Jason Voorhees Makes A Shocking Appearance In The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 3 — Kind Of
Sharpen the machetes: Daryl Dixon season 3 is unleashing a Jason Voorhees–inspired walker to stalk the apocalypse.
Jason Voorhees is crashing The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 3. Sort of. No, the hockey-masked slasher is not suddenly joining the cast. But the show is rolling out a walker that looks very, very much like Jason. And yes, it is on purpose.
How this Jason-inspired walker happened
Prosthetic makeup legend Greg Nicotero confirmed at Silver Scream Con (via Bloody Disgusting) that a Jason-esque zombie shows up in Daryl Dixon season 3. This is Nicotero having some fun with his own history: he worked on Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday back in the day.
Here is the inside baseball part: the new walker is not modeled on the Jason from Jason Goes to Hell. It is actually based on Jason’s look from Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, which was designed by Nicotero’s mentor and friend, Tom Savini. So you are getting a Savini-era Jason vibe filtered through Nicotero’s walker wizardry. That is as nerdy (and delightful) as it sounds.
The Walking Dead has been sneaking in horror tributes for years
This is not new behavior for the franchise. The shows have a long-running habit of tipping the mask to horror icons, sometimes loudly, sometimes quietly. A few greatest hits:
- Season 11, episode 17: Nicotero created a walker that clearly nods to Freddy Krueger.
- Season 4, episode 15: When Glenn and Tara head through an underpass, they run into a walker styled like a zombie from Day of the Dead.
- Music deep cut: A fan on Reddit spotted that when Negan’s wife learns she has cancer, the radio plays Partytime from Return of the Living Dead.
- Cabin vibes: When Rick is trying to outrun a horde on horseback, he comes across a house that looks suspiciously like the Evil Dead cabin.
What they might homage next
If they are comfortable putting a Jason lookalike on screen, it is fair game to wonder what is next. A Leatherface-adjacent, ex-cannibal walker shambling around? Maybe a bit much. Then again, this universe rarely says no to a gnarly makeup gag.
Where Daryl Dixon season 3 is right now
Season 3 brings back Norman Reedus as Daryl and Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier, with the duo pushing to get home while grinding through new enemies, rough terrain, and the usual herd of meat-munchers. The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 3 episodes 1 and 2 are streaming now on AMC Plus. Episode 3 lands September 21 on AMC. If you need precise airtimes, check the season 3 release schedule.