Peacock is getting a prequel series based on the slasher classic Friday the 13th franchise courtesy of Bryan Fuller and A24.
The Friday the 13th franchise has been yielding summer camp horrors since 1980 and has spawned a dozen sequels and reboots, including the most recent Friday the 13th remake released in 2009. Central to most Friday the 13th media is masked killer, Jason Voorhees, who carves his way through each film’s crop of victims, mostly at the doomed Camp Crystal Lake, the scene of Jason's drowning as a child and the revenge plot of his mother, Mrs. Voorhees, in the initial film directed by Sean Cunningham.
According to Deadline, the series titled Crystal Lake is the brainchild of Fuller, co-creator of Star Trek: Discovery, who will serve as writer, showrunner and executive producer. The series also involves Victor Miller, who wrote the screenplay for the 1980 original Friday the 13th, as an executive producer. While exact details are still tightly under wrap, the series is set to be a prequel of the film franchise that will delve into the past of the camp. Fuller says, “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. When it comes to horror, A24 raises the bar and pushes the envelope and I’m thrilled to be exploring the camp grounds of Crystal Lake under their banner.”
In recent years, the franchise has been the subject of a legal battle decided in 2021 over Miller's rights as a writer and creator of the original film. Miller gained rights to license further content under the franchise, including the upcoming Peacock series, as well as potential future Friday the 13th feature films. The agreement, however, may be limited in certain regards of character and representation, including Jason's trademark hockey mask, as well as international distribution rights.
Crystal Lake joins another series adaptation, Friday the 13th: The Series, which ran from 1987-1990 courtesy of Frank Mancuso Jr. and Larry B. Williams. The series, while it shared the franchise’s horror focus, revolved around the pursuit of cursed antiques and did not feature Camp Crystal Lake or Jason Voorhees.
The backstory of Jason and his mother and the cursed Camp Crystal Lake provides excellent potential fodder for the new series all on its own, which bodes well for horror and slasher fans who have followed their favorite masked killer since the beginning, as well as potential new fans of the Friday the 13th series.
Source: Deadline