'Chucky' Season 3 Zackary Arthur Isn't Ready To Let Go of His Dark Side

The Big Picture

• Collider talks with the Chucky trio, Zackary Arthur, Alyvia Alyn Lind, and Bjorgvin Arnarson for Season 3.
• Arthur, Lind, and Arnarson share memories from set, including working with John Waters and exploring spooky locations.
• Arthur also discusses that character swap and his hopes for Season 4.

Stepping onto a Hollywood set as an up-and-coming performer is intimidating no matter what the project. But we’re guessing that it was especially nerve-wracking for Zackary Arthur, Alyvia Alyn Lind, and Bjorgvin Arnarson, the young cast of Syfy and USA Network’s Chucky. Unlike other shows that center around a group of teenagers, Don Mancini actually cast three performers under the age of 20 for his series, and despite each of them having credits under their belt before their appearance on the film franchise’s foray into television, signing on was a monumental undertaking for the trio of actors. By the time the TV series got on its feet, the Child’s Play series had already spawned seven films across three decades — most coming out years before the young stars were born.

What may have intimidated some only further drove Arthur, Lind, and Arnarson to do right by the fandom, and it paid off in a huge way, as the show holds the bragging rights of earning the highest reviews for the entire franchise. Season 3 saw the tight-knit group of friends rush to the White House to put an end to Chucky’s (voiced by Brad Dourif) murderous hijinks before he disastrously affected the entire world. As always, the season was packed with incredible cameos, including a special performance from the legendary John Waters and unbelievable moments that could only happen in the Mancini-created universe. During an exclusive interview with Collider, Arthur, Lind, and Arnarson chatted about their most memorable times on set, their first connections to the Child’s Play franchise, and more.

Chucky

After a vintage Chucky doll turns up at a suburban yard sale, an idyllic American town is thrown into chaos as a series of horrifying murders begin to expose the town's hypocrisies and secrets.

A Visit From John Waters Makes For The Best Memories

COLLIDER: Congrats on another awesome season. You have a lot going on: there’s a lot of blood, we got a lot of dolls behind the scenes, we have some pretty iconic names coming in. Does everybody have a favorite memory from their time on set?

ALYVIA ALYN LIND: I think that one of my favorite days on set was — this is not a spoiler because he's already been announced — definitely working with John Waters. That whole day was just so much fun, and we got to talk to him for so long. All the short stories that he shared with us about all of his experiences, I'm such a horror nerd that it was just like heaven for me to get to listen to all of his stories that he had. He's such a great storyteller. You could literally listen to him talk for hours and hours and hours and hours. So, definitely to work with him, and getting to work with Jennifer is always so much fun. Oh, and of course, getting to work with Brad [Dourif], too. I mean, we have so many names coming in this season, so just getting to meet and work with all of them was definitely a highlight of the season.

BJORGVIN ARNARSON: I don't know what scene we did, but we shot in this really cool house that was literally falling apart at the seams and super rundown and old. So, we explored a bit of the building in between one of the setups, and it was pretty wild. It was like these random rooms, and there were a bunch of rundown walls, and then in the next one there was a big carpet and has nice wood in it. I don’t know who made this. It was crazy.

ZACKARY ARTHUR: It's so weird.

LIND: There was a bowling alley.

ARNARSON: Yeah, it had a bowling alley.

LIND: It had an indoor pool.

ARTHUR: But there would be a really decrepit indoor pool falling apart and then there was, like, this whole massive bar that was done up and then there’s a squash court that was so nice.

There are so many vibes going on there.

LIND: There were definitely spirits in that house.

ARTHUR: Apparently, I was told that there was a secret passage that went to the other house, and that this guy was seeing this mistress. Anyways, that was a story I was told.

The 'Chucky' Gang Share How They Were Introduced to the Killer Franchise

So what were your first connections to the Child's Play franchise? Did you guys watch the movies when you were younger?

ARNARSON: I'd never seen them before, so when I booked the role back in Season 1, me and my dad binge-watched the whole series. It’s really fun. I like it a lot.

