Jonathan Tison spent weeks on the set of Peacock’s “Crystal Lake” believing he played a character named Joey. Then a prosthetics fitting revealed the truth: he was Jason Voorhees. The 26-year-old actor plays the grown Jason in the finale, “The Final Chapter,” of the eight-episode “Friday the 13th” prequel, which Peacock and A24 released all at once Oct. 15. The production filmed under a codename and kept his casting secret even from him. Effects staff broke the news when they asked him to crush a prop skull. He told Deadline he was “shocked.”
Tison said the scale of the role registered when he first saw himself in the mirror wearing David Presto’s prosthetics, with pieces fitted inside his mouth and over one eye. He joked that this Jason, bulky and hobbled by the makeup, would struggle to chase anyone down.
Jason never speaks, so Tison built the performance internally. During scenes with Linda Cardellini, who plays his mother Pamela, and Hamish Linklater, who plays his father Elias, he repeated phrases in his head from Jason’s point of view. He wanted the character to feel watchful, and he credited his scene partners with making that easier. Jason’s fear of his father drove one of his choices: whenever Linklater reaches toward him, Jason cowers.
The series, created by Brad Caleb Kane, centers on Pamela’s grief after her son’s apparent drowning. Callum Vinson plays the young Jason, whose death in the first episode sets the story in motion. Tison’s version haunts the woods in the shadows until the finale, when he finally steps into view.
Dread Central reported weeks before the premiere that Tison had landed the part, though the studio promoted other names for Jason beforehand. Peacock released official photos of the sack-headed look after the release, a choice that recalls the burlap mask from 1981’s “Friday the 13th Part 2.” Tison said he has heard nothing about a second season, though the cast hopes for one. The question hangs over the franchise’s latest rebirth, which gives fans the killer’s origin before the hockey mask.
