Brad Dourif, Voice of Chucky for 35 Years, Was 'Surprised' “Child's Play” Was a 'Smash Hit' (Exclusive)

Brad Dourif, Chris Sarandon, Alex Vincent and director Tom Holland tell PEOPLE about the 'Child's Play' legacy on its 35th anniversary

Brad Dourif is still a friend to the end.

As the first Child's Play film turns 35 Thursday, the longtime voice of Chucky tells PEOPLE about the legacy of his killer-doll character, including how he was surprised the slasher film became such a success.

"It was a doll horror movie, and I'd done a lot of horror movies by that time. So I didn't think it was gonna be, but it was a smash hit. And I was surprised," says Dourif, 73.

The actor, who was nominated for an Oscar for his debut role in 1975's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, was handpicked for 1988's Child's Play by director Tom Holland for the role of fictional serial killer Charles Lee Ray after working with Holland on Fatal Beauty the previous year.

The Charles Lee Ray/Chucky character was created by Don Mancini, who co-wrote the first Child's Play and has continued to work on the franchise on top of creating the Chucky series, currently in the middle of its third season on Syfy.

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Also known as the Lakeshore Strangler, Ray notoriously becomes Chucky by using voodoo to transfer his soul into a Good Guy doll inside a Chicago toy store before dying, after being shot by police detective Mike Norris (Chris Sarandon) during a chase.

As Chucky, he goes on to terrorize 6-year-old Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent), his mother Karen Barclay (Catherine Hicks) and more in the first film, eventually "coming back from the dead," so to speak, after each time he is seemingly defeated in sequels.

"Chucky really acts out of fear, and what he's frightened of is oblivion," Dourif says of the villain's staying power. "He does not want to die and that be the end, and there'd be nothing. So he figures out a way around that through this voodoo thing. And the second thing about him, and I discovered this along the way, is he f---ing loves his job."

The success of Child's Play led to two immediate sequels in 1990 and 1991. Chucky was later reworked a bit to boast more humor in 1998's Bride of Chucky, in which Dourif teamed up with Jennifer Tilly as Chucky's love interest and fellow serial killer Tiffany Valentine for the first time. Dourif calls that one his "favorite movie" of the franchise so far.

Following Bride of Chucky came Seed of Chucky in 2004 and then, almost a decade later, Curse of Chucky (2013) and Cult of Chucky (2017) — the latter two of which saw Vincent, 42, reprise his role of a now-adult Andy after appearing in the first two films more than 20 years earlier.

He also returns once again as Andy in the series, as does his Child's Play 2 costar Christine Elise McCarthy, who first reappeared for a quick cameo in a Cult of Chucky post-credits scene.

"Chucky said we would be friends till the end in 1988. Andy said, 'This is the end, friend.' Only one of them was correct," Vincent tells PEOPLE about his continued involvement in the franchise, referencing the Good Guy doll's catchphrase and Andy's line at the end of Child's Play before throwing Chucky into a fireplace.

Despite Child's Play's ongoing story 35 years later, director Holland, now 80, was only involved in the franchise's first installment. Aside from directing the film, he also co-wrote the screenplay with Mancini, now 60, and the late John Lafia, from a story by Mancini.

"I wasn't trying to make a movie that would be sequel-ized — I was trying to make the definitive killer-doll movie, of which there were none that I can think of before Child's Play," Holland tells PEOPLE. "And I succeeded beyond my wildest expectations."

The director, who published Child's Play: A Visual Memoir earlier this year (with a foreword by Sarandon, 81, and an afterward by Vincent), tells PEOPLE the series' trajectory had veered from his interests, which were more "visually, and how it would cut together and scaring the hell out of you. And I must say, I leavened it with humor too."

"You still had the influence of what I did, and then it changed to something else," Holland adds of subsequent films, claiming that some were "afraid that I was making the movie too scary" to the point where they "would never be able to sell all the merchandise to" younger fans.

As for casting the perennial Good Guy himself, "If you go look at the end of Fatal Beauty, you'll see Chucky there in Brad Dourif's performance, and what Brad brought to it was a fiendish delight in being evil," Holland says.

"He really loved it. Brad sold that, and I wrote [the part of Chucky] for him. I don't know if he knows I wrote it for him, but I did."

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Child's Play is one of only two movies in the saga that Dourif appeared in in the flesh, the other being Curse of Chucky. As he and Sarandon can both attest, they filmed during "one of the coldest winters on record" in Chicago, says Holland.

A memory that is perhaps even more "not particularly a pleasant one" for Sarandon was filming a scene inside a car, in which Chucky attempts to stab Detective Norris between the legs via some intense knife work from under the seat while Norris is driving.

"I have so many men who say to me, 'Oh my God, that scene just completely blew my mind. I was just so uncomfortable.' Well, it was uncomfortable to do," the Cooking by Heart podcast host tells PEOPLE of the tense sequence.

Sarandon had previously starred as bloodthirsty antagonistic Jerry Dandridge in the 1985 vampire thriller Fright Night, which Holland wrote and directed. And like Holland and Hicks, 72, Sarandon didn't return to the Child's Play franchise after its first film in 1988.

"Tom wasn't involved in the second one, so I just said, 'Thank you, but no thank you,' " he recalls of his decision not to take part in Child's Play 2.

Asked whether he'd ever consider a return as Norris, who survived Chucky's wrath, "Yeah, sure," the Oscar nominee says. "It always depends on the circumstance. [But] I would think that, at this point, Mike Norris is retired."

Nowadays, Dourif is enjoying continuing to voice the iconic villain in Chucky — and, as teased during a promo following the show's midseason finale last month, he will even make a live-action return in some capacity during the second half of season 3, out next year.

His favorite part of still playing Chucky 35 years after Child's Play? Dourif tells PEOPLE, "I think the excitement is the opportunity to work with my daughter."

The actor and father of two is referring to his younger child, actress Fiona Dourif, who first starred as Nica Pierce in Curse of Chucky and Cult of Chucky. (Dourif is also dad to daughter Kristina Dourif and has one grandchild.)

Fiona, 42, reprises her role as Nica on the Chucky television show — where she has also appeared as a younger version of her dad's live-action character Charles Lee Ray, in a spitting image of Dourif.

"The first time I saw what she looked like ... I was looking at some footage and I go, 'I don't remember doing that.' I mean, she was weird, and she was exactly like me," Dourif says. "Her accent was a little different, but she was exactly like me."

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In Chucky season 3, the titular doll is continuing to wreak havoc on unwitting victims — this time from inside the White House, and right under the nose of the president of the United States (played by horror veteran Devon Sawa, who cheekily returns to the series as a new character for the third time in as many seasons).

As for what Dourif thinks might be in store for the future of the Child's Play franchise — which has inspired everything from toys and games to haunted-house attractions — the actor tells PEOPLE, "Every single time, I'm always shocked by what Don comes up with."

"So at this point, I hardly dare make a prediction, because he is going to come up with something really extraordinary," he adds.

Chucky is now streaming on Peacock.

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