McKenna Grace and Her Dad Turned the COVID-19 Lockdown into Lifetime's "The Bad Seed Returns"

"I laugh about this a lot," she added. "I'm often cast as the victim, or the one with a bunch of heavy traumas who's always crying or something crazy is going on; so how fun is it to explore the other side of that? I'm the one who's making everyone else [traumatized]. It's just a fun [change from] going in and playing these characters dealing with super heavy subjects to doing a cool, exciting psycho film. That's so fun to me. I love horror films, and thrillers, so to be able to create and be that girl is exciting."

What makes The Bad Seed Returns so interesting is the behind-the-scenes genesis, which was a father/daughter bonding experience. "Nobody was even talking about a sequel," Grace explained. "Well, they hadn't been since like 2019, so in the middle of COVID, out of nowhere, without anyone provoking us, we just said, 'Let's write a sequel. Why don't we?' It just seemed like an exciting thing to do as we both like writing stories and coming up with ideas, so why not?

"We hung out and watched movies," she continued. "Then, in the middle of 2021, it was like, 'Hey guys, we wrote a script for The Bad Seed 2, and here's a look-book. I know we haven't talked to you all about this film in a while, but …' We didn't even tell them we were writing it and told them when we were done. They were like, 'Wait, what?' It's funny because my dad and I are always really busy. He's an orthopedic surgeon and doing surgery and whatnot, while I'm out of the state traveling with my mom and doing films, etc. I think over the COVID lockdown, it was the most time we'd ever spent together.

"Yeah, absolutely," concurred first-time script-writer Burge. "I mean other than writing research articles, this was my first [script]. It was definitely a learning process for both McKenna and me."

"And a bonding process, too," chimed in Grace.

"Luckily, Lifetime and our (co-executive producer) Mark Wolper jumped on it," Burge added.

Believe it or not, the original script turned in by the duo was deemed too dark for Lifetime. However, the writers weren't too precious about what they'd penned. "I did think what we turned in would probably have to change," Burge recalled. "There was a lot of implied violence, and it was a little intense and dark in places. We were [both] naive to writing scripts, but not to the idea of producing things, so we knew what we were coming up with wouldn't be the finished project and there'd be changes. Still, we argued for certain points. But honestly, it was just a blessing that I got to create something with my daughter. She's so gifted at putting these things together and she can really sell an idea."

"It can be frustrating at times," Grace said of the changes. "But it was also cool to have a script we wrote to be considered and created into a film. Then to watch it all come to life! Even if it wasn't our original script, we built the bones, and we got to build around it and expand it."

Grace admitted that acting the words she and her father wrote made the filmmaking process feel all the more organic. And getting to revisit Emma, now a troubled teenager, was exciting. "People always ask how I relate to Emma," she reflected. "Honestly, it's fun to explore [her] emotions -- if they really are emotions? I would never like Emma as a person, but it's cool seeing her in teenage form trying to explore social cliques and high school 'romance' or what not and see how she navigates that while staying under the radar."

"The alien in the Alien movies was like the perfect organism," added Burge. "In her mind, Emma's the hero of her own narrative, so she's like the perfect organism in her circle. People are pawns to serve [her] purpose. In this one, she reinvents herself and comes off as a bit of a social butterfly, but she's still doing the same [bad] things."

Since completing The Bad Seed Returns, the writing duo has penned a 10-part series as a vehicle for Grace. Dr. Burge isn't ready to fully hang up his scrubs just yet (he hopes to keep operating), but with Grace's career both in front of and behind the camera blossoming, the sky's the limit for her. "I've always wanted to explore other parts of this industry because I find it all so interesting," she mused. "I never thought at 15 I'd be able to say I wrote and created a film with my dad, but I don't know what I'll be saying in five years, either.

"I do think it might be interesting to revisit Emma again in a few years," she laughed in closing. "I know Mark (Wolper) does, so if people enjoy this one, it'd be fun to eventually revisit her."

The Bad Seed Returns will be telecast Monday, September 5 at 8 p.m. on Lifetime.

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