- "First Teddy, now Samantha. I feel like we don't even know the people working with us anymore. People we're raising our kids alongside."
- ―James to Charlotte, after the deaths of two colleagues.
James Collins is the President of the United States. He brands himself on his "unprecedented platform of transparency."
Chucky: Season 3 (2023)[]
After the death of his youngest son Joseph, he and his family mourn at his grave. His son Henry finds a Good Guy doll hidden behind the gravestone, and he immediately takes a liking to "Joseph". Although he is hesitant about him taking the strange doll, his wife Charlotte notes that he hasn't smiled like that in months, so they allow him to bring it back to the White House.
One night, there is a power outage in the White House. James and his family are escorted by the Secret Service to the elevator leading to the underground bunker. As they begin their descent, the power suddenly shuts off in the elevator's back-up generator. However, it quickly turns back on again, as does the power to the rest of the White House. The Secret Service halt the escort, and allow James and his family back to their beds.
The next morning at breakfast, Henry tells him that his doll "Joseph" doesn't want to go to school, and instead wants to go to work with him and see the Oval Office. He acquiesces, and sits the doll down in a chair while he discusses the power outage with his Vice President Spence and Press Secretary Melanie. Spence reveals that the outage was a result of a hack, but nothing was compromised other than the power grid. Although the Vice President wants to keep this in the Oval Office, James refuses to bury this story and wants the American people to know the truth. Changing the subject, Spence inquires about the Good Guy doll, "Joseph". James remarks that he finds it to be a strange coincidence that Henry found a doll sharing the name of his dead brother. Just then, James, Spence and Melanie leave the Oval Office to meet with the Governor of Rhode Island, leaving the doll behind.
After his meeting, he is informed by his secretary that Charlotte is waiting for him upstairs in the Executive Residence to go over colour swatches. Before that, he walks into the Oval Office to take off his jacket and tie, and notices "Joseph" missing from the chair he had been placed on. Turning around, he finds the doll at his office chair. He takes the doll out with him, leaving it in Henry's room before heading up to meet Charlotte. They discuss the pressures she feels in being the First Lady, and how she feels she has to always keep busy. Just then Henry arrives home from school, and asks his Secret Service agent Teddy to check his room before he goes in himself. However, after a gunshot is heard from inside the room, it is believed that Teddy committed suicide.
James and Charlotte smoking a bong together.
Later that night, James and Charlotte smoke a bong together as they share their concerns over Henry's wellbeing and his attachment to his Good Guy doll. They reason that after the loss of his brother Joseph and now Teddy, they should allow him to get comfort from his doll. A couple days later during breakfast, Henry tells James that "Joseph" wants to go to the Oval Office again. Although James insists he take the doll with him to school, he is convinced to take the doll one more time when Henry claims "he wants to be close to you". In the Oval Office, James, Charlotte and Spence meet with a government agent named Pryce. He explains to them he is here because the circumstances of Teddy's apparent suicide are suspicious, and he has been given carte blanche access to all facilities in the White House to carry out his investigation. As the meeting ends, his secretary Samantha comes in to give James his mail. He asks if she has seen his letter opener, as it has gone missing.
In the evening, James collects his afternoon mail from Samantha before ending his work day. She asks if he ever found his letter opener, to which he replies that he has not and he has also lost track of his Henry's doll. He makes his way to the Executive Residence, where he and Charlotte sit alone drinking wine. He sits solemnly in silence for 15 minutes, until Charlotte asks what he is thinking about. He tells her that although he wishes to protect the American people and does not agree with Pryce's investigation, he can't stop thinking about Teddy's family and their pain of losing a family member. While Charlotte briefly comforts him, she suddenly gets a text message and leaves, telling James she is going to check on Henry.
