Don Mancini, Creator of Chucky, Is Reinventing the Iconic Horror Franchise – Them

What I like about the horror genre is the opportunity for metaphor. Some people are very hardcore about the supernatural and ghosts and witches but personally, I’ve never seen a ghost, I’ve never had any kind of supernatural experience. I’m open to it, I would love to have it, but I simply haven’t. So I’m not interested in ghosts or living dolls, per se. I’m interested in the metaphor that they provide, and I think the metaphorical subtext is what makes horror so good for satire. There’s also a real connection between the horror genre and outsiders. I think a lot of fans and practitioners are attracted to horror because it’s traditionally been a haven for people on the fringe or who’ve been made to feel on the fringe.

No matter how unreal and absurd the series gets, it still feels very grounded in real emotions. Did you draw on your own life experience at all in writing the show?

Absolutely. In season one, I certainly drew on aspects of my relationship with my dad in the character Jake and his relationship with his dad. My dad was a loving father, but he was a socially conservative, Italian Catholic guy, and I think pretty much the biggest fear of his life was that I would turn out to be gay. In season two, the arch setting is a Catholic school, and I was raised Catholic. It’s an interesting experience, to say the least, being officially told by authority figures in your life that you are wrong, that you are bad. That takes its toll on a child, so by setting the story in a Catholic school, I’m able to delve into some of those aspects of my salad days.

One of the most important aspects of the TV series to me is the relationship between Jake and Devin. When we were doing season one, there was a lot of nervous energy on set the day we were shooting the boys’ first kiss, and everyone wanted to get it right. Zackary Arthur and Björgvin Arnarson, who play Jake and Devin, asked me if this kiss was like a reenactment of my own first kiss. I said on the contrary, it’s the kiss that I wanted. My first kiss was with some girl I’ve long forgotten, and it was fairly unmemorable. So that was the first kiss that I wished I’d had, and that’s why I felt it was so important to put it in the show, so that young gay kids could see this is the first kiss that they could have. Zack and Björgvin loved that, and I think a part of the reason that the relationship has worked so well for fans and viewers is because of the commitment the actors bring to it.

What made you feel like now was the right time to bring back Glen and Glenda, and how did your approach to writing those characters change over the years?