Chucky Season 3 Part 2 is set to begin tomorrow. With Chucky seemingly at death’s door, that’d be conflicting enough news for his on/off beau Tiffany, but she’s been on trial for the murder spree she committed while occupying the body of actress Jennifer Tilly (Bound, Family Guy, Liar Liar) and faces a reckoning with her own mortality as well. Tilly has played Tiffany ever since Bride of Chucky, but later came to play a twisted version of herself as Tiffany took possession of her body. The character is wrapped in all sorts of layers of silly, showy grandeur that has made her a favorite in the franchise and in the series.
Ahead of the final four episodes of Chucky Season 3, ComingSoon’s Senior Horror Editor Neil Bolt speaks to Chucky star Jennifer Tilly about making fun of herself, and where Tiffany might find redemption.
Neil Bolt: Tiffany has become such an integral part of the show’s success; with her, you bring a different kind of comedy and humanity to the rest of the cast. Did you do that to have your performance stand apart?
Jennifer Tilly: Well, I’ve been playing Tiffany now for about 25 years, and after Bride of Chucky, it never occurred to me that there would be another Tiffany outing because, in the end, she burns up horribly, but not before giving birth to a horrible little child. But now, 25 years later, I’ve done four movies and three seasons of Chucky, and Tiffany has always been campy. I’ve always enjoyed the character because she is so over the top, and she’s glamorous, funny, quick with a quip, and the idea of a little doll in love with another little doll, or a human in love with a little doll. I think it’s kind of ludicrous on its own. I was astonished because after Bride of Chucky and Seed of Chucky, Don (Mancini) wanted to go scary again, and Tiffany got relegated to cameos, but fans would still go wild for it.
I love that with the television show, and Don loves it too, we can revisit all these stories, so he could bring back actors from Child’s Play and Child’s Play 2; he brought me back, and then had this cast of new kids too.
What I love about the Chucky series is that it’s so beautifully shot, so beautifully written, and if you take the Chucky element out of it, you still have this beautiful coming-of-age story between Jake and Devon and it’s very delicate. When Tiffany comes in, it’s sort of like the circus is coming to town because she’s sort of like a drag queen, very camp
Yeah, I can see that.
And it all fits. It dovetails together and somehow works. And between all the killing and the sadness, I mean, by the end of the first season, the kids are all orphans, which was horrible; we need a little comic relief, and I’m happy to provide it.
Fair enough!
Oh, and I think one of the things about Tiffany, too, I was very astonished when I got that thing called the internet, that people related to Chucky; they didn’t relate to the attractive teenagers running away from him; they liked him! They’re like, ‘’He’s like me! He smashes beer cans on his forehead, and he’s rude to his girl!’’ and I found they people related to Tiffany as well. People relate to her quest for love. That’s her driving force. She wants her kids to love her; she wants Nica to love her. She wants Chucky to love her, and you know, it’s Sisuphys with the rock; it’s a losing battle because she thinks she’s utterly adorable and utterly lovable. But the people she loves disagree with her on that!
You also get to poke fun at yourself a lot during your time on Chucky. Do you find that cathartic?
I actually really do enjoy it. I remember on Seed of Chucky; we were doing all these jokes about Jennifer Tilly; I was helping write those jokes! Like the scene where Tiffany is dragging Jennifer Tilly’s body and goes, ‘’Fuck she’s fat’’. And people were like, ‘’How can she let Don write those jokes about her?’’. I wanted her to be this Diva Bitch from Hell, and Universal was like, ‘’Can you tone it down a little? She’s too mean! Can’t you make her a nice girl who is being terrorized?’’ so we scratched out some of the ‘’meaner’’ jokes but there’s a lot of opportunity to have a lot of fun at my expense. I don’t know if you saw last season in the episode Death in Denial, where they brought in my friends, my real-life bestie Sutton (Stracke from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills), so we threw some Housewives jokes in there! Brought in Gina (Gershon) and Joe (Pantoliano) for a bit of a Bound reunion, and we brought in my real-life sister, who is understandably confused about why Jennifer Tilly is acting this way, and then I get to kill her! So that was fun! So yeah, we get to have a lot of fun at my expense, but I’m in on it!
I would have thought you would be!
I also wear a lot of my own clothes on the show because I’m very specific about my costumes. We have this fabulous costume designer, Katherine, but if I have an idea, like when Tiffany/Jennifer was going down the green mile with a long flowing black veil draping behind her, Katherine is still saying, ‘’That’s ridiculous. I know where we can get some great fabric!’’ We have a great collaboration and I always send her a suitcase of my more glittery outfits for Tiffany to wear.
The dynamic Tiffany has with everyone else in the show sees her often feel like an outsider, ally, or enemy in the span of a single season. There’s a tragedy to her that isn’t really present in Chucky himself. One way or another, do you hope she gets some form of redemption?
I think she does have a chance of redemption, and that’s her love for Glen/Glenda. I think that’s where her humanity, passion, and love come through best. She’s a terrible mother, I’m not gonna lie! She’s not equipped to be a mother but she loves her children, and she wants the best for them. That’s her best chance of redemption. She wants to be a good mother, but she’s someone who probably never should have had kids.
Chucky Season 3 Part 2 begins on SyFy and USA on April 10, 2024.
