are going to love where Don is taking it — and new audiences as well. It’s scary, it’s really funny, and it’s very smart. Nobody knows Chucky better than he does, and he’s pushing the boundaries yet again. I can’t wait for everyone to see it next year.”
The new Chucky series is co-developed by Mancini with his series producer David Kirschner.
“With this TV show, our mission has been to preserve the straightforward scariness of the original film or the first couple of films,” Mancini said back in July. “But at the same time, continue on with this ever-expanding tapestry of consistent story that we’ve spun over the course of seven movies and 30-some years. I think fans are really gonna love to see the new characters that we introduce into this realm and just to see how they came off of our classic characters. Not just Chucky, but some of the others that you may be hoping to see. There’s a good chance they may turn up.”
The series will not only introduce new characters and answer long-standing questions about Chucky’s life as a killer doll, but will also act as a sequel to the film franchise by picking up threads left dangling by films like Cult of Chucky and Seed of Chucky. Joining Dourif in the series will be none other than Jennifer Tilly with other cast members from the larger franchise also rumored to appear.
The official description for the series reads: “After a vintage Chucky doll turns up at a suburban yard sale, an idyllic American town is thrown into chaos as a series of horrifying murders begin to expose the town’s hypocrisies and secrets. Meanwhile, the arrival of enemies and allies from Chucky’s past threatens to expose the truth behind the killings, as well as the demon doll’s untold origins as a seemingly ordinary child who somehow became this notorious monster.”
Check back here for more news on Chucky as we learn it!