Chrissy is 13 years old and gripes about her parents.

Nothing unusual there … except that her father, Satan, is fighting for custody of his rebellious teenage daughter with her fierce mother, Laura — who takes no guff from the Prince of Darkness as they bicker and battle over Chrissy’s future.

Welcome to “Little Demon,” the new FXX adult animated comedy (there’s some nudity) starring Aubrey Plaza as Laura, Lucy DeVito as Chrissy and Danny DeVito — Lucy’s real-life dad — as Satan.


  Chrissy discovers she inherited some destructive powers from her father Satan.
 Chrissy discovers she inherited some destructive powers from her father Satan.

“Laura is a single mom and she’s a young mom and she’s kind of this rebel woman,” Plaza, 38, told The Post. “She doesn’t really fit into the norms of suburbia but she’s trying to do the best for her daughter — raising her and fighting off demons, literally, at the same time.

“I remember saying early on that I was obsessed with modeling Laura after Jamie Lee Curtis in ‘Blue Steel,'” she said, alluding to the 1990 movie in which Curtis played a rookie NYPD officer who learns she’s dating a serial killer (Ron Silver). “Imagine if she had a kid? What kind of mother would she have been like?”

“Little Demon” premieres Aug. 25 at 10 p.m. with co-stars Eugene Cordero as Chrissy’s best friend, Bennigan; Lennon Parham as Laura’s neighbor, Darlene; and Michael Shannon as “Unshaven Man,” who’s intent on eliminating Satan and Laura’s Antichrist daughter. Guest stars include Mel Brooks, Rhea Perlman, Patrick Wilson, Lamorne Morris and Pamela Adlon.

“That’s the power of Danny,” Plaza said. “He’s got a lot of friends in high places.”

The series is set in suburban Delaware, Plaza’s home state, and was created and written by executive producers Darcy Fowler, Seth Kirschner and Kieran Valla — all of whom Plaza has known for a very long time. (“Little Demon” also counts Dan Harmon and Danny, Lucy and Jake DeVito as executive producers.)

“We now call [Fowler, Kirschner and Valla] ‘The Demons, collectively,” Plaza said. “I’ve known Seth since I was 12 years old — we grew up together — and I’ve known Darcy and Kieran since we were teenagers. The four of us have made some other projects in the past, some live-action stuff, and this was their latest idea. Darcy knew Danny through the theatre world in New York.

“The Demons brought us together and we just became one big happy family.”

The decision to set “Little Demons” in Delaware was a no-brainer for Kirschner and Plaza.

“We were trying to find a place that felt like a good place for [Laura and Chrissy] to go hide, and Delaware is kind of a mysterious state because people don’t really know a lot about it, and we do,” Plaza said. “We know that Delaware has so much going in a small concentrated place that people don’t know about … everything in one two-hour top-to-bottom piece of land. For us it was perfect; no one has any preconceived notions about [Delaware] so we can kind of say what we want about it — and we get to put all these inside references in there and wait for our friends back home to freak out over them.”


  Satan (Danny DeVito) assumes a human form when he’s confronted by Laura (Aubrey Plaza).
 Satan (Danny DeVito) assumes a human form when he’s confronted by Laura (Aubrey Plaza).

  “Little Demon” star Aubrey Plaza said she based Laura on Megan Turner, played by Jamie Lee Curtis in the 1990 movie “Blue Steel.” Everett Collection (28173) “Little Demon” star Aubrey Plaza said she based Laura on Megan Turner, played by Jamie Lee Curtis in the 1990 movie “Blue Steel.” Everett Collection (28173)

The vagaries of recording the voiceovers for “Little Demons,” which began production during the pandemic, resulted in some unpredictable moments, Plaza said.

“During lockdown, I set up a studio in my garage, which is kind of funny because half the time I’m screaming about demons trying to kill my daughter and my neighbors thought I was going insane,” she said. “When COVID calmed down a bit we started going into the studio, but I’ve never physically been in a [recording] booth with the other actors. But we do it live; I’ll be in one booth and Danny and Lucy are in another booth in another room in the same building, on Zoom, so we can all see and hear each other.

“I had to improvise a lot [on the episode with] Patrick Wilson and Pamela Adlon. I was in Europe at the time, in a booth in Italy in a small town in Sicily, improvising with Pamela over Zoom.”

Plaza said that, out of all of the “Little Demon” characters, Danny DeVito’s Satan changed the most in the course of developing the series.

“There’s something really sweet about the fact that Danny and Lucy are playing father and daughter and they bring their own real relationship into play a lot,” she said. “We weren’t expecting Satan to be such a softie; he can’t help but be so lovable and likable and I was kind of surprised. And I think Danny loves that; he doesn’t see Satan as a bad guy and doesn’t even see him as a deadbeat dad but a guy trying to spend time with his daughter.

“I don’t fully believe that and I think he’s a little full of s–t there,” she said, “but it’s funny that he approaches it that way.”

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