Friday The 13th Prequel Producer Says Series is Virtually a “Two-Season Commitment”

Bryan Fuller says Peacock is completely behind Friday the 13th prequel series, almost guaranteeing a second season before a single episode airs.

Paramount Pictures

After years of nothing from the Friday the 13th franchise, the new prequel series Crystal Lake seems to be already gearing up for more than just one season even before it goes into production. While there have been conflicting reports and opinions on what the series will and won’t be allowed to use – which can usually only be deciphered by trawling through dozens of stories about the protracted legal battle around the characters of the franchise – according to comments made by producer Bryan Fuller, the show will almost be guaranteed at least two seasons.

While the Friday the 13th movies have never really engaged critics in any way, shape, or form, the slasher franchise and its central iconic boogeyman Jason Voorhees has been pleasing gore-loving horror fans for over 40 years. Even a reboot in 2009 managed to pull in the crowds, but then a legal case around the ownership of both the original Friday the 13th script and Jason himself took over and deemed the franchise untouchable when it came to more sequels. Now, A24 and Peacock are moving forward with the surprising prequel series, and as Fuller explained, it comes with the definite possibility of two seasons from the get-go. Fuller told Fangoria:

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“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.”

Related: Crystal Lake: Bryan Fuller Says Nothing is Off Limits in Friday the 13th Prequel Series

Will Jason Voorhees Appear In Crystal Lake?

Paramount Pictures

If Crystal Lake was pitched within the continuity of the story, Jason Voorhees could not appear as anything other than a child, as the original movie saw Jason’s mother, Pamela, being the one to see off half a dozen young camp attendees as revenge for the death of her son as a young boy. One thing about the Friday the 13th franchise is that it never really explained how the weedy, dead Jason came to be a hulking, supernatural and seemingly unstoppable monster. However, Fuller has already claimed that nothing is off limits for the series, including Jason, which would suggest that the series and the movies will not be as linear as they first seemed.

Fuller is no stranger to reworking classic movies in the guise of a prequel show, as he did pretty much the same thing with Hannibal, which saw the character of Will Graham, who appeared in the novel and movie Red Dragon, replacing Clarice Starling as the constant through a long-form version of Thomas Harris’ original Hannibal Lecter trilogy. Based on what we know so far, it looks like Crystal Lake could well be about to pull the same trick again, and considering the Friday the 13th movies have only a vague idea of continuity between them, it probably won’t matter too much to fans.

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