We finally have a first look at A24 and Peacock's Friday the 13th prequel, Crystal Lake (via FearHQ.com). The small-screen reboot has enlisted Brad Caleb Kane as showrunner, with Linda Cardellini (Hawkeye) set to lead the series as Jason Voorhees' mother, Pamela.
The series follows single mother Pam Voorhees, who has been unable to shake her grief after her young, sickly son Jason tragically drowned in the town lake almost a year before. When two strangers arrive at Pam's door, digging into her past, a disturbing chain of events is set into motion, leaving the townspeople of Crystal Lake wondering: just who is Pam Voorhees?
The sneak peek is brief, so it doesn't reveal much beyond the aftermath of Jason's death and Pamela's bloody mission of revenge. There's a lot of intrigue surrounding how the 8-episode series will play out, especially as it will likely serve as an origin story for Jason (who is eventually resurrected as an unstoppable supernatural serial killer) as well.
Kane, who is no stranger to horror prequels after working on HBO's It: Welcome to Derry, told Entertainment Weekly that Linda Cardellini "was the first and only name that came to me that I wanted."
"We wanted to dive into Pam’s psychology," he continued. "We wanted to see her unraveling after [watching] the events of the movie that everybody knows. We wanted to see her relationship with Jason and what his death kicks off in her."
"Her trying to find some sort of equilibrium in her life after the thing that ostensibly she lives for, her son, was taken away from her, and how all the people around her and the circumstances surrounding her make that impossible to do," Kane continued. "So it’s really a character piece."
Based on the Friday the 13th franchise's timeline, Crystal Lake should take place in the 1950s. However, the showrunner has decided to move the timeline around and set this story in the '70s instead. "I wanted to touch on all the pop-culture artifacts that were tangential to the America from which these movies were born."
Crystal Lake also stars Callum Vinson, William Catlett, Devin Kessler, Cameron Scoggins, Gwendolyn Sundstrom, Nick Cordileone, Danielle Kotch, Phoenix Parnevik, Nancy Nagrant, and Joy Suprano. Michael Lennox, Celine Held, Logan George, and Quyen Tran direct episodes, while Victor Miller, Marc Toberoff, Robert M. Barsamian, Robert P. Barsamian, and Stuart Manashil executive produce.
Crystal Lake won't be the first time this iconic horror franchise has been brought to television, as Friday the 13th: The Series aired between 1987 and 1990. The last time we saw Jason on our screens was in the 2009 reboot.
The series premieres on Peacock on October 15.