Summary
- Chucky season 3 features the doll terrorizing the White House and the first family, continuing his murderous plots for power.
- The season is split into two parts, with the second part releasing in 202
- Returning cast members reprise their roles and Devon Sawa joins as a regular.
- Special effects supervisor Jeff Skochko discusses the use of practical effects and the collaboration between departments to bring Chucky to life. Season 3 will have the most blood ever used on Chucky.
Chucky continues the story of the doll possessed by notorious serial killer Charles Lee Ray, but this time he’s heading to Washington. As Jake Wheeler, his best friend turned boyfriend Devon Evans, and their friend Lexy Cross continue to try and thwart Chucky’s plans, he has made himself comfortable in the White House. Terrorizing the first family and the other occupants of the White House, Chucky continues his murderous plots to quench his thirst for power.
Chucky season 3 will be split into two parts, with the second debuting sometime in 2024. Don Mancini created Chucky, expanding the world he built in the Chucky films. The series takes place after Cult of Chucky, the seventh movie in the franchise. Jennifer Tilly, Zackary Arthur, Bjorgvin Arnarson, Alyvia Alyn Lind, and Fiona Dourif all reprise their roles in the third season of Chucky, with Brad Dourif returning as the voice of the murderous doll as well. Devon Sawa joins the cast in a new role as a series regular.
Screen Rant spoke with special effects supervisor Jeff Skochko about the third season of Chucky. He shared insight into the use of practical effects, his first experience with Chucky, and the actual deadliness of the traps used in the Saw franchise. Skochko also teased that season 3 will have the most blood ever used on Chucky.
Jeff Skochko Talks Chucky Season 3
Screen Rant: Chucky season 3 is taking things to a new level, which is incredible. It’s such a meta show that really is a blended genre experience. What horror influences did you use for the special effects in Chucky season 3?
Jeff Skochko: Well, in season 3, we’ve just got into the tip of our stuff. The first couple episodes were a little slow for us. We were doing our regular stuff with our smoke and our wet downs and that, but the chandelier is what kept us busy. We built that whole thing, and so that took several weeks and a lot of crew to first manufacture all those crystals and then build the whole chandelier, and then not also build the chandelier, but we had to make it that it broke apart when it fell.
You’re working from what Don’s vision is and with the director, and we have a great collaborative team on the show, so you’re taking things that you’ve used in the past. But as far as influences, we have to follow their lead in that aspect.
I see. Gotcha. Now, can you describe the creative process behind bringing Chucky to life in the third season and how it’s evolved from its past seasons?
Jeff Skochko: Sure. They’re all similar in a way that we get the scripts and then we’ll have a concept meeting, and all the departments head there and we’ll just read through it, and then we’ll break off into our department meetings. And a lot of times, stunts effects, prosthetics, puppeteers and visual effects and that, we’ll have a joint meeting because all the departments intermingle. So we will have discussed what’s the best way to do what. If Chucky has a specific action that the puppeteers need any assistance with, like if he’s flying across the room or something, either we’ll assist them with that or they’ll handle that, but we’ll iron out all those details.
And then amongst the other departments, we’ll figure out who needs to do what, and then we’ll sometimes go away and we’ll do tests and we’ll send the tests out and everyone can get a look at them to understand how the gag would work on set. And then we’ll get feedback from that. And if there’s any adjustment being made, we’ll make the adjustment. If not, we’ll let every department know what is required from special effects, and we’ll go from there.
How many Chucky dolls do you guys usually go through in the course of a season?
Jeff Skochko: Well, it depends. I mean, the puppeteers have their Chucky dolls, which are the ones that speak and do certain movements in that, and they have some interchangeable parts. And then the props department, for season 2, when we did the army of Chucky, I think they purchased like 75 or 80 dolls or something like that, so it just depends. Sometimes we’ll have a bunch here at the shop that we’ll be prepping with, like when we did season 2 with the Chuckys all on top of the van.
At any given time, some of them do get destroyed. I think we’ve cut off a few of them, some arms and legs and some other parts, so it just depends. But I think at minimum, probably five a season.
Very cool. Very cool. Now, one thing I love about this show, maybe Chucky in general, is I feel like everything is done in camera. There’s a lot of practical effects on this show. But can you talk about balancing the practical effects with the digital effects and creating this seamlessly terrifying experience for viewers out there?
Jeff Skochko: Yeah. Usually what happens is once we figure out who’s going to do what, especially if it’s a practical gag and say there’s a lot of elements to it, visual effects will usually say, “You know what? Let’s shoot as much as we can in camera,” and then we’ll either augment it or clean it up in post. And it’s using the best tool for the job. And this show is very pro-getting everything in camera, whether it’s prosthetics or whether it’s Chucky.
As many practical elements as we can get in front of the lens is what the mantra of the show is. And then we’ll go to visual effects for any assistance that’s needed after that. And sometimes there just is visual effects shots. They may not be tied to Chucky, but I mean, everyone kind of has their spot, what they’re best at.
