Friday The 13th Fans Are Going 'Ki Ki Ki, Ma Ma Ma' To Crystal Lake Prequel News
Jason lives ... again. Crystal Lake's most famous camper is set to return in a surprising format. Early reports state Peacock is developing a new series surrounding the hockey mask killer. Bryan Fuller — who brought NBC's Hannibal adaptation to life — is teaming up with A24 for the project. He's not only writing the pilot but acting as its showrunner and executive producer (via Variety).
The tentatively titled "Crystal Lake" on Peacock is moving away from the prolonged 'sequelitis' that hit the franchise. It was currently at 12 feature films, including the villainous crossover "Freddy vs. Jason" and the 2009 "Friday the 13th" remake. Instead, "Lake" transforms the property into a series. While it might be the first time Voorhees and the location figures into a series, it's not the first time "Friday the 13th" has found itself in a weekly TV format. "Friday the 13th: The Series" ran over three seasons, though anyone expecting Jason would be disappointed — with the series connected to the franchise in name only. Its premise featured two cousins working to retrieve cursed antiques.
Legal woes kept the entire franchise in limbo, which seems to have been resolved with a 2018 court ruling and subsequent determination of who owns the original screenplay in late 2021. With that hurdle seemingly removed, it's time for fans to rejoice about a new chapter in horror history (via CNN).
Fans are excited to see Bryan Fuller in charge
Bryan Fuller has consistently shown his love for the horror genre. The multi-hyphenate recently contributed to Shudder's "Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror" as Executive Producer. Before that, his nods to horror history include an attempt at rebooting "The Munsters." While it failed to be picked up, fans saw the pilot as an NBC special. For his part, Fuller is more than ready to adapt the 1980 horror phenom for new audiences. "I discovered 'Friday the 13th' in the pages of Famous Monsters magazine when I was 10 years old and I have been thinking about this story ever since," Fuller revealed to Variety.
Many are optimistic to see what the creator has in store for the property. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH NEW @BryanFuller!!!!!!! I'M SO EXCITED!!!" wrote Twitter user @MissLunakitty. The potential of this upcoming pairing with A24, itself known for modern horror favorites like Hereditary and Midsommar, is something others are talking about. Reddit user LoveAndViscera posted, "...this is a horror series run by Bryan 'This Is My Design' Fuller and produced by A24. It doesn't matter what the IP is based on. Y'all need to get hyped!"
Social media is speculating about the prequel's storyline
Most everyone who knows "Friday the 13th" knows the first film revolves around a vengeful Pamela Voorhees. Intent on getting justice for her drowned son, Jason, she goes on a murderous rampage throughout Camp Crystal Lake. It would only be in subsequent sequels that Jason Voorhees would assume the role of killer, taking on the now-famous hockey mask in "Friday the 13th Part III."
How a prequel would address the story and build up its own lore is something that fans are actively debating. Some are seeing a pattern drawn from other recent series to cover famous film characters. "Probably not an actual canon prequel. The show will almost definitely take the Bates Motel prequel approach where it will spend the first few season building up Pamela's madness as she kills a few people here and there before the final season just remakes the original Friday the 13th," wrote Reddit user PulpforCulture.
While some see a connection to "Bates Motel," a prequel to Psycho, others find a correlation to historical themes. "I'm wondering if it'll be more a backstory for the lake/camp. Maybe as far back as the 1700s, like a Roanoke sort of thing. Laying the groundwork for the cursed land," wrote u/Xombie_Snake. The 1500's Roanoke Colony incident has long fueled immense speculation, even being featured as the background for one season of "American Horror Story."
Some fans are pointing out an obvious issue
The "Friday the 13th" franchise's path forward was held up in court for years. A Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Victor Miller, the original film's screenwriter, had rights to the screenplay. The US-only decision sees Miller in ownership of the first screenplay — something that doesn't feature Jason Voorhees as the killer (via Bloody-Disgusting). Instead, it is solely Pamela that is the killer, with her son briefly seen as he looked before his death.
The detail isn't going unnoticed by fans who have followed the long and complex saga. With the adult version of Voorhees unavailable, the emphasis must be on creative thinking and a different approach to the franchise. It's something that Twitter user @TangoGolfKilo noticed about coverage of the upcoming series. "Every single article about this: 'The show only has the rights to the original Friday the 13th movie, which does not include adult Jason with the hockey mask,'" the user wrote. "The header image for every single article about this: adult Jason with the hockey mask."