Child’s Play: The TV Series Will Be Almost 100% Puppetry

If previous Chucky films have adopted an ‘all thriller, no filler’ mantra, then Syfy’s upcoming TV series will be all puppetry and little-to-no CGI when it comes to animating that famous Devil Doll.

Entitled Child’s Play: The TV Series, the Powers That Be recently issued a direct-to-series order for Don Mancini’s latest Chucky venture, which will be angled as a continuation of the original film franchise with both Brad Dourif and Jessica Tilly set to reprise their iconic roles of Chucky and Tiffany, respectively.

But part of what makes Chucky so special (and indeed terrifying) is the meticulous puppet work and attention to detail that helps bring the Devil Doll to life, and it seems Child’s Play: The TV Series will honor tradition by ensuring that any pint-sized horror will be rendered using 100% puppetry. Which is to say that there will very little CGI used to animate the killer dolls.

I think it’s so important to keep Chucky as a practical puppet effect, partly because it’s important for the actors to have something to respond to on set … I also think it’s important that Chucky have the feel of a doll, of a puppet. He should be a little bit herky-jerky.

Thanks to last year’s surprisingly solid Child’s Play movie, Chucky and his killer companions are back in vogue. The transition to episodic content is an interesting one, but with Don Mancini, Brad Dourif, and Jessica Tilly all involved in some capacity, horror fans can rest assured that the project will deliver a pure slice of bloody entertainment.

When, exactly, we can expect Child’s Play: The TV Series to premiere is another question entirely, given the ongoing pandemic that has brought normal life screeching to a halt. Many countries are still adhering to social distancing procedures, so without any clear-cut sign of a feasible (and responsible) production start date, we wouldn’t be too surprised if Chucky’s TV series remained in the shadows until 2021.