 During this severe drought of quality horror, director Don Mancini leads the way for what is shaping up to be the year of the return of horror movie legends. In 2021 we'll be seeing the likes of Michael Myers, Candyman, Leatherface and Jeepers Creepers The Creeper, but coming with a fresh take on an iconic villain, Mancini will be bringing back the original Chucky. To the small screen this time because as we all know, he always comes back. But before we get into that, if you want videos on the latest movies and TV shows delivered straight to your subscription feed, be sure to spank that subscribe button and ring that bell to not miss a single thing. I'm Matt Rogers and join me today as we take a look at everything you need to know about the upcoming Chucky series. Now the Chucky series has gone through a few phases, none of them bad in my opinion just vastly different. The original Child's Play series of course being the classics, followed by a bride and seed of Chucky, two of my personal favourites as they kept what made the series iconic, the brutal kills and wicked sense of humour, but started to become self aware, meta even, which turned it towards the horror comedy genre. The two most recent modern entries to the saga Curse and Cult of Chucky were more of a return to form and dialed down the comedy aspects, ensuring to maintain the scares and one-liners though. But then there was 2019's Child's Play, a complete reboot of the entire series. I was very hesitant to even watch a movie that dares restart the iconic franchise, but honestly it was good. Not entirely necessary, but good. The horror aspects and acting was solid, but let's face it, they could have slapped another name on the movie and changed to another doll and it would have been just as good. But in a move that's starting to give me whiplash, we are now back to continuing on from the original Chucky and just disregarding the latest reboot. And it's in the form of a TV series. When researching this video I rewatched the two most recent instalments, Curse and Cult and I would recommend you do the same as this new series is shaping up to be a direct continuation. But if you recall the end of Cult of Chucky, Jennifer Tilly or Tiffany escapes the asylum with Nika, who is possessed by Charles Lee Ray and basically a human Chucky doll. I personally am so excited that Jennifer Tilly is returning, I love her as an actress and always loved the meta-joke of Jennifer Tilly playing Jennifer Tilly playing Tiffany. Did anyone ever tell you you look exactly like Jennifer Tilly? Yeah I get that a lot. And something you may not know is that Nika is actually played by Chucky actor Brad Durif's daughter Fiona Durif. So the torch is already beginning to be passed on and this new series is really setting the stage for a new generation of Chucky victims. Chucky will thankfully have Durif returning as Chucky and will star alongside Zachary Arthur as the main protagonist, who you may know from the movie Fifth Wave or Transparent. Creator Don Mancini has said, quote, One of the things that fans always loved about the original movies is that the protagonist was a kid. It's called Charles Play. It's something we haven't done much of since Charles Play 3, but I wanted to switch it up. I thought focusing on young teens would be a new twist and to see how Chucky interacts with them, end quote. And who knows, maybe he might be possessing one or more of these kids to do his killings for him. Zachary Arthur plays a character named Jake, who is a young teen struggling with fitting in as well as his sexuality, whilst growing up in a small town. Who else to help him with life advice other than a good guy doll, which we see here being picked up from a yard sale. There's a nice call back to the first Charles Play as well with the whole no batteries thing. Mancini said in an interview with the website Bloody Disgusting that they are going dark, darker than ever before and it's going to be very creepy. So that sounds promising. On the topic of the show's tone, Mancini said, quote, From film to film, I've always tried to create a different tone, plug Chucky into a different sub-genre. We've gone from straightforward slasher to comedy to crazy satirical comedy and back to straightforward horror again. With this TV show, our mission has been to preserve the straightforward scariness of the original film or the first couple of films, end quote. It has also been reported that the series will explore the childhood of Charles Lee Ray and how he became the vicious killer he is today. An origin story, if you will. Although the show sounds like it will be mainly based on its teen protagonist, there also are sure to be some adult aspects to the show. Proof of this was a sexy set photo uploaded to Jennifer Tilley's Instagram showing herself, Mancini and Nika, who is donning some sultry attire. As any good trailer should, the trailer for the Chucky series doesn't give too much away, but it is clear that Chucky is recruiting children and molding their young minds to satisfy his craving for violence and slaughter. Something else we may see could stem from cult of Chucky, where a new mechanic was introduced allowing the possibility of multiple Chuckies, meaning anything with two legs and a hand for stabbing can be possessed. And that mechanic alone opens up a whole world of horrific scenarios. One thing that has made me always respect every installment of this franchise is that they actually use real puppets, at least for the most part. It's a huge task to rig puppets to make faces and move their mouths with the lip-sync, but they never gave up and went to CGI instead. And for that, I'm grateful. Practical horror effects just can't be beaten. The Chucky series is, of course, also known for its cameos. Notably, the kid from Child's Play One, Andy, making an appearance at the end of Curse of Chucky and throughout Cult of Chucky. And from their Comic-Con announcement, he will be returning again, along with Kyle from Child's Play Two, who we saw in the post-credits scene of Cult. And as far as I'm concerned, the both of them are very welcome to make an appearance in this series. This new show really does have the potential to keep this universe going, with a bunch of seasons or even another Chucky sequel movie. And if this fresh-faced cast can go on to prove themselves worthy of the Chucky franchise, then why not? Chucky is set to be released on October 12th, so right in time for Halloween month. But what do you want to see from a Chucky series? Is there more to be gained from additional Chucky content? I'd love to hear what you think, so let me know. I'll be down there in the comments. But be sure to subscribe for more weekly videos covering your favourite movies and TV shows. If you subscribe during this video, then walk on the board, and if you had a good time hanging out, then SPANK that like button. This is Matt Rodgers, and that is all.