Ahead of the thrilling season 3 finale of creator Don Mancini’s deliciously dark hit comedy horror series Chucky debuting on USA and Syfy on Wednesday, May 1st at 10/9c, Björgvin Arnarson, Alyvia Alyn Lind, and Zackary Arthur, who play the show’s trio of of teen heroes—Devon (Arnarson), Lexy (Lind), and Jake—speak exclusively with The Queer Review‘s editor James Kleinmann.
As well as being committed to seeing the demise of the titular demonic doll (voiced by Brad Dourif), Devon and Jake have also found time for romance. Chucky has been praised for its central queer love story by fans and critics alike, and each season has been GLAAD Award-nominated.
“It’s showing this beautiful love that these two boys have for each other”, shares Lind about the Jake and Devon narrative. “I root for them and I tear up every single scene that they have. No matter what scene it is, throughout all three seasons, whenever they’re just talking to each other it’s so sweet and so innocent. I love their relationship so much and I think that it’s such an important story, especially in a horror franchise. I’m really honored to be a part of a show that does that. It’s really cool and it’s really fun to watch.”
“We’ve definitely grown close as friends and as co-workers”, offers Arthur about creating the on-screen bond between Devon and Jake with Arnarson. “It’s really down to Don’s writing and the way that he has created this beautiful relationship among all of the insanity that is Chucky.”
“It was fun building the relationship up”, adds Arnarson. “Season one was the beginnings of it. Season two had that friction. In season three it was a back on track. I really liked the whole Call Me by Your Name motif that we had this season, it’s really sweet. Don always writes really cute dialogue for us so it’s always fun to do that. When I read the script for season 3, I was like, ‘Oh, I’m so excited, there’s some cute stuff finally!’ Breathing hard and being sad and being scared is too much work! Let me just be cute for a little bit, okay?! It’s really fun and it’s really easy to get into it.”
The significance of having a queer teen love story at the centre of a hit horror series is not lost on Arthur. “The best thing about it for me is how people can relate to it and I get messages from people telling me that the show has helped them in some way or made them feel seen. Those are the best moments for me and it makes me feel very proud to be part of something that’s bigger than me, bigger than everybody.”
After struggling to find some alone time—without a killer doll at their heels—season 3 saw Jake and Devon consummate their three-year relationship in a stylishly shot, neon-drenched scene with an 80s vibe, to the sounds of Frankie Goes to Hollywood‘s queer classic track “Relax”. “The motel that they had built for the scene was amazing set design, the lighting was great, and the director Samir Rehem was amazing”, shares Arthur. “We actually had the song playing in the background too!”
“It was just another day at the job”, recalls Arnarson, “but I was a little bit stressed out because Don was talking about this scene and I didn’t want to disappoint him. But we did it a few times and Don came up to me afterwards was like, ‘Dude, that was awesome’.”
Having played photographer Pete Peters in Mancini’s 2004 movie Seed of Chucky, John Waters returns to the horror franchise in the season 3 finale of Chucky in a new role, Wendell Wilkins, the creator of the original Good Guy dolls. “He’s such an icon”, enthuses Lind, “I’ve been such a huge fan of him forever so getting to work with him and sit and talk to him for hours about his crazy life and everything that he’s gone through as a filmmaker was so cool. It was such an honor and to have him and Jennifer Tilly and Brad Dourif all in one season is just too much. It’s the coolest!”
By James Kleinmann
The season 3 finale of CHUCKY debuts on USA and Syfy on Wednesday, May 1st at 10pm ET/PT / 9pm C and streams the following day on Peacock.
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