LIND: I have been a horror fan since I was very, very young. My whole family is very into it. We do Halloween like it's Christmas. So, I had already seen all of them, of course, when I was a lot younger, and obviously was a fan. He's an icon. He's the best. But then when I booked the role, I rewatched all of them again, like a binge kind of thing, and it was terrifying. I mean, I love the movies. They're so much fun. I love the camp. One of my favorites is [The Seed of Chucky] just because of how campy it is. And just the whole vibe is so great with Jennifer [Tilly]. So, I'm a big fan of the franchise, I can say.

ARTHUR: When I was younger, I was way too scared to see any of that. [Laughs] But yeah, when we found out that I was auditioning for the role, we all binged all the movies, and it was a great time.

Zackary Arthur Takes a Walk on the Dark Side

Zack, this season you got to kind of switch up roles a little bit towards the end. What was that like for you? Because it's going from Jake who's such a Good Guy and then switching into Charles Lee Ray. Pun intended.

ARTHUR: I went from a good guy to Good Guy. I mean, it was really almost a year of work. When I found out that I was going to do it, back when we were filming the first half of the show, that's when I started working on it. I mean, it started off really bad and then after I got to talk with Brad and I got the sort of cadence down, I tried to get the accent down — I can never fill Brad Dourif’s massive shoes, but it started to kind of mold into the direction that I wanted it to go. Really, becoming Chucky, I had to completely step outside of myself for that, and in a weird way, playing Chucky gave me a lot of confidence because he's such an entitled little doll. Maybe it's a bad thing that I've taken up some of those qualities. [Laughs] I wouldn’t say that, but…

You did a really great job. Honestly, from your first line, it took me a minute to realize it was you and not Brad doing a voiceover situation, so you killed that.

ARTHUR: Thank you for that. I appreciate that.

Was there anything else you were hoping to get? It was a little short-lived.

ARTHUR: Hey, Season 4, come on. Give us a Season 4 so I can do more. But even in that short amount of time, it was still a lot of fun, and there was a lot of improv. There was a lot of that.

The Trio Each Brings Something Different To The Table

Your three characters are kind of like our new heroes in the franchise. Everybody, I feel, brings something different to the table. Can you guys speak to that? What’s your character’s superpower?

ARNARSON: I think Devon’s superpower is that he looks up anything, I realized recently. Because in the show, the people are like, “How do we do this?” And everyone's like, “I don't know how to do this!” And Devon’s like, “Well, I looked it up, and here's the answer…” [Laughs]

ARTHUR: He's the only one with the power of Google.

ARNARSON: Yeah, I'm the only one who knows how to use Google in this universe. But yeah, I think Devon brings in the skepticism and kind of the - I don't know, I guess the brains…

LIND: The brains. He’s the brains of the operation. Definitely. Lexy is always asking questions. I've noticed with my character, in every single scene that I'm in, it's always like, “We're doing this because of this, but why? But why are we doing this? How is this gonna work?” So I guess that she's always kind of also bringing in a little skepticism. She's always like, “Guys, this is a little cray-cray. Let's take it back a second.” I think she's kind of like the realism. She's like, “Let's take a step back and look at the situation and actually think about what we're doing because y'all are being crazy.” And also, I think she's just like the energy. She's a little crazy. She can get a little insane. She has a lot of energy and a lot of fight in her, and I think that she, in a way, kind of keeps the group going. Like, “Guys, come on. We gotta keep going. We gotta keep fighting. We gotta get him.” So I think that's kind of maybe what she brings to the operation.

ARTHUR: Well, I mean, there's a lot of things that each of the characters bring to the show, but I think one thing that stands out to me is in Season 2. I think Jake really brought a lot of the hope of finally finding this way to defeat Chucky, which was Good Chucky. And I guess to Season 3, with our characters, there is the Lexy character, who's asking the questions or cracking jokes or the sarcastic remarks, and then there's the Devon character, who comes up with the plan, and then there's Jake, who's like, “Alright, let's do it. Let's go do the plan!” We have a lot of those moments. But yeah, I guess that would be his superpower.

LIND: A lot of our dialogue consists of, “Guys, what are we gonna do?” Bjorgvin, “Guys, I looked it up online.” Jake, “Okay, let’s do it!” [Laughs]

Seasons 1 to 3 of Chucky are now streaming in their entirety on Peacock.

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