The
Child's Play franchise has been going strong for three decades with seven films and a single, constant iteration of Chucky. Since 2017's
Cult of Chucky, we've heard rumblings that a television series was in the works. Now,
Syfy and parent company NBCUniversal have announced they have acquired the franchise devlopment rights and are officially developing a
Child's Play TV series.
Franchise creator
Don Mancini, who has written every single Chucky movie and directed the last three, will be serving as the writer and executive producer of the TV series. Mancini will be joined by long-time franchise producer
David Kirschner and
Nick Antosca (
Channel Zero), both of whom will also executive produce.
Mancini had the following to say about this news:
I’ve long wanted to bring Chucky to television and Syfy is the perfect network for us. The show will be a fresh take on the franchise, allowing us to explore Chucky’s character with a depth that is uniquely afforded by the television series format, while staying true to the original vision that has terrorized audiences for over three decades now.
Brad Dourif is set to return to voice Chucky, and we can probably expect to see franchise staples Alex Vincent (Andy Barcklay), Fiona Dourif (Nica Pierce) and Jennifer Tilly (Tiffany Valentine) as well.
Chucky himself was very excited about the move to Syfy and offered his own statement on today's news.
In these troubled times, I believe it’s my obligation as a horror icon to reach the widest possible audience, on TV. For over 30 years, I’ve been scaring the shit out of you. But now at Syfy, I look forward to really making a difference.
Last year, Mancini said that a Chucky TV series would probably aim for an 8 to 10 episode format and be "
very creepy," going "
dark, darker than ever before;" Syfy is therefore a great fit and will ensure the series remains bloody and darkly funny.
Mancini previously had the following to say about how
Cult of Chucky's ending set up a television series.
We deliberately ended Cult with a bunch of cliffhangers to set up a TV series. Because there are so many different threads now, television could best accommodate that so that was done intentionally. At the same time, we have a whole new world, a bunch of new characters which we can say nothing about.