Baltimore’s famous filth elder made an appearance on “Chucky” this week, and the character he plays is not a very Good Guy.
John Waters played Wendell Wilkins, creator of the Good Guy-brand dolls in the “Chucky” television series and movies. That makes him the proud “father” of Chucky, the murderous doll who embodies the soul of serial killer Charles Lee Ray and has been on a rampage since the first movie in the “Chucky” franchise, “Child’s Play” in 1988.
Wendell is a reclusive old man whose house looks like a haunted castle. He lives alone and is yearning for company when the three young stars of the television show knock on his door in search of a missing relative of one of them. It was the season finale of Season 3 and the first time the horror/comedy/slasher series has focused on the creator of the Good Guy dolls.
“Let’s face it, I’m getting on,” Waters-as-Wendell tells his visitors, ominously. “I can’t live alone here forever. What this house needs and what it’s been sorely lacking for years is life, laughter — and children.”
The episode, “Final Destination,” aired on the SYFY and USA networks and is now streaming on Peacock, along with the entire three-season “Chucky” series. It’s the latest of numerous appearances that Waters, 78, has made on television shows and in movies other than ones he directed, including episodes of “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Homicide: Life on the Street,” “Feud: Bette and Joan,” “The Blacklist,” and “The Simpsons.” He even played a different role in one of the “Chucky” movies, “Seed of Chucky.” The current exhibit on Waters’ career at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles has a gallery devoted to his acting roles, entitled “The Fandom of John Waters.”
It’s not too much of a spoiler to say that Wendell is more of a villain than a hero in the “Chucky” finale. What he does to his young visitors sets up a cliffhanger that would need to be addressed in a fourth season.
The SYFY and USA networks haven’t said whether the series will be renewed. The creative team led by Don Mancini this week released a “campaign video” in which Chucky urges fans to show their support for another season of murder and mayhem by calling a phone number that flashes on the screen (1-201-500-3347).
Waters, who filmed his role in Toronto last December, says he hopes the series is renewed and that he would be open to coming back as Wendell Wilkins. For now, he’s back to in-person appearances, including a presentation tonight at the Parkway Theatre for the Maryland Film Festival.
