Despite a movie remake happening, the Child’s Play TV series is moving forward with Chucky voice Brad Dourif in tow, and not attached to the film. Given the patently ridiculous premise of the entire Child’s Play franchise – human serial killer uses voodoo to transfer his soul into the body of a doll, which then somehow manages to kill dozens of people despite being tiny – it’s a wonder that its continuity is actually pretty straightforward. Unlike many other horror properties, Child’s Play has – up until now – never erased any entries from the timeline, or retconned major plot points from existence, even with the series progressively getting weirder as it went along.
Thanks to the recent announcement of a film remake/reboot of Child’s Play, it looks like that clean continuity is about to be blown up. Made by MGM – distributor of the first film, but not the sequels – the remake’s reported plot and characters bear almost no resemblance to the franchise fans know and love. For one, their Chucky is set to get a high tech upgrade, which is sure to inspire lots of Jason X jokes among genre faithful. When the remake reports surfaced, many wondered what this meant for Chucky creator Don Mancini’s planned Child’s Play TV series. It turns out that the answer is… not much.
Related: Child’s Play Remake in Development Featuring High Tech Chucky
According to a report by Bloody Disgusting, what many had been speculating is in fact true: Universal – rights holder to everything but the first film – has no plans to get out of the Chucky business. To that end, Mancini and longtime franchise producer David Kirschner’s TV series follow-up to last year’s successful sequel Cult of Chucky is still moving forward, with Chucky voice actor Brad Dourif onboard. As a consequence though, it’s also confirmed that Dourif won’t be part of MGM’s remake, instead opting to work solely within Mancini and Universal’s efforts.
![Child’s Play TV Series Moving Forward, Brad Dourif Won’t Return for Movie Remake](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Childs-Play-TV-series.jpg)
While that news is sure to please fans who worried that MGM’s remake plans would bring the original Chucky continuity to an end, it also deals a big blow to said remake. Horror fans tend to be fiercely loyal to their favorite franchises, and the actors and creators who make them. With Dourif not returning for that film, it’s genre cred instantly takes a nosedive. Additionally, Mancini and Kirschner not only aren’t involved with MGM’s project, but they’re actively against it, having reportedly been approached to take executive producer credits on the film, only to decline. By doing so, they’re effectively making it clear that no endorsement of the idea is forthcoming.
Now, that doesn’t mean MGM’s Child’s Play revamp will fail. Casual moviegoers are unlikely to care much about whether or not the original players endorse this remake, and are likely to see a recognizable brand name and buy a ticket. Within the horror community though, films tend to live and die by word of mouth. It’s not hard to imagine many genre devotees actively working against the remake because they see it as a soulless cash grab, and urging both their horror fan and non-horror fan friends to skip it and save their time and money for Mancini’s TV series, and the further movie sequels Mancini says Universal plans to make going forward.