As the Friday the 13th franchise prepares to welcome a new actress to the role of Pamela Voorhees, Paula Shaw, the character actor who stepped into the role of Mrs. Voorhees in 2003’s Freddy vs. Jason, has died. She passed away in her sleep on Wednesday after a lengthy illness at the age of 84.

Although Pamela Voorhees’ appearance in Freddy vs. Jason was brief, Shaw’s take on the mother of the monstrous Jason was a pivotal plot point used to bring the two movie maniacs together. In the movie, Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) assumes Mrs. Voorhees’ form to manipulate Jason into another killing spree for his own gain. Shaw’s performance brought a chilling new version of the character to life, assuming the role that was originally played by Betsy Palmer in the first Friday the 13th movies.

Across a career that spanned more than five decades, Shaw starred in many genre movies, appearing in, among others, Communion, Savage Streets, Witchfire, Chupacabra Terror, Christopher Nolan’s Insomnia, John Frankenheimer’s Reindeer Games, and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, along with several Hallmark Channel Christmas movies.

She also became a prolific guest star in many of the most popular TV shows across generations. Her early roles included Little House on the Prairie, Three’s Company, 21 Jump Street, and Starsky and Hutch. She showed up in Supernatural, The X-Files, iZombie, Van Helsing, The Outer Limits, The New Addams Family, and the 2002 revival of The Twilight Zone.

Our condolences go out to Shaw’s family and friends at this time.

The ‘Friday the 13th’ Franchise Is Finally Moving Forward After Decades

Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th 2009 wearing a hockey mask and standing in a forest.
Warner Bros.

Paula Shaw was technically the third person to play Pamela Voorhees, following Palmer and Marilyn Poucher, who made a brief appearance as Pamela in Friday the 13th Part 3. However, she was not the last to portray the character. In the 2009 reboot, Nana Visitor assumed the role, and in 2017, Jennifer Ann Burton provided the voice of Jason’s dedicated mother in Friday the 13th: The Game. Now, another version of Pamela Voorhees is about to be born, and this time she will have a larger role to play than ever before.

After many years caught in a tangled web of rights claims and legal red tape, the Friday the 13th franchise is coming to the small screen with the series Crystal Lake on Peacock. The new series will star Linda Cardellini as a younger version of Pamela Voorhees to the one that has previously been seen on screen. The prequel series is currently in production, but as yet there has been no release date confirmed, but it is expected to arrive sometime in 2026.

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