Friday the 13th Spinoff Showrunner Teases Ingenious Kills You Won’t See Coming
Peacock’s Crystal Lake is sharpening its machete as showrunner Brad Caleb Kane teases torrents of gore, ingenious kill sequences, and a psychologically charged twist on Friday the 13th that cuts deeper into the legend’s darkest corners.
Peacock is resurrecting the Friday the 13th universe with Crystal Lake, and the guy steering the boat, Brad Caleb Kane, is not shy about how gnarly it gets. Think less campfire slasher loop, more paranoid 70s thriller vibe... with, his words, rivers of blood. So yes, moodier and meaner, but still swinging the machete.
What Kane says this show actually is
Fresh off working on HBO's It: Welcome to Derry, Kane told Entertainment Weekly his Crystal Lake prequel is designed as a character-first deep dive into how the Voorhees mess began. Instead of chasing jump scares for 10 episodes, he wants it wired like a thriller, set in the cultural headspace that birthed the original 1980 film.
"It has all of the DNA of a slasher without quite being a slasher... There are rivers of blood in the show... ingenious kill sequences... but it is all done in service of character and theme and place and time."
The throwback engine under the hood
This is the nerdy context that actually makes the pitch interesting: Kane is framing Crystal Lake around the late-70s mood that shaped the first movie. He points to paranoia, distrust of institutions, and the rise of women's liberation and groups like the National Organization for Women — a moment in America when social awakenings clashed with fear and anger. He wants those currents baked into the story, not just the kills.
Cast, platform, timing
- Platform: Peacock
- Premise: A prequel tracking the origins of the Voorhees family tragedy
- Leads: Linda Cardellini as Pamela Voorhees; Callum Vinson as a young Jason
- Kane on Cardellini: he says she is inconceivably brilliant here, predicts she is going to shock people, and basically refuses to spoil more
- Release: No date yet
Bottom line: Kane is promising a psychological, 70s-soaked thriller that still delivers the brutal goods. If he sticks the landing, Crystal Lake could feel like Friday the 13th filtered through All the President's Men... and a wood chipper.