Jason Voorhees is stepping into the Jason Universe with a fresh face — or at least, a freshly imagined one. And who better to pull it off than Greg Nicotero, the horror FX titan who’s already left bloody fingerprints on Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Scream?

The Walking Dead makeup master isn’t new to Camp Crystal Lake — he served as FX supervisor on Jason Goes to Hell back in 1993. But now, more than three decades later, Nicotero has returned to the franchise to give Jason a new look for Friday the 13th LLC and Horror, Inc.’s ambitious multimedia expansion.

“They said, ‘We want to reimagine him,’” Nicotero told ComicBook.com at San Diego Comic-Con. “So we did this new mask, then we did a new Jason.”

Between the Sack and the Mask

The redesigned hockey mask has exactly 13 holes — a deliberate touch for superstition’s favorite slasher. And this time, Jason isn’t a zombie. “We landed somewhere between Part 2 and Part 3,” Nicotero explained, referencing the burlap sack of 1981’s Friday the 13th Part 2 and the iconic hockey mask debut in 1982’s Part 3.

The design keeps Jason grounded — powerful, hulking, and terrifying — without the rotting, undead look from later sequels. “It’s fun for me to revisit those,” Nicotero said, noting that his studio, KNB EFX Group, is one of the few to work across Nightmare, Halloween, Scream, Leatherface, and now Friday the 13th. Only Hellraiser remains unchecked.

The New Face of the Jason Universe

Rob Barsamian, president of Horror, Inc., revealed the look back in May alongside the announcement of Crystal Lake — the A24-produced Peacock prequel starring Linda Cardellini as Pamela Voorhees and Callum Vinson as young Jason.

“We strive to maintain Jason’s original essence, while continuing to move toward the future with a defined look and feel,” Barsamian said. “We gave Greg our new 13-hole mask and worked together on this full body look that embodies classic Jason.”

Marc Toberoff, who oversees the Jason Universe with franchise creator Victor Miller and the Barsamians, hinted that this redesign is only the beginning. Talks of Jason’s big screen return — his first since the 2009 reboot — are already in the air.

“We’re making sure this return delivers everything longtime fans have been craving — while opening the door for an entirely new generation,” Toberoff promised.

For fans who’ve been waiting over a decade to see the machete swing again, Nicotero’s Jason might be the perfect bridge — honoring the menace of the past while slashing his way into the future.