It’s Halloween in 2022, which marks the end of the Halloween-themed festivities at most theme parks across the nation. It’s the last day of Halloween Horror Nights at both Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood, and while most fans are getting ready to say goodbye, the parks themselves are already planning for next year. Today Universal Parks and Resorts made the unprecedented decision to announce the first house for HHN 2023, and it’s a big one, because Chucky is coming back to Horror Nights.
The brand new house will come to both Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood, and be based specifically on the Chucky TV series that is currently in the middle of its second season. The series itself follows the events of the Child's Play film franchise that began with the 1988 film Child’s Play and continued until 2017’s Cult of Chucky. Check out the video making the incredibly early announcement.
Needless to say, it’s huge to get an announcement for HHN 2023 nearly a year before the event actually opens. This year, house announcements came so late that none of them had been revealed when the first Halloween Horror Nights tickets went on sale. That won’t be an issue next year, as we’ll have at least this one house to look forward to.
This won’t be Chucky’s first appearance at Halloween Horror Nights. The demonic doll was at the center of two different houses on each coast in 2009, Chucky: Friends Til The End at Universal Studios Florida and Chucky’s Funhouse at Universal Studios Hollywood. Chucky has also appeared on Universal Hollywood’s Terror Tram in the past and been part of Scare Zones at Universal Studios Florida over the years, but it's a been a minute since we've seen Chucky at HHN.
Certainly, there isn’t a lot of detail about this new house yet. It's about 10 months away from actually opening, and while design of it has likely already started, and may even be completed it’s probably too early for things to be set in stone. Still, fans of Child's Play, not to be confused with the ill-fated Child's Play reboot have a lot to already look forward to next year.
Based on what little info we do have it would seem likely that the two houses will be designed to tell the same story, but we know that even when that’s the case, HHN houses aren’t always perfectly identical on both coasts.
One certainly has to wonder how the new house will tie into the existing Chucky series. Of course, the house could draw from elements of the Chucky series we haven't even seen yet. Season 2 is currently airing but will wrap up in a few weeks and no Season 3 has been officially announced. However, the reveal of the house may indicate that a third season will come, as otherwise it means Universal will be making a HHN house based on a cancelled show.
Alternatively, the house itself could be the next chapter in the Child's Play story after Season 2, which could make it a must see for Chucky fans, and quite a way to attract visitors to next year’s Halloween Horror Nights.
