Jason Voorhees arrived to read for the character of Jack. Before he could get started, Cunningham walked in and offered him a different part: Jason. Without having read a single word, Cunningham just looked at Ari and said, "You're the right size, you've got it." In the original "Friday the 13th", Ari Lehman is seen only in a brief flashback as the surprise ending. Subsequent actors who portrayed a young Jason include Timothy Burr Mirkovich in "Jason Takes Manhattan" and Spencer Stump in "Freddy vs. Jason". The adult role of Jason Voorhees has been played by various actors, some not credited, others
Friday the 13th: The Series the last episode was to unite the movie and television franchises by having the final item recovered (see "Premise" above) be the hockey mask belonging to Jason Voorhees. This remains unfounded and while there was talk about having a hockey mask on one of the sets as an in-joke, there was never any serious intention to mix the film series into the television series. The series, about a group of individuals rooting out evil supernatural occurrences, created a mold which many later series fit into. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "Angel (1999 TV series)", and "The X-Files" all have many episodes