By Joe Deckelmeier
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Chucky
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![Alyvia Alyn Lind & Bjorgvin Arnarson Interview: Chucky (5) Alyvia Alyn Lind & Bjorgvin Arnarson Interview: Chucky (5)](https://i0.wp.com/static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Chucky-2021-TV-series.jpg)
The Good Guy doll is back, as the iconic horror franchise begun with 1988's Child's Play continues in television form on SYFY. Chucky acts as a sequel for the original series of films, chronicling what happens after the Chucky doll winds up in a suburban yard sale. The cast is chock full of new talent, all of whom are ready to usher in a love of creepy toys to a new generation.
Related: The Child's Play Series Is Returning To The Unused Concept For The Original Film
Stars Alyvia Alyn Lind and Bjorgvin Arnarson spoke to Screen Rant about the legacy of the character and franchise, as well as what role their characters play in it.
Screen Rant: Just for everybody that's kind of new to the series, can you guys talk to me a little bit about who your characters are?
Alyvia Alyn Lind: Lexy Cross is your classic mean girl, she is very self-centered, very narcissistic, very power-hungry; she is very fashion-forward, the princess of her school. As the series develops, we kind of get to see her background, where she grew up, and how she has not had the best childhood, not had a very stable relationship with her family and her mom, specifically - her mom's the mayor.
She's always felt like she has to be perfect and on her best behavior at all times, and her mom's kind of always ruled her house, so she's kind of always felt like she needs to have the power of ruling her school. Even though people are kind of scared of her, she loves the power, but we get to see maybe her become a little more humanized, and maybe see that she actually has a little heart of gold.
Now, Bjorgvin, tell me a little bit about Devon and the Hack and Slash podcast.
Bjorgvin Arnarson: Devin, he's kind of this fun, charismatic guy. He's the guy in school who makes friends with everyone: the nerds, the jocks, he's kind of like an every-man man. I think his podcast is something that you wouldn't really expect him to have, I think, but it makes him more interesting.
He has a true-crime podcast, he has a following behind that, and uses that to maybe even follow in his mom's footsteps. I think when the show starts, he's getting curious about Jake [Zackary Arthur], he's kind of trying to see what's bothering him and trying to maybe have some podcast content. But then, as the show develops, and as the story moves forward, he kind of gets involved in Zack's whole Chucky business.
When you guys first read the script, what themes kind of jumped out at you?
Bjorgvin Arnarson: I guess the big one is kind of the whole LGBT kind of aspect, the whole relationship between Jake and Devon. And it's funny because after watching all the movies, after booking it, I kind of saw aspects of him doing similar things. I think in Curse of Chucky, he had that whole gay, kind of cheating thing, that we thought wasn't that, it was interesting.
I kind of was like, "Okay, I kind of see, I kind of get it." And Don [Mancini], he wants to make these entertaining movies, but also have something in the background that kind of is telling something about that's actually real. He's kind of trying to show that while, trying to scare you or entertain you. I think it's kind of brilliant in a sense to do that.
Alyvia Alyn Lind: One of my favorite things about Don's writing is how he can incorporate every single genre, and every single message, into one two-hour movie. But then also, and now we have so much more time to explore inside an eight-hour series. I love how he touches on real issues, and bullying, and LGBTQ [issues], and just every single issue that kids our age are dealing with in real life.
While they're watching this really entertaining, fun show, like Bjorgvin said, they can also feel comfort in these characters, and really understand them, and relate to them. They're really, really relatable characters. So, I really hope that people walk away from this series feeling a little bit more heard.
![Alyvia Alyn Lind & Bjorgvin Arnarson Interview: Chucky (6) Alyvia Alyn Lind & Bjorgvin Arnarson Interview: Chucky (6)](https://i0.wp.com/static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Alyvia-Alyn-Lind-as-Lexy-Cross-Brad-Dourif-as-Chucky-Zackary-Arthur-as-Jake-Wheeler-in-Chucky-TV-Show.jpg)
One thing that Don Mancini is great at is reinventing Chucky for the generation that's watching it.Can you guys talk to me, and you touched on it a little bit, but can you talk to me about the collaboration process working with Don Mancini?
