Chucky: Devon Sawa Joins Don Mancini’s Long-in-Development Series
As USA Network and SYFY continue to prepare for the start of the Chucky production, Collider brings word that the long-in-development project has finally found the first actors to fill up the main cast. Final Destination alum Devon Sawa has officially been tapped for a key role in Don Mancini’s upcoming Chucky series. Joining him are Zackary Arthur (Transparent), Teo Briones (Ratched), Bjorgvin Arnarson (PEN15), and Alyvia Alyn Lind (The Young and the Restless), who are set to play the series’ four young unnamed leads.
Sawa is no stranger to the horror genre as he previously starred in 1995’s Casper, 1999’s Idle Hands, the first installment of Final Destination in 2000, and most recently in last year’s Hunter Hunter. He along with young leads will officially be joining Chucky alums Brad Dourif and Jennifer Tilly, who are reprising their roles as the voice of the titular killer doll and Tiffany, respectively.
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In the Chucky series, after a vintage Chucky doll turns up at a suburban yard sale, an idyllic American town is thrown into chaos as a series of horrifying murders begin to expose the town’s hypocrisies and secrets. Meanwhile, the arrival of enemies – and allies – from his past threatens to expose the truth behind the killings, as well as the demon doll’s untold origins as a seemingly ordinary child who somehow became this notorious monster.
In 1988, Chucky slashed his way into the pop culture zeitgeist with the premiere of Child’s Play directed and co-written by Tom Holland. The international sensation spawned six sequels, all of which Mancini wrote and David Kirschner produced. Last year, Orion Pictures had released a horror remake of the 1988 film which featured Mark Hamill as the voice of Chucky.
Mancini (Hannibal) and Kirschner (Hocus Pocus) will executive produce alongside Nick Antoscia (The Act) via his Eat the Cat banner. This project will be Mancini’s second collaboration with SYFY, who worked on the horror anthology series Channel Zero.
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The Child’s Play franchise has been running for 30 years, with the first film dropping in 1988 to box office success, generally positive reviews, and a cult following, spawning six sequels that remained box office successes but slowly started earning more mixed and negative reviews, until the revitalized Curse of Chucky, which returned to the franchise’s horror roots and earned very positive reviews. Brad Dourif has been a staple of the franchise since its inception, lending his voice to the murderous doll in all of the films.
In 2019, Lars Klevberg’s Child’s Play remake was released starring Gabriel Bateman as Andy and Aubrey Plaza as his mother. Mark Hamill took over voicing the killer doll in the modernized horror tale based on Mancini’s original movie.
(Photo by Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic via Getty Images)