Mark Hamill’s Chucky watches over the young Andy Barclay in a creepy new still from the upcoming Child’s Play reboot.
As the film’s trailers have made clear, Lars Klevberg’s remake of the 1988 horror flick does away with the voodoo backstory of the original, and instead writes its murderous doll as a psychotic A.I. Moreover, while Brad Dourif’s Chucky had the soul of a dead serial killer inside of him, producer Seth Grahame-Smith told Entertainment Weekly that the new version of the doll starts off the film with good intentions.
“At this point in the movie, at least, Chucky has no ulterior motives,” Grahame-Smith said, referring to the newly shared still. “He’s just full of love for his best buddy and dreaming of ways to make him happy. It just happens that this particular toy is not all that it seems.”
Andy’s mother Karen is played by Aubrey Plaza of Parks and Recreation and Ingrid Goes West fame, who told EW that she was drawn to the project for personal reasons.
“My mom, when I was a child, gave me a doll that tried to kill me,” Plaza joked. “No, I had a really young mom, and in fact, I think the age difference is actually what my age difference is with Gabriel, so there was something about that that I really connected to.”
Bateman, meanwhile, already has a little experience with killer dolls, having featured in 2014’s Annabelle. His sister Talitha even starred in the subsequent Annabelle: Creation, but when asked which of the two dolls were scarier, Gabriel was pretty decisive in his choice of Chucky.
“Chucky,” Bateman said. “Talitha will probably get mad at me for saying that, but definitely Chucky.”
It probably helps that the new Chucky is voiced byStar Wars legend Mark Hamill, who’s also known for lending his pipes to DC’s Joker. According to Grahame-Smith, Hamill was the team’s first choice for the reboot’s villain.
“He was our first choice,” the producer said. “The fact that we have an icon reimagining an iconic character is just an incredible gift for us.”
In recent months, the upcoming remake has been the subject of a fair amount of backlash. In particular, many longtime fans of the series take issue with Chucky’s tech-oriented origins, as well as the lack of involvement from both Dourif and franchise creator Don Mancini. Nonetheless, we’ll find out if the filmgoing public can still be won over when the new Child’s Play hits theaters on June 21st.