Zachary Gordon to face a slasher in Freeform’s Dead of Summer

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

Stoners are a traditional character type for slashers, and the upcoming Freeform slasher television series Dead of Summer isn't looking to exclude the stoner. The show will be featuring a character who is a marijuana enthusiast, and they have found the actor to fill the role – 18-year-old Zachary Gordon, who already has nine years of acting credits to his name. You may know him as the titular wimpy kid in the DIARY OF A WIMPY KID movies.

Created by Adam Horowitz, Edward Kitsis, and Ian Goldberg, Dead of Summer is set in 

the late 1980s. School is out for the summer and a sun-drenched season of firsts beckons the counselors at Camp Clearwater, a seemingly idyllic Midwestern summer camp, including first loves, first kisses — and first kills. Clearwater’s dark, ancient mythology awakens, and what was supposed to be a summer of fun soon turns into one of unforgettable scares and evil at every turn.

Gordon will be playing a character called Jason "Blotter" Cohen, a happy-go-lucky counselor at Camp Clearwater and its resident stoner, who tries to keep everyone distracted and happy while strange things occur at the camp. Given that this is a series and not a 90 minute movie, we can probably expect a bit more from Blotter than the typical slasher stoner, who usually just acts goofy until their death scene.

Gordon joins a cast that includes Elizabeth Mitchell as Deb, the new owner of Camp Clearwater; Elizabeth Lail as clever but nervous camp counselor Amy; Mark Indelicato as openly gay, artsy counselor Blair Raymer; Paulina Singer as stunningly hot, slightly conceited counselor Jessie Tyler; Ronen Rubenstein as Alex, "the classic polo-shirt wearing John Hughes villain"; Zelda Williams as a mysterious loner who has no interest in bonding with her fellow counselors; Alberto Frezza as Deputy Garrett Sykes, who will be investigating the strange goings-on at the camp; Eli Goree as counselor/aspiring filmmaker Joel; and Tony Todd in a mystery role.

Elizabeth Lail

Source: Deadline

About the Author

Horror News Editor

Favorite Movies: The Friday the 13th franchise, Kevin Smith movies, the films of read more George A. Romero (especially the initial Dead trilogy), Texas Chainsaw Massacre 1 & 2, FleshEater, Intruder, Let the Right One In, Return of the Living Dead, The Evil Dead, Jaws, Tremors, From Dusk Till Dawn, Phantasm, Halloween, The Hills Have Eyes, Back to the Future trilogy, Dazed and Confused, the James Bond series, Mission: Impossible, the MCU, the list goes on and on

Likes: Movies, horror, '80s slashers, podcasts, animals, traveling, Brazil (the country), the read more Cinema Wasteland convention, classic rock, Led Zeppelin, Kevin Smith, George A. Romero, Quentin Tarantino, the Coen brothers, Richard Linklater, Paul Thomas Anderson, Stephen King, Elmore Leonard, James Bond, Tom Cruise, Marvel comics, the grindhouse/drive-in era

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