Friday the 13th TV Series Embraces Paranoid 70s Thriller Vibe—Expect Rivers of Blood
Linda Cardellini slices into slasher icon Pamela Voorhees, drawing early raves for a ferocious, career-defining turn.
I know, I know — the last thing Camp Crystal Lake needs is more trouble. But it is coming back, and this time we are going back in time. The Friday the 13th prequel series, Crystal Lake, is officially cooking, and it is taking a big swing: the show puts Linda Cardellini front and center as a young Pamela Voorhees — yes, the original killer from the franchise. That piece of trivia could save your life if a prank caller quizzes you about horror history.
What is Crystal Lake?
Crystal Lake is a prequel series created by Brad Caleb Kane — he is a co-showrunner on IT: Welcome to Derry — and it is built around Pamela Voorhees before Jason ever picked up a hockey mask. Exact plot details are locked up tighter than a counselor cabin after curfew, including how vicious Pamela is going to be here, but the broad strokes are clear: character-first, era-specific, and not stingy with the carnage.
The vibe: paranoid '70s bloodbath (with brains)
Kane told Entertainment Weekly the show is not just a body count, even if there will be plenty of that. His words, not mine:
"In many ways, it's a psychological thriller. It's a paranoid '70s thriller. It has all of the DNA of a slasher without quite being a slasher. There are rivers of blood in the show. There are very, I think, ingenious kill sequences and deaths and murders, but it's all done in service of character and theme and place and time."
Set in the world that birthed Friday the 13th
Kane is framing the series through the cultural lens that produced the original movie — basically, America in the late '70s when trust in institutions was circling the drain and women were pushing for power and visibility. He spelled it out like this:
"I tried to think about Crystal Lake and a Friday the 13th prequel as, 'What era did the first movie come out of?' It came out of the paranoid '70s thriller era. It came out of the mistrust-of-institutions era. It came out of the women's lib era, the National Organization for Women era, this consciousness-raising awakening era in America. I wanted to go and play with all of those themes."
That is a surprisingly chewy starting point for a franchise best known for inventive, uh, headcount reductions — and honestly, a smart angle for a prequel.
Who is in it
Alongside Cardellini, here is who we are meeting at the lake so far. One of these character names is just 'Dorf,' which, I admit, is already intriguing.
- Linda Cardellini as Pamela Voorhees
- William Catlett as Levon Brooks
- Devin Kessler as Briana Brooks
- Cameron Scoggins as Dorf
- Gwendolyn Sundstrom as Grace
Expect Pamela to be the spine of the story. Kane is openly hyping Cardellini's performance:
"She's gonna shock and surprise a lot of people. I think she's gonna get a lot of attention for this role. She's inconceivably brilliant in it. I can't really say any more."
When can we watch?
No release date yet. Consider this your camp orientation: the docks are foggy, the woods are loud, and the show sounds like it is going to be gory, character-driven, and very '70s in all the best ways. Pack a flashlight. And maybe a spare.