“You’re Jason Voorhees”: ‘Crystal Lake’ Star Learned His Role While Testing a Prop Skull

Imagine signing on to play some guy named Joey, showing up for prosthetics, and finding out you’re actually Jason fucking Voorhees.

That’s how Jonathan Tison discovered he would be playing the older Jason in Crystal Lake, Peacock’s Friday the 13th prequel series, now streaming in full. We previously reported on his casting, but this little detail makes his introduction to the franchise even more fun. They managed to keep the role a secret from the guy playing it.

Spoilers for the Crystal Lake finale follow.

Speaking with Popternative, Tison explained that his paperwork identified an entirely different character.

“And then I signed all the contract(s), and the contracts were all under the role of JOEY,” he explained. “I thought I was Joey in Mama’s Boy, and then I looked up Mama’s Boy – [a] Crystal Lake prequel to Friday the 13th. I was like, okay, how cool.”

The reveal came when he visited the prosthetics team, who asked him to try crushing a prop skull.

“They say, Hi Jonathan, we’re gonna have you come over to the skull really fast. Can you put your finger through it? I was like, What do you mean? They’re like, You’re just gonna crush somebody’s skull. I was like, Joey crushes someone’s skull? That’s cool. Okay.”

That’s when things finally clicked.

“And so I start putting my hand on it, I’m like, Wait, am I? And they’re like, You’re not Joey. Who’s Joey? I was like, That’s the part I was cast as. Like, No, you’re Jason Voorhees.”