Before The Pitt, Dr. Cassie McKay Actor Fiona Dourif Played A Stephen King Villain
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If there's an unexpected sensation in the realm of television in 2025, it's Max's medical drama "The Pitt." Starring "ER" alum Noah Wyle, the series has become a massive hit for the streaming service. Though not actually an "ER" spin-off, "The Pitt" is bringing that vibe to modern viewers. Aside from Wyle, the real-time medical drama also stars Fiona Dourif as Dr. Cassie McKay, which has made her known to a much wider audience. However, before her turn as a TV doctor, she had a pretty big career as a scream queen.
Dourif, the daughter of Brad Dourif, best known as the voice of Chucky in the "Child's Play" franchise, got into the family business as a young adult. She would go on to star in "Curse of Chucky" and "Cult of Chucky," in addition to working on Syfy's "Chucky" TV show. Dourif and her dad actually united on a recent episode of "The Pitt" as well. But Dourif's horror career isn't just limited to killer dolls. She also appeared as a villain in the 2020 TV adaptation of Stephen King's "The Stand" for Paramount+.
"The Stand" is widely considered one of the essential Stephen King novels, having been initially published in 1978. The post-apocalyptic tale has been adapted for the screen several times since then, with Paramount+ having put together a star-studded miniseries that premiered on the streaming service in 2020. The show's cast was led by Whoopi Goldberg and Alexander Skarsgård (among others), but Dourif had a unique part to play in the proceedings, allowing her to put a new twist on a villain from the original book.
Fiona Dourif played a gender-swapped Stephen King baddie in The Stand
For those who may not be familiar, "The Stand" takes place after a virus wipes out most of the world's population. In the aftermath, the world's survivors choose between following an elderly Black woman named Mother Abagail (Goldberg) to Boulder or the dark man, aka Randall Flagg (Skarsgård), in Las Vegas. Eventually, the two factions wind up at the center of a battle for good and evil.
Randall Flagg is one of the most notorious villains in King lore, and in the book he has a follower named "Ratty" Erwins, dubbed the Rat Man. In the 2020 series adaptation, however, Dourif played a gender-swapped version of the character known as the Rat Woman. They're a relatively minor character in the book whose role was expanded for the 1994 "Stand" miniseries, where they're portrayed by Rick Aviles. Dourif similarly portrayed her own variation on the villain across four episodes of the 2020 series.
The response to the 2020 miniseries was ultimately mixed. For years, Warner Bros. had been trying to adapt the book for the big screen, as "The Stand" was once planned as a four-movie saga directed by Josh Boone back in 2014 (which never came to pass). It feels inevitable that this material will be revisited in the future as well, be it on the small screen or as a film.
As for Dourif, her horror bonafides don't end there, as she also appeared in the "Purge" TV show, as well as several episodes of "True Blood." In the more immediate future, she'll be returning once again as Dr. Cassie McKay when "The Pitt" season 2 premieres in 2026.