At least one episode would have featured a sprawling, stalking episode.
Fans have been waiting 15 years to see Jason Voorhees return to the big screen in a proper Friday the 13th movie, and while the rights to the series are tied up in litigation, the prequel series Crystal Lake was being developed that likely would have kept the spirit of the franchise alive. News emerged last week, though, that A24 was going to be “retooling” the project, which meant that it was no longer being developed by Hannibal‘s Bryan Fuller. Scream co-creator Kevin Williamson was set to work on the project, as he took to social media to reveal that one entire episode would have been a chase scene.
“So sorry I won’t be a part of what would have been an epic Bryan Fuller show. Your pilot was so beautifully realized,” Williamson shared on Twitter. “A gorgeous [portrait] of a mother unraveling in her grief. Not to mention bloody horrific! I was so looking forward to our hour-long chase episode!”
While no official details about the project’s storyline, other than it unfolding at the iconic lake where Jason Voorhees drowned and was first avenged by his mother before his supernatural spirit returned to wreak havoc, have been officially released. As any Hannibal fan can tell you, Fuller has already proven his skills at taking beloved characters and reimagining them in ambitious ways that still honors the source material, so while we weren’t expecting Jason to show up in the project, Williamson’s tease of a lengthy stalking scene would have fallen in line with expectations of the audience.
Crystal Lake would have expanded the franchise in an unexpected way, and while there were seemingly storytelling merits to such an expansion, it likely also was an opportunity to take advantage of a legal loophole.
One reason we haven’t seen a new Friday the 13th is because original director Sean S. Cunningham and original writer Victor Miller have been trying to settle who owns the rights to the series for years. Cunningham hired Miller to write a script, with the title and loose premise being his inspiration, with Miller then expanding these ideas into a full-length experience. While Jason Voorhees is an icon of the series, he doesn’t become the killer until the sequel and doesn’t earn his signature hockey mask until the third film.
It goes without saying that for a new Friday the 13th to succeed, it would need to utilize its signature title and also a mask-wearing Voorhees, but the ongoing legal battles mean a new movie would have to sacrifice one or both of these components to move forward. By developing a prequel series that doesn’t have the “Friday the 13th” moniker and organically avoids a mask-wearing Jason, the series would have been able to skirt the messy restrictions caused by those legal issues.
Despite Fuller announcing he was no longer part of the project, it has yet to be announced as being scrapped entirely.
Stay tuned for updates on the future of Friday the 13th and Crystal Lake.
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