Chucky’s again! The plastic-faced, orange-haired terror from the Child’s Play films has his personal TV present coming to Syfy and USA tonight, and excellent news for followers of the cult-beloved horror franchise: Chucky stays very true to the spirit of the flicks, placing the give attention to the younger forged at its core whereas additionally making room for some acquainted of us from Chucky’s previous. Even higher, its shift to an episodic TV format offers creator Don Mancini room to usher in new components, together with an in depth backstory for Charles Lee Ray—as Chucky was recognized earlier than he used black magic to switch his dying spirit onto a doll.

The TV sequence begins as Jake (Zackary Arthur), a lonely teen who’s simply kind of determining he’s homosexual, buys a Good Guy doll at a yard sale, first intending to make use of it in a sculpture made out of doll elements, then deciding he desires to promote it on eBay, then realizing Chucky (voiced by Brad Dourif) isn’t any unusual toy. Bloodshed, mayhem, and tragedy quickly start to observe Jake round, which is the very last thing he desires as he dodges bullying from his cousin Junior (Teo Briones) and Junior’s girlfriend Lexy (Alyvia Alyn Lind), all whereas hiding a secret crush on his classmate, Devin (Bjorgvin Arnarson), who occurs to host a true-crime podcast. io9 acquired an opportunity to see the primary 4 episodes, and whereas we gained’t spoil any Chucky plot factors right here, we did get an opportunity to talk to Mancini and his younger forged about a number of the present’s bigger themes.

In a roundtable interview forward of Chucky’s premiere, Mancini defined to io9 and different press why he most well-liked getting eight episodes of TV to inform the newest chapter in Chucky’s story, relatively than conserving issues confined to a single film. “Because you have the greater storytelling real estate, we have more time to get you involved with these characters, who initially seem on the face of it to be one thing, but then you find out a little more about them and we start to peel the onion away,” Mancini mentioned. “For example, Lexy was initially this horrible bully. By the end of the second episode, I think you’re rooting for Chucky and Jake to get her. But then just as we maneuver Chucky into position to do that in episode three, we start finding out a little more about why Lexy acts the way she does, because of the situation going on in her own family. So then you’re kind of going, ‘Oh, wait a minute, she’s not so bad, actually, she’s actually acting out of some kind of pain.’ And I think that having more time and space increases the tension because you get to know them much more as human beings than you can in a 90-minute movie.”

Lexy’s bullying of Jake is very merciless within the early episodes, one thing that Lind addressed (“I’m just so horrible to him”)—however she additionally identified that Lexy is much from the worst bully on the present. “What Don’s been saying, which I love, is that Chucky is the perfect form of a bully. He comes to you, asking to be your ‘friend till the end,’ and then he manipulates you and he gets you to do exactly what he wants.”

Chucky could also be an enormous asshole in some regards, along with that complete “kill-crazy maniac” factor, however he’s a surprisingly progressive character in different methods. “I think it’s sort of interesting to do something with—for lack of a better term—a slight social mission or social statement, but to come at that through the lens of a horror character as well-known as Chucky, particularly in that he has such a distinct dark sense of humor,” Mancini mentioned.

Mancini continued, “One of my favorite dialogue exchanges in the show is when Chucky is reading Jake’s diary. And he says to Jake, ‘You should just call it Devin, Devin, Devin,’ and Jake is embarrassed. So Chucky says, ‘You know, I have a queer kid,’ and Jake is like, what? And you’re cool with it? And Chucky says, ‘Well, I’m not a monster, Jake.’ I like to think that over the years and the films that we’ve [brought dimension to] Chucky in a somewhat unusual way, I mean, we’ve seen his home life, his family life, his difficult marriage, and he had a gender-fluid child and he struggled with that in Seed of Chucky, but at the end came to accept it. So, you know, he’s sort of in a good position to become Jake’s seeming ally in that way because he’s not a bigot. He’s not homophobic. He’s not racist. He’s just a psychopath who doesn’t discriminate. He’ll kill anybody!”

While Chucky’s early episodes spend most of their time introducing the present’s youthful characters, there are hints that the motion will begin to tie again into the occasions of the flicks. “We definitely do pick up the story threads that I left on multiple cliffhangers in Cult of Chucky, and I did that very deliberately with the hope of setting up a television series,” Mancini teased, whereas additionally reminding that the present’s later episodes will function the return of a number of fan-favorite Child’s Play characters. “We spend a substantial amount of time with [Fiona Dourif’s] Nica, [Jennifer Tilly’s] Tiffany, [Alex Vincent’s] Andy, and [Christine Elise’s] Kyle.”

While Arthur, Briones, Lind, and Arnarson, who vary in age from 14 to 16, are new to the world of Chucky, they discovered quick that not solely is he a power to be reckoned with—right here’s Arnardson, shuddering at an on-set reminiscence, “I think it was creepier when they weren’t using [the doll prop]… [I’d see] Chucky and he’s just like looking at me”—but in addition that the Child’s Play films have such a loyal fan base. “When I was growing up, I was never really allowed to watch rated R-horror movies,” Arthur mentioned. “[But] when I found out when I was auditioning for the role, I actually binged the Child’s Play series in like two days. They were funnier than I expected them to be.”

Briones, who mentioned he additionally watched all the sequence and liked it, didn’t notice at first the recognition of the factor he’s now a fully-fledged a part of. “I don’t think I really realized the weight of the legacy until about halfway through filming,” he mentioned. “And then I realized how humongous this franchise is and how passionate the fans are. It definitely made me a little bit more nervous and, you know, wondering, ‘Oh God, am I doing this right?’ But then it also made me super excited, because now this is in TV format instead of movies, we get to say a lot more with our characters and the story. It gave me a really good sense of accomplishment when we finished the show—and also when we got to see a little sneak peek of the show, I felt like we were doing the fans proud. I hope everyone likes it.”

Chucky premieres tonight, October 12, on USA and Syfy.

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