{"id":379831,"date":"2026-08-24T16:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T16:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/379831\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T16:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T16:54:08","slug":"universal-jack-the-clown-returns-to-halloween-horror-nights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/379831\/","title":{"rendered":"Universal: Jack the Clown returns to Halloween Horror Nights"},"content":{"rendered":"

Among the familiar faces seen at this year\u2019s Halloween Horror Nights<\/a> will be Jack the Clown. He\u2019ll be featured in a haunted house and with a revealing backstory during the Universal Studios event, which launches Friday.<\/p>\n

Jack\u2019s been around HHN since 2000, said Lora Sauls, assistant director of entertainment creative development and show direction at Universal Orlando<\/a>. He has been in demand since the first mention, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t actually have him in the event the first weekend. He was in the event in a show, but in a very different form, in the show called \u2018Jacked Up,\u2019\u201d Sauls said. \u201cThen our fans were like, \u2018Where\u2019s Jack? Where\u2019s Jack?\u2019 So the second weekend of that event, Jack appeared, and, of course, became a fan favorite.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Horror Nights includes a house named Jack & Oddfellow: Chaos & Control, described on Universal\u2019s website as a \u201cshowdown decades in the making.\u201d The duo has had an intense relationship, and Dr. Oddfellow is responsible for giving Jack his demonic power. It\u2019s complicated and involves \u2014 it must be said \u2014 Jack in a box.<\/p>\n

The characters\u2019 backstories were determined 26 years ago, Sauls said, and elements have been selectively splattered through houses since then.<\/p>\n

\"Dr.Dr. Oddfellow has a longtime connection with Jack, and the duo will be featured in the 35th edition of Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights, which begins Friday. (Courtesy Universal Orlando)<\/p>\n

\u201cOur fans have been asking for a Jack versus Oddfellow for as long as we can remember,\u201d Sauls said. \u201cThose who knew the lore really wanted that versus story. And we were like, you know, there\u2019s something more to that. We don\u2019t just want to see them after each other. We need them to come after us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Halloween Horror Nights is an after-hours, separately ticketed event at the theme park. Among its features are 10 darkened, haunted walk-through mazes that present horrific stories with gore, faux blood, special effects, and scare actors to deliver jump scares. This year marks the 35th edition of HHN in Orlando.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoctor Oddfellow and Jack have always been in a story together, but this year their story intertwines,\u201d Sauls said. \u201cTheir power is more powerful together. It\u2019s not a friendship story. It\u2019s not a versus story. They are coming after us because our fear, our screams are all going to ignite this new infernal carnival of nightmares that they together have built.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s hot at theme parks: Halloween (yes, already)<\/a><\/p>\n

Some of their tension could be rooted in different styles of wreaking havoc.<\/p>\n

Oddfellow \u201cwants everyone to know he\u2019s in control. He\u2019s a snake-oil salesman, so he\u2019s bringing people in so he can then take their souls. Where Jack is just chaotically killing, and he, Dr. Oddfellow, does not like that,\u201d Sauls said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you see the moment where Oddfellow then attacks Jack, then puts him in the box. \u2026 So you\u2019re going to see Jack go into the box. The unique story we\u2019re telling is: Where did Jack go when he went into the box?\u201d<\/p>\n

SeaWorld Orlando adds Pestilence to 2026 Halloween event<\/a><\/p>\n

Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com<\/a>. BlueSky: @themeparksdb. Threads account: @dbevil. X account: @themeparks. Subscribe to the Theme Park Rangers newsletter at orlandosentinel.com\/newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Among the familiar faces seen at this year\u2019s Halloween Horror Nights will be Jack the Clown. He\u2019ll be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379832,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[558,104,28,29,2889,114,115,1335,139,141,140,109,76686,76687,76688,76689,2411,106,1316,107,3434],"class_list":["post-379831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-business","tag-entertainment","tag-florida","tag-florida-news","tag-holiday","tag-latest-headlines","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-social","tag-social-business","tag-social-entertainment","tag-social-theme-parks","tag-social-travel","tag-theme-parks","tag-things-to-do","tag-tourism","tag-travel","tag-universal-orlando"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}