Friday the 13th is a beloved horror franchise that spans over 12 films, with the original considered to be one of the best horror films of all time. It centers around the iconic, hockey-mask-wearing slasher villain Jason Voorhees, who haunts Camp Crystal Lake, and sets off a series of mass murders. Now, Jason is hitting the small screen for a prequel series that's headed to Peacock. The show will be titled Crystal Lake and will be helmed by Bryan Fuller, who has created series like Hannibal and Dead Like Me. There are many reasons for horror fans to be excited, but they should specifically be pumped about how Peacock is able to implement Fuller’s vision.
Bryan Fuller revealed all he could about what’s to come for the Friday prequel during an interview with Fangoria. He spoke in great detail about the amount of freedom Peacock is giving him and his team as they craft the show. He even spoke to the budget Crystal Lake was given. He said:
One of the things that is super exciting and one of the many reasons that we went with Peacock is that they blew every other competitor out of the water. There was a bidding war on this, and they came in strong and gave us a full-season commitment with a huge penalty if we don't do a second season. So it's kind of a two-season commitment (laughs), but really just the first-season commitment. We're going to have roughly five times the per-episode budget that we had on Hannibal.
So fans can almost guarantee they will see at least two seasons of the slasher prequel series. Fuller went on to mention even more big news involving the franchises’ main villain. There was some uncertainty as to whether Jason would be able to appear in the prequel series, due to many Friday the 13th-related legal battles over the years. However, Fuller's comments about how much access he and his collaborators had to various elements of the franchise should put folks at ease:
A24 and Marc Toberoff, who is Victor Miller's lawyer, have beautifully and excruciatingly assembled all of the Friday the 13th rights. As a streaming series, we have the rights to do everything underneath the Friday the 13th umbrella. The movie rights are a completely different thing. They are tied up at New Line and are super, super messy and probably won't be untangled anytime soon, but as far as us chickens in the television industry, uh, roost, we have access to anything and everything that Friday the 13th has done up until this point.
So, fans can expect to see Jason and other major canon storyline elements within this new prequel series. With a new motion picture seemingly out of the question, the small screen may just be the proper home for the franchise. Plus, Victor Miller -- the writer of the OG movie -- is an executive producer of the project, which adds plenty of credibility to the project. With this, Camp Crystal Lake will remain consistent with what we know it to be. While Bryan Fuller didn't divulge specific plot details, he did make one major prediction:
I think we'll be dropping bodies every episode.
This isn't the first time the film franchise has gotten the TV treatment. Friday the 13th: The Series ran for three seasons from the late '80s to early '90s (and Jason Voorhees did not make an appearance). It also wasn't connected to the movies. This was, of course, years before the rise of prestige TV and, with the budget Peacock is apparently giving Crystal Lake, this prequel series will most likely have much higher production values. The addition of Jason will also allow for some fun (and gory) storylines. Let's hope Bryan Fuller and co. produce something great.
Crystal Lake is currently set to be released in 2023, so grab a Peacock subscription sometime before it drops. Right now, you can also learn about where to watch all the Friday the 13th films so that you can go through them before the series debuts. For more information about other series that are headed to streaming in the near future, check out the 2022 TV schedule.
