Every avid enthusiast for murderous dolls out there already knows even the smallest detail in the Child’s Play universe — from Child’s Play (1988) to Syfy’s Chucky television series (2021) — including the answers to all the major whys, hows, whos and whats. But some are still trying to solve one of the biggest questions within this franchise — why, of all people, did Chucky possess Nica Pierce?

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In 2017, Don Mancini released the seventh instalment of the Child’s Play franchise, titled Cult of Chucky, which follows the events of its prequel, Curse of Chucky (2013) and references the events of Child’s Play 3 (1991). Starring Fiona Dourif, Alex Vincent and the ever-iconic voice of Brad Dourif as Chucky, Cult of Chucky continues the storyline of Nica Pierce, who became paraplegic after Charles Lee Ray (Chucky) stabbed her pregnant mother in the stomach, leaving her permanently wheelchair-bound.

In Cult of Chucky, Andy Barclay (Vincent) — Chucky’s first victim at just six-years-old — is all grown up and seeking revenge on Chucky by tracking down the fragmented pieces of his soul and wiping out every last trace of him. Meanwhile, Nica Pierce (Fiona Dourif) has been confined to a mental hospital for years following the events of Curse of Chucky, wherein she was framed for the murders of her entire family, excluding her niece, Alice.

Hoping to get personal payback for Nica’s mother, Sarah, for betraying him and inciting the police chase that led to his death as a human, Charles Lee Ray (as Chucky) infiltrates the mental hospital to isolate Nica. He murders many others, causing Dr. Foley (Nica’s therapist) to believe Nica is responsible. He then takes the opportunity to get Nica alone during a hypnotherapy session, during which he transfers part of his soul into Nica’s body. So, the supernatural side is fairly straightforward — the use of voodoo and how he divided his soul into multiple parts — but the motive and psychology behind it still needs to be explored.

Why did Chucky choose to possess Nica Pierce instead of killing her?

As shown in Syfy’s Chucky series, which picks up where Cult of Chucky ended — with the possessed Nica escaping with Tiffany. This possession can be manually controlled by Chucky at will and during these times, Nica has no control over her body. At any given moment, Chucky can assume control over Nica’s body, allowing her to walk without aid and often uses her to murder others in his absence.

Rather than murdering Nica on sight, Chucky chose to let her live and instead possessed her — why?

Well, as we know, Charles Lee Ray was betrayed by Sarah, who was pregnant with Nica at the time. Therefore, by association, Chucky already knew who Nica Pierce was long before he murdered Sarah in Curse of Chucky. One explanation is that Chucky simply wanted an easily accessible body; someone born paraplegic wouldn’t be able to put up much of a fight, which Chucky likely used to his advantage. Besides that, Chucky knew who Nica was; he knew she was vulnerable, emotional and inexplicably linked to the entire mishap that led to Charles becoming a homicidal doll.

Discounting the obvious reason, there is another explanation that requires reading between the lines a little to fully comprehend. Before Chucky possesses Nica, he says, “If I wanted you dead, you’d be tits-up by now. I was never gonna kill you, Nica. Believe me, there’s worse things than death.”

From this, we can infer that Chucky, never planned to kill Nica for revenge, although it may have seemed like it at first. He simply planned to make her a prisoner of her own body and mind. Every time Chucky takes over, Nica loses her inhibitions, trading out her conscience for his and merely looking on while Chucky violates every part of her, moulding her into a serial killer. That, as Chucky put it, is definitely worse than death — and far better revenge than simply killing Nica outright.

When we last saw Nica in Syfy’s Chucky, all of her limbs had been amputated by Tiffany Valentine in the season one finale. Valentine had grown fond of Nica, taking more of a liking to her than Chucky, but as Nica was possessed by part of Chucky’s soul, she needed to cover all her bases so as to avoid any harm. To prevent the possibility of becoming a victim herself when Chucky took over Nica’s body and inevitably tried to attack Tiffany for betraying him, she severed Nica’s limbs so that she was nothing but a head and a torso.

Many Chucky fans were shocked by the revelation, with some finding the decision harmful and restrictive for Nica’s character development, but only time will tell what Don Mancini, the creator of the Child’s Play franchise, has in store for Nica Pierce.