After spending 16 years lying dormant at the bottom of a lake due to complicated rights issues relating to the character, Jason Voorhees is finally set to return to terrorize a new group of teenage camp councillors.
We recently learned that Chucky and Long Bright River actor Callum Vinson has been cast as a young, pre-relentless killer take on Jason in A24's Crystal Lake prequel series, but we now have an update on the first actor to don the legendary movie maniac's iconic hockey mask on screen since the 2009 Friday the 13th reboot.
Bloody Disgusting is reporting that a new 13-minute short titled Sweet Revenge is coming our way next week as part of the newly-formed Jason Universe, and Voorhees will be played by actor and stuntman Schuyler White, who previously portrayed the character in director Mike P. Nelson’s (Silent Night, Deadly Night) vignette.
Though a new actor might well take over as Jason when - well, make that if - Friday the 13th eventually returns to the big screen, Sweet Revenge does mark the first official Jason Voorhees film project in sixteen years.
Showrunner Brad Caleb Kane (Welcome to Derry) recently announced that production had commenced on Crystal Lake, which is set to star Linda Cardellini (Freaks and Geeks, Scooby-Doo) as Jason's mother. This take on Pamela Voorhees is described as "a mother who had given up a singing career to raise a special needs child and takes a dark turn when she loses her son."
Fans have been waiting for something to be done with the Friday franchise for many years now, but the news that Crystal Lake would be a prequel series dampened excitement somewhat - as did a caveat that the show couldn't even feature an adult Jason or his signature hockey mask.
Fortunately, we would later learn that this part of the initial report was inaccurate.
Speaking to Fangoria in a 2023 interview, original showrunner Brad Fuller confirmed that they can basically utilize anything available to them "under the Friday the 13th umbrella."
“A24 and Marc Toberoff, who is Victor Miller’s lawyer, have beautifully and excruciatingly assembled all of the Friday the 13th rights. As a streaming series, we have the rights to do everything underneath the Friday the 13th umbrella.” Fuller confirmed.
“The movie rights are a completely different thing. They are tied up at New Line and are super, super messy and probably won’t be untangled anytime soon, but as far as us chickens in the television industry, uh, roost, we have access to anything and everything that Friday the 13th has done up until this point.”
Check out the teaser for Sweet Revenge below.