A24 is currently developing Crystal Lake, a Friday the 13th prequel series exploring Jason Voorhees' childhood in a story that will primarily revolve around his mother, Pamela. Linda Cardellini will take on that role, with Chucky and Long Bright River star Callum Vinson playing the young Jason.
In July, Horror Inc.'s Robbie Barsamian confirmed that "both [a movie and game] are coming," adding, "I can tell you that a new sequel movie and new sequel game are at the top of our list. It's where most of our energy's going right now. And I can tell you finally we're in a position to deliver on that."
The rights for the Friday the 13th franchise are complicated, so this movie would likely be unrelated to the TV series. Over the years, Jason has been played by multiple actors, including Ari Lehman.
Others who have (or, like Lehman, sometimes haven't) donned the iconic hockey mask in the original film include Warrington Gillette, Steve Dash, Richard Brooker, Ted White, Tom Morga, C.J. Graham, Kane Hodder, Ken Kirzinger, and Derek Mears.
Now, we have news on the next Jason Voorhees. Talking to Collider about his role in Deathgasm 2: Goremageddon, former WWE Superstar Braun Strowman—who now goes by his real name, Adam Scherr—confirmed that he wants to star in Friday the 13th and would "gladly shave this beard off to play that character."
However, there's seemingly more to it than just Scherr being interested. "There may be some talks about it with people that I know and my agency," the pro wrestler confirmed. "If we could ever get everybody to get back on the same page and allow the things to work, I might be the next Voorhees."
Jason needs to be a formidable presence on screen, and at 6'8", the 42-year-old Scherr has all the makings of a truly terrifying version of this iconic horror character.
Bryan Fuller exited Crystal Lake last year, but in 2022, he explained the franchise's extremely complicated rights issues. "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."
"The movie rights are a completely different thing," the Hannibal showrunner continued. "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."
You can hear more from Scherr in the player below.