'Chucky's' Unjust Cancellation Was A Shock To Cast And Crew (But Not The End)

By Andrew Sanford | TV | October 1, 2024 |

By Andrew Sanford | TV | October 1, 2024 |

I love horror sequels. The originals are great, of course. The mystery and bare-bones execution found in movies like Halloween and A Nightmare On Elm St. have made them classics for a reason. But is Freddy Krueger’s mom a nun? What if Michael Myers is being controlled by the stars and worshipped by a cult that tracks their movements? These are the questions asked and answered in the third and sixth films of these franchises, respectively.

Enriching continuity to the point that it becomes complicated yet engaging is a lost art. Yes, more often than not, it doesn’t go well. Plenty of horror franchises have gone too far into their story and, seeing no way out, have rebooted or remade their original films. In the case of Halloween, that has happened about three times. A big reason sequels become impenetrable and reboots are needed is that different creative forces are often cycled through horror franchises. A doll named Chucky hasn’t had that problem.

Don Mancini wrote Child’s Play, which was released in 1988 and introduced the world to a Good Guy doll possessed by a serial killer. Aside from the 2019 remake of which we do not speak, Mancini has written every entry in the Child’s Play franchise (and he took over directing duties with the fifth entry, Seed of Chucky). His steady hand has taken Chucky and his cohorts into a bloody, campy world of horror and queerness that excelled when it made the move to television.

Chucky gathered old and new characters to bring Chucky’s story to new, insane heights. The kills became grander. The camp became campier. The queer love was expressed unflinchingly. What could have been a run-of-the-mill cash grab instead became an artistic continuation of Mancini’s work in a way that felt meaningful and inspiring. The show ruled! Unfortunately, a very necessary Hollywood strike broke the show’s most recent season into two halves released months apart. Viewership fell off, and last Friday, almost three years after it premiered, Chucky was canceled.

One of the show’s stars, Fiona Dourif, responded to the unjust cancellation at a horror convention. “I have been on the phone with Don [Mancini],” Fiona told the crowd. “It was a surprise that we got canceled. It was released last night. At this point, what we’re hoping to do, and what should be done and would be normal for a show as successful as Chucky’s been—because the ratings were solidly good and it reviewed extremely well; the numbers were great at Peacock—is that it would be marketed to other networks… The extent that there could be pressure on the powers that be to have that happen, I think that everybody who is involved in making the show would appreciate that. There’s no reason on earth why it shouldn’t be marketed to other networks.”

Her father, and longtime voice of the eponymous doll, Brad Dourif, echoed her sentiments. He encouraged fans to make some noise because there is still more story to tell. “I’m not gonna tell you because it might get done, and it’s brilliant. You’re gonna have to get on the internet and make it happen,” Dourif told the con audience. Mancini is not taking the cancellation lying down. “He’ll be back,” the creator wrote on social media. I sure as hell hope so. The craziness of Chucky’s lore is rich, and over 30 years in, they were just getting started.