Yeah, that’s what I love about this show. I feel like there’s an actual effort made to make sure that everything is at least tried in camera first, which actually goes to show the creativity of this show. It’s fantastic. Were there any memorable or particular challenges this season, in Chucky season 3, that required an innovative approach to special effects?
Jeff Skochko: Well, the chandelier. We’d never done a chandelier before, so that was the biggest gag on season 3 to date. There is some bigger stuff coming up. A lot of it was in our wheelhouse already. There’s always something. It’s always exciting when you’re doing something new you haven’t done before. So I told one of the other reporters, this will be the most amount of blood ever used on Chucky will be this season. There’s things to come.
When I saw season 2, I was like, “No way. There’s no way this gets topped in season 3.” And off the bat, I feel like it’s doing a pretty solid job. How does the horror genre, especially Chucky, push the boundaries of special effects this season?
Jeff Skochko: Well, I think it depends. When we do the Saw movies, you’re building these traps that… They don’t exist. They existed in a mind. You have to make them work as well. It’s not just that they’re just a set piece. So the level of ingenuity and the level of R&D that we have to go through is crazy. And I was saying to one of the other reporters, a lot of the traps in Saw can literally kill you.
That’s the way they’re built, and a lot of them have to work. There are safety measures put in, and we do everything cautiously, but that’s the way they are. With Chucky and that, the gags are… They’re big, but they’re controllable, and there’s less, I’d say, of the mechanical part that you have in the traps of Saw and more, whether you’re spraying stuff or you’re liquefying stuff or you’re blowing something up, you all take back from your past and use that as your template.
It’s funny, I just talked to the Saw folks a couple of weeks ago, and it’s crazy to think that these things get made because it has to be a little terrifying with those traps because they can’t hurt you. It has to be that sense of a precaution taken.
Jeff Skochko: Yeah. Well, we’ve done three of the Saw movies and it’s crazy, some of the things, and they’re all big steel rigs. And even just building them and putting them together. And the thing is, we usually build them here at our shop, and then we have to transport them to a studio or location wherever we’re doing and install them.
So there’s a massive amount of work, especially I think it was Jigsaw with the Spiralizer where you had this thing, and even just making the cone for inside was a big effort because you have to come up this stuff. Nothing’s foam and latex. Everything is steel, and they want stuff to work and that, so it’s a very creative process, but it can be tough. It can be mentally straining.
How has your experience as the specialist effects supervisor evolved through Chucky, and what have you learned along the way that you were able to apply to other productions?
Jeff Skochko: Well, it’s a very collaborative effort on Chucky, so it’s great. Sometimes you’re able to pitch an idea and get that idea in there. Sometimes you’re able to make a suggestion and say, “Well, hey, what if we did this shot when it’s raining to make it more dramatic?” or something like that. So it’s very friendly that way, and I think the longer you’re on a show, everyone gets more comfortable with each other and you’re more comfortable sharing your ideas. And yeah, it’s a good collaborative effort on Chucky, and so it’s a comfortable place to work, and they come up with crazy gags that we have to make happen, so they write it on the page and we turn it into reality.
Has there ever been anything on the page that you guys weren’t able to get made or get done?
Jeff Skochko: No. I think the only thing I was telling was that in season 2, there was a rain sequence, a big storm in an episode that Dawn directed that unfortunately the rain was cut for budget reasons, which was a little sad because we were all looking forward to it, and it would’ve been some really cool shots. But like everything, there’s always a limit on the budget.
Talk to me about your first experience with Chucky. Did you watch the films prior to this or was this something that you just jumped on and kind of immersed yourself in once you got the job?
Jeff Skochko: No, I saw Chucky when I was a teenager, or maybe younger than a teenager, and I saw the first few Child’s Play movies. I haven’t seen them all, but I’ve seen most of them, and I was excited to get the show. And yeah, it’s been a great experience. And Chucky’s a known entity, so it’s nice always to work on a project where you can say, “I’m working on Chucky,” and you don’t have to explain in detail of what it is. People have an idea. Throughout your career you work on some movies that they’re just a one-off, so they haven’t come out yet, so no one really knows or understands when you say, unless it’s part of a franchise.
Every time I see Chucky on screen, I’m always impressed because I feel like, I know that’s a doll, but it moves seamlessly like a human being. What surprised you the most working on Chucky? Because you got to see the curtain pulled back and see how the dolls actually work. What surprised you the most when you actually got to see that side of Chucky?
Jeff Skochko: Well, it’s just that it’s funny that when you first start seeing Chucky and seeing all the different parts and the different sizes of Chuckys, there’s some oversize stuff that you would never realize is oversize, and just the level of the skill and the life that the puppeteers bring to it. Yeah, it’s fun. You walk around set and you see Chucky.
About Chucky Season 3
In Chucky’s unending thirst for power, season 3 now sees Chucky ensconced with the most powerful family in the world — America’s First Family, inside the infamous walls of the White House. How did Chucky wind up here? What in God’s name does he want?
Check out other Chucky season 3 interviews here:
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