Alyvia Alyn Lind: Working with Don has been so great because he incorporates his cast in everything. His cast is his #1 priority, we do weekly Zooms throughout filming, he just comes and check in on us, and make sure everything's good, and see if there's anything we want to talk about, he's truly the best showrunner.
He was very collaborative with letting us decide a lot of things for our characters and helping us develop our characters with him, and kind of be the keepers of our characters, and decide what's going on with them, and what's going on in their head. And that was really refreshing because that doesn't happen all the time. And he's just been so great, and I hope we get to go back and do it again.
Bjorgvin Arnarson: I think it's, kind of similar to what Aly said, but I think it's kind of cool because he takes his cast, he wants to work with them, he wants to make something that they're also proud of as well. It was great working with him because I was able to make my character there with Don, you know?
Now that you guys had a chance to really sit down with Don and flush these characters out with some of your own ideas, what did you guys want to bring to your roles, that maybe wasn't on the page?
Alyvia Alyn Lind: One of the things that I love about being such a collaborative process is that you get to bring even elements of your own life into it, in your own personality. I think with that, I brought with Lexy, I just really wanted to make sure that she knew exactly what she wanted at all times.
I think that when the chaos breaks out, she kind of starts to lose power. That was really important for me to see that switch. [The] switch from going from only caring about herself, to actually being scared and terrified about every single person in her life, and realizing that she actually cares about people, not just herself. I wanted to make that switch very clear.
Bjorgvin Arnarson: Near the end of shooting, Don told me that he should have made my character have more funny moments after getting to know me. Then I think it was kind of interesting because he had an idea where he was like, "Maybe if you did stand-up, that would've been something interesting.
Instead of doing a podcast, he would've done stand-up. And I was like, "That's interesting." But I think I try to put myself in. It's just kind of weird, I think near the end it's like I was doing little bits of things that were kind of like little bites and little things, and Don was like, "Okay, let's use that, let's do that."
I was like, "Okay, all right." And it was kind of like I was getting more into it, and I was kind of throwing out ideas, "How about try it try to do this?"
Alyvia Alyn Lind: When you're starting on a series, you don't really know what you're getting into; you have to really get into your character's shoes. After a six-month period of doing this every single day, you really understand your character. That's why it's so great going back for season 2 because you're jumping into it, and you know exactly who this person is, and exactly what they're doing, and now you can just have fun with it.
Can you guys talk to me about the practical effects that Don wanted to use to stay true to the Chucky character?
Bjorgvin Arnarson: I guess for scenes where Chucky's full body is in the background and stuff, we had thislittle kid, Jacob -he was like a little Chucky stand-in. He was a sweetheart. It was always fun doing scenes with him. I had to do one scene where I had to stab him with a taser, so I felt a little bit bad because I hit a little bit too hard on every take.
He was a trooper, he worked hard, and I think it was kind of cool being able to do that, like working with a real person, for shots that the doll might not be able to do. Instead of doing like CGI, they'd use a person to kind of get that effect still.
Chucky is an iconic horror character. What should longtime Chucky fans be excited about for the series?
Alyvia Alyn Lind: I think that my favorite part about the series is that there is something for everybody. And I think that diehard Chucky fans are going to be so excited to see how true Don stayed to the original franchise, and all of the little Easter eggs in there for them to find. I also love that people who have never seen any of the movies can jump right in and start watching the show, and really understand everything that's going on. So, both groups of people will absolutely love the series, and I love that there's that much depth.
Bjorgvin Arnarson: To add to that, Don is bringing back people who are in the originals, and the fans will see that and be like, "Oh my God, yes, they're coming back!" and they'll get into it, and they're like, "Yes, what's going to happen with these characters that we've loved for so long?" [It's] finally getting expanded after a long wait.
Next:Every Returning Child's Play Character in Chucky
New episodes ofChuckypremiereTuesdays at 10 PM on USA & SYFY.
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