In Friday the 13th, Officer Dorf (Ron Millkie) has a brief but memorable turn as the no-nonsense cop who doesn’t want any funny business disrupting the town of Crystal Lake. The reopening of the Camp brings in counselors that immediately spark his suspicion, but in the end, he can’t prevent the tragedy that occurs once again on those haunted campgrounds.
If you’ve ever wondered what Dorf was like in the years leading up to the events of Friday the 13th, Peacock’s latest horror series, Crystal Lake, shines a spotlight on his early years on the force. Played by Cameron Scoggins, Officer Dorf works under Chief Levon Brooks (William Catlett) and desperately wants to be taken seriously, despite being easily distracted and occasionally a little dense about the laws he’s meant to uphold.
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Ahead of Crystal Lake’s world premiere at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival, we participated in a roundtable discussion with showrunner Brad Caleb Kane, Cameron Scoggins, and Devin Kessler. During But Why Tho’s moments of questioning, we asked Scoggins about how he added his own spin to the character while also honoring the aspects that fans of the original Friday the 13th know him for.
Read our review of Crystal Lake
Unlike Devin Kessler and William Catlett, who portray new characters Briana Brooks and Chief Levon “Lee” Brooks, respectively, Cameron Scoggins had to step into an established character’s shoes in Crystal Lake. And, due to Ron Millkie’s performance and what he spun up in the brief window of time allotted to the character in Friday the 13th, there was enough of a foundation to serve as a jumping-off point for Scoggins.
“Even in that little window of time, you recognize a character in Dorf. It’s not just the standard police officer type of scene,” Scoggins explained, referring to Dorf’s initial encounter with the camp counselors in Friday the 13th. “He got something, a quality about him, a quirkiness about him. ‘Watch it, Tonto’ and all these funny lines that he gave. I had that to work off with.”
In fleshing out the character, Scoggins built out more of a backstory for Dorf, including his character’s relationship with Chief Brooks. “The story for Dorf is [that] he wants to prove himself,” Scoggins explained. “He was raised in Crystal Lake. He was a small-town kid who is now a police officer, working under Levon and wanting to learn from him, and that already opens up a lot of different things for Dorf.”
Scoggins worked with William Catlett to develop the complexities of their characters’ relationship.
Working with showrunner Brad Caleb Kane, Scoggins and Kane also added a couple of fun moments that ground Dorf a little further in the time period. “Brad brought all of these amazing ideas for Dorf, [playing] and expanding on Dorf with his interest in martial arts and Bruce Lee movies,” Scoggins shared. And for anyone who watches Crystal Lake, that obsession with martial arts, ninjas, and, more specifically, ninja stars ends up coming in handy for the character.
Silly quirks aside, one aspect of Dorf that couldn’t be dismissed was the complexity of serving under a person of color in a time and place where people wouldn’t look kindly on it. As Kane would explain, there was a certain mentality that was prevalent in that era. “I grew up in New York at that time. I spent a lot of time in Jersey, and there are a lot of small towns, small-minded things there,” Kane explained, before pivoting back to Dorf.
“But Dorf, like many of these kids in these small towns, they’re not their parents, and they’re saddled with this way of thinking. But they actually have a broader way of thinking. Dorf really respects Levon, and wants to learn from him and is enamored of him professionally, but he’s fighting the two sides of his nature.”
Ultimately, viewers should expect a slightly different take on Dorf.
The complexity of Dorf and Chief Brooks’s relationship has always been at the forefront of Scoggins’ mind. “Will and I talked a lot about that, and what that means [in the grand scheme],” he shared, without giving too much away about where and how their relationship evolves to avoid potential spoilers. However, viewers will see that the two are ultimately more than just the boss/subordinate roles they take on at the series’ start.
The way their relationship evolves from the beginning to the end of the series brings their arcs to completion. And, for fans coming into Crystal Lake expecting the no-nonsense Officer Dorf from Friday the 13th, check your expectations. From relieving tension with a few quips to trying his darnedest at every turn, Cameron Scoggins’ take on Dorf is as memorable as it is endearing, fleshing out a character who rightfully earns more than just a little time onscreen.
Crystal Lake premieres on Thursday, October 15, 2026, exclusively on Peacock.
