MGM might be rebooting Child’s Play with a straight-up remake of the 1988 film, but Brad Dourif’s Chucky isn’t going anywhere. His creator, Don Mancini, is actively developing a television show to continue the killer doll’s story along with producer David Kirschner. While the show has already been announced previously, no details about it were offered, but the duo has finally given fans a few hints at a recent Screamfest Q&A.
Cult of Chucky ended with far too many loose ends, but there was actually a reason behind that. The film was written specifically to set up the upcoming TV show, introducing several new storylines leading into the new medium. This time, Chucky and pals are going to have to keep the story going over the course of however many hours will make up the season, as opposed to one new movie every several years. Picking up where Cult left off leaves the writers plenty of room to work with.
At the heart of the new show, however, will be the return to the franchise’s roots. When Kirschner said they plan on returning to the original Child’s Play film, Mancini said, “It involves children.” What this hints is that at least one new child character will be introduced, in a role similar to Andy Barclay. With Alex Vincent all grown up, Chucky may be searching for new children to terrorize in the new show.
Mancini also spoke a little further on the decision to adapt the film franchise as a TV series:
“We saw that after seven movies, how can we flip again? So this time not by merely changing genre but by changing medium. This will give us a different kind of canvas, a much bigger canvas to explore characters and relationships.”
As it’s still early into production, there’s no timetable right now as to when we can expect to see this TV show come to fruition. Meanwhile, the remake is currently in production and is set to star Aubrey Plaza, Gabriel Bateman, and Brian Tyree Henry. Expect it to come out sometime in 2019.
