‘Jason Never Dies’ Script Writer Tom McLoughlin Confirms Jason Voorhees Will Slash His Way Through an All Female Cast

Jorge Arenas |

Aug 2, 2019

Writer and director Tom McLoughlin, who wrote the script for Jason Never Dies, confirmed the script sees Jason slashing through an all female cast.

It’s unclear if the script will ever see the light of day as the Friday the 13th franchise is currently in the middle of ongoing litigation between series creator Sean S. Cunningham’s Horror Inc. and Friday the 13th screenwriter Victor Miller.

Neverthless, McLoughlin has penned a script and provided details about what it will entail in an interview with Bloody Disgusting. McLoughlin confirmed the script sees Jason facing down a female cast.

McLoughlin stated, “One other thing I’ll give away is that the entire cast is female, with the exception of Jason. And then there’s three or four other things have not been done before, which I’ll hold back on so there can be some surprises.”

McLoughlin would offer other details about what his script entails indicating it would see Jason return to camp.

“I think I started doing a few more conventions, and I kept being asked the same question: “Would you do another one?” And then I started thinking: If I was to go back into this world, what would it be? So, first off, I wanted to keep it grounded again, like I did in my other one — we’re at the camp, and something occurs that takes us through it. I loved the idea of Jason Never Dies as a title. And kind of playing off that a bit, in terms of what causes him to come back again. Who are the people that he’s involved with this time around? And how many of them fight back? How many of them are just victimized?”

He continued:

“But one thing I’m doing that hasn’t been done before is I’m putting Jason in the snow. So, from the beginning of the movie to the end, it’ll all be in winter. And the camp is going to be a little different than what people will expect. As for the cast — because a lot of people have been asking me if it’s gonna be Tommy Jarvis coming back — Thom Matthews, who’s obviously Tommy in [Jason Lives], has been doing so many of these fan films that I don’t know if I can do something really fresh with him.

So I basically kind of abandoned the idea of bringing him and Megan back, and went for this idea that the people involved in this one are going to be complete innocents. There’s not going to be like I had in the other one, where they were making Jason jokes and all that kind of thing. They have no idea who this is, so it goes back to that: “Oh, my God, is this a monster? Is this an alien? What the hell is this that’s causing these murders?”

He notes he’s especially excited about seeing Jason in winter and in the snow because of how blood shows on the white snow. He also indicates that he focused on making Jason’s kills unique.

“But it’s been talked about for years — doing a film set in winter — because obviously blood looks real good on white snow. And I wanted to make sure that the kills are unique to that, in terms of where Jason is and what he gets ahold of, and how bodies are left. I tried to be as inventive as I could and still keep that dark sense of humor that I had in the [1986 film]. Maybe even a little darker in this particular version. It’ll have all the things that the fans have come to know and love, but with some twists within that.”

To illustrate McLoughlin’s excitement about how good blood looks on white snow, take a look at this fight from Kill Bill between The Bride and O-Ren Ishii

McLoughlin would indicate that his script gives Jason more of a purpose. He even notes there is a “story within that story.”

“I’ve given him an agenda on this particular one that hasn’t quite been used before. Rather than just having him show up, kill, go someplace else, kill — there’s a little more of a story aspect to this. That’s the main thing that I thought, since I’d done it in Jason Lives, I wanted to find: another thing that creates the conflict in the story. And then have the story within that story through the characters, and what’s really going on, so that when you get to the end there’s a real sense of a showdown. Which I think is always the case, whether it’s the final girl or it’s Tommy, even though Megan was the one that ultimately chopped Jason up and kept him down there. She was still the final girl, but Tommy was the one driving the story.”

As for Jason’s place in today’s world, McLoughlin shared his thoughts:

“The monsters were the things that we related to and thought were so cool. They kind of empowered us, especially if you felt like you were a geek, as most of us did. I think, on a certain level, they represent the same kind of thing to this generation. There’s a cool factor; there’s the unstoppable factor; there’s a place to kind of put your rage. And it’s not so much that you want to go out and kill people as much as you just want certain problems to get solved.”

Are you interested in seeing Jason take on an all-female cast during the winter with unique kills? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below, and tell me who’s your favorite classic slasher!