The next day, James becomes worried about Samantha as she has not come into work and is not answering her phone. By nighttime, he and Charlotte again sit alone drinking wine, while he sits silently contemplating about Samantha. Charlotte takes notice, and tells him that Samantha's brother informed her that she checked herself into rehab. He takes this news hard, revealing to Charlotte that he feels like they don't even know the people working at the White House anymore, especially who they are raising their children alongside. Charlotte asks him to come to bed with her, and the two share a brief dance. James tells her he can't as he plans on heading back to the office, but he gives her a kiss before leaving the room.
James following Joseph's ghost.
On the night of the Halloween Gala, he and Charlotte dress as JFK and Jackie O. and mingle amongst the party guests. When Grant introduces his new friends to his parents, James becomes distracted by a young boy standing in the middle of the ballroom. This boy appears to be his deceased son Joseph, who is wearing the Phantom of the Opera costume that he wore for Halloween the previous year. Following after the boy as he walks through the crowd of dancing people, he eventually catches up to him as he stops momentarily. James tries to talk to the boy, but he does not respond and quickly disappears into the crowd. Suddenly later on in the evening, the power goes out in the White House. The Secret Service begin escorting him to safety, but he again becomes distracted by a small figure wearing a Phantom of the Opera costume. He eventually finds this figure sitting in a chair in the middle of the ballroom, and he calls out to it, believing it to indeed be his deceased son Joseph. However, upon turning the chair around, he sees that it is his son's Good Guy doll. Picking it up, the power comes back on, and he looks around confused. The Secret Service drag James out of his stupor and away to safety, but not before he witnesses the large chandelier in the ballroom fall down and kill 10 partygoers.
The day after the Halloween Gala, he holds a press conference to talk about the tragedy. During his speech, he hallucinates seeing his son Joseph in the audience, again wearing the Phantom of the Opera costume. He quickly becomes disorientated as Joseph repeatedly calls out to him, and he runs out of the room to the Executive Residence. There he talks with Henry, who explains that his doll "Joseph" is sick and he's afraid that he will die. To this, James asks if his son has ever seen Joseph's ghost, but he is stopped by Charlotte who takes Henry away.
The following afternoon, James is in the Oval Office when he hallucinates a pool of blood manifest on the floor, which reflects the death of his secretary Samantha. Backing up against his desk, he shuts his eyes but discovers that there is no trace of the blood when he opens them. Visibly shaken by this, he makes his way back to his bedroom where Charlotte is reading Henry's ghost book. He confides to her that he believes Henry about there being ghosts in the White House, and that he's seen their dead son Joseph. But Charlotte convinces him that his grief-stricken mind is playing games and he must get a hold of himself for the sake of their family.
Death[]
James' death.
That night while walking through the Executive Residence, he hears Joseph calling out to him and follows the voice to Joseph's old room. While sitting down on the bed, he accidentally touches Chucky who is hiding under the covers. While momentarily startled by the doll, he again hears Joseph calling for him, and sees him standing in the corner of the room. Joseph warns him to "look out", but is too late as Chucky smashes a piggy bank into the back of his head. He collapses onto the ground, where Chucky lunges onto him, biting off a chunk of his cheek and gouging out his eyes, killing him.
Despite his death, James' ghost still lingers in the White House. While Charlotte is smoking a cigarette in Joseph's room, she spots his ghost standing and staring at her. She apologizes for everything and attempts to reach out and touch him, but is scared off by him suddenly screaming and displaying his death where his eyes had been gouged out. His voice is later heard through an EVP device, repeating the phrase "so much blood".
When the White House is set on fire, Grant witnesses James and Joseph's ghosts staring back at him from the building's window before they are engulfed by flame.
Trivia[]
- James is Chucky's 94th victim since Child's Play.
- He is noteworthy for being the first sitting President to be an Independent, rather than a member of either the Democrat or Republican Parties.
- In Let the Right One In, it is revealed that James once had an affair with another woman, but this was resolved between him and Charlotte long before the election.
- This is Devon Sawa's fourth character in the Child's Play franchise, with the other three being Lucas and Logan Wheeler, and Father Bryce.
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