There are many reasons why the Chucky franchise is wonderful, but a big part of it is its commitment to continuity and its use of legacy stars. Alex Vincent and Christine Elise were just kids when they starred in the original Child’s Play movies, and it’s been amazing seeing them back playing Andy Barclay and Kyle on the Chucky TV series.
It’s a canon-friendly effort that any fan can appreciate, and it makes one wonder what else might be possible. For example, might we ever see the return of Catherine Hicks's Karen Barclay and Chris Sarandon's Detective Mike Norris?
Those two characters have been M.I.A. since the first Child’s Play in 1988, but they both managed to survive the terror of Charles Lee Ray a.k.a. Chucky (Brad Dourif), so the door is open for them to come back. As to whether or not this will ever happen, I recently asked Chucky producer Alex Hedlund if there had been any conversations about it, and he told me,
I know that Don [Mancini] is still friendly with both of them, and I think that there have been nascent conversations. I don't wanna speak... I don't know the sort of the lengths of those conversations; I can't speak to the depths. We would absolutely love to figure something like that out, but there hasn't been any kind of anything more than sort of passing conversations. But never say, ‘Never!’
Don Mancini, of course, is the creator of the Chucky franchise, and he’s written every film in the canon in addition to spearheading the show. To simply hear that he is still in contact with Catherine Hicks and Chris Sarandon 35 years after the release of Child’s Play is delightful, but knowing that they could all potentially work together again in the future is next-level exciting.
For those who need a refresh on their Chucky lore, we haven’t heard anything about Karen Barclay and Detective Mike Norris since the beginning of Child’s Play 2. We learn from Play Pals Toys executive Mattson (Greg Germann) that the former was put under psychiatric care after telling people about the killer doll that attacked her and her son (which is how Andy ended up in the foster system). As for the latter, the police, including Norris, ended up denying the possessed toy narrative.
Those are some major loose threads, and there is so much to potentially explore with both of these characters via a comeback on the Chucky series. Whether or not the actors consider themselves available is a whole other question, however, as neither Catherine Hicks nor Chris Sarandon has added an acting credit to their filmography since 2020.
Fans everywhere can keep fingers crossed that we will someday see the return of Karen Barclay and Detective Mike Norris. As for right now, fans everywhere should be watching Chucky Season 3, as it is shaping up as the best run of the series thus far (and it was one of the best things I watched this past Halloween). The season has been split in half because of the 2023 Hollywood labor battles, but the first four episodes of Season 3 are available to stream if you have a Peacock subscription, and after production resumes, the next four will air on USA and Syfy in 2024.
