Everything We Know So Far About Crystal Lake, Bryan Fuller's Friday The 13th Prequel Series
Everyone remembers the sensation of fear coursing through their veins the first time they ever heard the ominous whispering of "Ki ki ki, ma ma ma" in "Friday the 13th." The terrifying slasher from Victor Miller and Sean S. Cunningham spawned a massively popular franchise and inspired countless rip-offs, but few films can hold a candle to the unbridled terror found within the trees and cabins of Camp Crystal Lake. Now, horror maven Bryan Fuller is taking us back to camp with the upcoming A24 prequel series, "Crystal Lake."
The "Friday the 13th" franchise is comprised of 12 films, three seasons of a television series, novels, comic books, video games, and plenty of tie-in merchandise. While prequel stories have been told in the novels and comics, "Crystal Lake" will be the first time we see the story of what came before Jason Voorhees' untimely death during summer camp on screen — fully fleshed out. While the series is still a ways away, there's still plenty of available information to help put the project on your radar. Here's everything we know so far about "Crystal Lake."
When and where to watch Crystal Lake
"Crystal Lake" was given a straight-to-series order for the NBCUniversal streaming platform, Peacock, but no anticipated release date or timeline has been made available. While the streamer still has a lot of ground to cover if it wants to be competitive against folks like Netflix or Disney+, Peacock arguably boasts the strongest horror library outside of Shudder. NBCUniversal having a first-look deal with Blumhouse means that most of their releases end up on Peacock following the theatrical window, which has made the platform a haven for horror fans.
This means "Crystal Lake" would live alongside another legacy horror series, Don Mancini's "Chucky," as well as "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "The Girl in the Woods," "Hammer House of Horror," "Limetown," "The Purge," "Wolf Like Me," and the countless horror features currently available.
What Crystal Lake will be about
While plot details on "Crystal Lake" have been kept pretty tight, it's been confirmed that the series will be an extended prequel to the events of the first "Friday the 13th" film. Bryan Fuller is a notorious Pamela Voorhees superfan, so there's little doubt in assuming that she'll be the focus of the new show. During a recent screening of "Friday the 13th Part 3" in Los Angeles, Fuller appeared and answered some questions about the show. As reported by Eric Goldman, Fuller swerved slightly when asked about Pamela Voorhees, and instead gave the very "not breaking NDA" answer of, "We're honestly going to be covering it all. The series is covering the life and times of these two characters." It's assumed he's talking about Pamela and young Jason Voorhees, but the deliberate phrasing of course opens the floodgates to fan speculation.
Fuller also noted that he pitched four seasons for "Crystal Lake" and while only one was officially ordered, he indicated that Peacock would have to pay a penalty if they didn't order a second season. For those unaware, the rights to the "Friday the 13th" franchise were tied up in a legal battle between screenwriter Victor Miller and director Sean Cunningham for years, resulting in Miller obtaining the rights to the original film's script and name, while Cunningham was given the rights to Jason as a character (because the hockey mask-wearing slasher we know and love doesn't appear in that form until "Part III.") Perhaps the rights' usage was contingent on at least two seasons? Of course, we're purely speculating here.
The creative team behind Crystal Lake
"Crystal Lake" is being written by Bryan Fuller ("Hannibal," "Pushing Daisies," "Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror"), who is also serving as showrunner and an executive producer. The original film's screenwriter, Victor Miller, will also executive produce the series, alongside Marc Toberoff, Rob Barsamian, and A24.
During the "Friday the 13th Part III" screening, Fuller announced that legendary slasher screenwriter Kevin Williamson ("Scream," "The Faculty," "Sick") would be writing one of the episodes. In even more exciting news, Adrienne King, who played final girl Alice Hardy in the original film, would appear in a recurring role. As this is a prequel series, it's likely that she'll be playing an entirely different role than Alice, unless the series is being retold from her perspective as an adult, like the slasher version of Rose in "Titanic."
The project is also looking at two different scores — either one that reflects the musical stylings of our current trends, or a classic one inspired by Harry Manfredini. We know which one we'd prefer (Manfredini, obviously), but knowing the option even exists is worth getting excited over.