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