Chucky’s back—and if you’ve caught any of the season three marketing, you’ve seen that he’s seized upon potent, real-life national anxieties by infiltrating the White House. But what’s his motivation? Without spoiling anything, all is not what you might think in the first half of Chucky’s new season.Chucky season two wrapped late last year with the unsurprising—but, naturally, ludicrously hilarious—reveal that Chucky (voiced by Brad Dourif), always resilient, had not been a victim of his own Christmas killing spree. That left the door wide open for a third season of Don Mancini’s campy, gory series based on his Child’s Play movies. When we return, not only do we learn what transpired in the finale’s immediate aftermath, we also leap ahead a few months to see what the killer doll and his foes—teens Devon (Björgvin Arnarson), Jake (Zackary Arthur), and Lexy (Alyvia Alyn Lind), all orphaned after losing their parents for Chucky-related reasons, as well as his vengeful ex Tiffany Valentine, still in the body of disgraced Hollywood star Jennifer Tilly (Jennifer Tilly)—are up to.Chucky’s storyline is season three’s most interesting—not only because he’s wormed his way into the First Family, which gives Chucky a whole new setting to explore, but also its underlying mystery, propelled by burning questions like “how did he get there?” and “what the hell is he up to?” Throughout Chucky’s run, its cackling villain has always had some kind of scheme afoot (remember his ill-fated plan to unleash an army of possessed Good Guy dolls?), and season three is no different. Again, we won’t be spoiling the reveal here, but to its credit, Chucky does fill you in by the end of its four-episode binge drop... and it’s not at all what you might expect.Also not what you’d expect: Chucky’s version of the U.S. president, James Collins, played by Devon Sawa—by now, it’s a franchise in-joke that Sawa returns every season as a different character. It’d be easy for Chucky to lean into satire by making him some kind of Trump clone, but Collins is touted as the nation’s first independent president, elected on a campaign of total transparency and free of any obligations to either political party. He’s also an understanding dad to sons Henry (Callum Vinson), who’s eight and fearful of White House ghosts, and Grant (Jackson Kelly), a TikTok-obsessed teen on the nerdy side of emo. He does bong rips in private with the First Lady, Charlotte (Lara Jean Chorostecki, taking a page from Sawa by returning to the show as a new character), and though their marriage and life aren’t perfect—we learn that there was a third son, Joseph, who died of an illness a year prior—they’re a surprisingly solid unit. Of course, once we see Henry cradling Chucky—who slithers into the kid’s good graces by using his chipper Good Guy voice and calling himself “Joseph”—we know doom is afoot, which is exactly the reaction that Devon, Jake, and Lexy have when they spot Chucky and his famous new family on TV. Bonded by the trauma they’ve all shared, the kids are back in Hackensack, living with cool teacher Miss Fairchild (Annie Briggs), who’s adorably supportive of Devon and Jake’s romance. She’s also one of few adults in this realm who understands that Chucky, a toy doll, is really a murderous monster who needs to be destroyed.While the kids plot against Chucky—social media, a big theme this season, helps pave the way to Washington, D.C.—we get a parallel tale following Tiffany Valentine’s downfall after the events of season two. Nobody has ever had a better time playing any character than Jennifer Tilly as Tiffany in the vampy body of “Jennifer Tilly,” first on trial for murder and then starring in her own women-in-prison adventure. Much like season two, Tilly’s scenes are largely set apart from the main plot, with the underlying promise that eventually all the storylines will intertwine. That includes the saga of Caroline (Carina Battrick), Lexy’s younger sister, who’s gone from creepy kid to full-on Chucky apprentice in an arc that will surely be explored more in the latter half of the season.Part one of season three ends at the ideal point, having answered some big questions and advancing the story several paces. It has all the Chucky touchstones fans require—hideously gruesome kills, foul-mouthed wisecracks—while achieving the delicate balance of making you root for its heroes while also hoping its pint-sized antagonist finds a way to keep racking up his body count. Plus, this season sees Chucky pose a threat to national security in a way that couldn’t feel more appropriate amid the coming election frenzy—Gil Bellows’ character is absolutely based on Watergate figure G. Gordon Liddy—and even better, it builds to a big Halloween episode for its cliffhanger while showing us a side of Chucky we’ve never, ever seen before.The first four episodes of Chucky season three premiere October 4 at 9:00 p.m. on USA and Syfy; the episodes will stream the next day on Peacock. The rest of season three arrives in 2024.Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.