Biography Flash: Jason Voorhees Unmasked - Slasher Rights, Prequels, and Merch Mania

Jason Voorees Biography Flash a weekly Biography.

Look, I'm going to level with you—tracking a fictional serial killer's biography in real time is exactly as weird as it sounds, but here we are. So let's dive into what's been happening with Jason Voorhees lately, because apparently the hockey-masked murderer has had quite the news cycle.

First up, the big one: filming just wrapped on the A24 and Peacock prequel series called "Crystal Lake." Showrunner Brad Caleb Kane posted on Instagram that they've officially finished production, and from what we're hearing, it was a pretty stellar production. The guy's practically glowing about it. Now, this is significant because Jason's been basically dormant since the 2009 remake with Jared Padalecki, which was, let's be honest, critically panned into oblivion. So we're talking sixteen years of Jason sitting on the sideline while Hollywood couldn't figure out what to do with him. This prequel could actually matter for how future generations understand the character's origin story.

Here's where it gets messy though. The rights to Jason have been absolutely tied up in litigation hell. The original creators went to war with each other over custody of the mask—and I mean that literally. It was basically a custody case over who gets to use Jason's image. That's finally been settled, but here's the kicker: both parties walked away with different pieces of Jason at different points of his evolution. So they're essentially splitting up the horror goods like a bad divorce. You might've seen those weird diodes on Jason's mask in the promotional materials floating around. Yeah, that's apparently connected to these rights complications.

Beyond the production news, there's been some solid merchandising momentum building. The Jason Universe—which Horror Inc. launched last year—has been expanding like crazy. We're talking collaborations with Call of Duty, Fortnite, even Halloween Horror Nights. They released a fifteen-minute short called "Sweet Revenge" through Angry Orchard's YouTube channel back in August. It's wild because Jason's basically become this multimedia property now, which is a far cry from just being a slasher villain.

And look, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that the franchise just hit its forty-fifth anniversary this year. That's a long time for a fictional killer to stay relevant, especially one who doesn't even talk.

So if you're tracking Jason's biography, this is genuinely the moment where things are shifting. Thank you so much for listening to Biography Flash. Subscribe so you never miss an update on Jason Voorhees or any of our other great biographies. Search Biography Flash wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks again.

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