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'Chucky' creator promises Halloween-set series will have plenty of gore, F-bombs, and Chucky backstory
Ever since SYFY announced it was developing a Chucky TV series with franchise creator Don Mancini, fans have been on pins and needles wondering what the new medium would mean for the franchise which has had seven official theatrical installments across its 33-years of existence. Today at the Television Critics Association virtual press day for Chucky the series, which debuts Oct. 12 on SYFY and the USA Network, Don Mancini was clear in promising that this new episodic iteration would retain all the aspects that fans love including, “gore and Chucky dropping F-bombs.”
Mancini said the network assured him from the start that there would be no compromises in terms of being able to bring an authentic Chucky story to the TV world. In fact, Mancini said his prior experiences working on other NBC/Universal series, Hannibal (NBC) and Channel Zero (SYFY), made it clear how many boundaries he could push.
And while fans who watch the pilot might be a bit concerned by the lack of bloodletting in regards to a Chucky-related death, Mancini said that is because Chucky — always friend ‘til the end — is accommodating his new friend who expresses an aversion to blood. But otherwise, Mancini warned, “Just wait.”
The eight-episode series reunites many familiar faces from the Chucky universe including Brad Dourif as the voice of Chucky, Jennifer Tilly as Tiffany Valentine, Alex Vincent as Andy Barclay and Christine Elise as Kyle. Mancini said one of his favorite aspects of the series will be finally exploring the origins of how serial killer Charles Lee Ray transfers his soul via a dark ritual into an unsuspecting “Good Guy” doll.
Citing it as something the fans of the franchise have been asking to see for decades, Mancini said that, “Taking Chucky into TV means having so much storytelling real estate to finally have the opportunity for exploring that stuff.”
The series will also represent another first for the franchise: telling a Chucky story set during Halloween. Mancini said picking a specific aesthetic for every Chucky story has been important to him, and with the series, “I really wanted to affect a luxurious autumn look with fall foliage. The central aesthetic is glamorous autumn,” he laughed. However, the series was shot in spring and summer so the magic of production design had to achieve the looks. “We brought in truckloads of artificial but better than real-looking autumn leaves which we spread around like butter. We also got drone footage from last fall in Toronto, so it looks like a Halloween horror movie directed by Argento or DePalma.”
