What To Know
- Crystal Lake creator Brad Caleb Kane and series lead Linda Cardellini appeared at NBC’s backlot presentation to promote the series.
- The creative explained key differences between the prequel and Friday the 13th.
- Plus, Cardellini teased a key Easter egg.
Vintage slasher fans are in for a real treat when Crystal Lake premieres in mid-October, but don’t expect another rote Friday the 13th sequel styling from the series.
Creator Brad Caleb Kane (who previously helped create the It prequel series It: Welcome to Derry) and lead actress Linda Cardellini (who portrays a younger version of Pamela Voorhees, Jason’s mother) appeared at NBC’s backlot promotional event on Monday (August 10) to answer key questions from members of the press about what the Peacock series has in store.
Kane, for one, explained exactly how the series differs from the iconic ’80s horror franchise.
“I think the biggest conceptual issue was people know what to expect from a Friday the 13th — or at least they know what a Friday the 13th movie should be. It’s a teens go out to a place, they are having sex and doing drugs, and then they are hunted by Mrs. Voorhees or Jason in the subsequent films — or Roy in [movie] number five, for those die‐hards. But, thankfully, we weren’t making a Friday the 13th movie,” he explained. “This was called Crystal Lake, and we were doing a story about the town and a prequel about Jason’s mom, and it was really fresh snow. We could build it however we wanted. And feeling ownership for the franchise as a long‐time fan and a lover of it, truly die‐hard lover, I knew what I wanted to see as a grown‐up Friday the 13th fan… But I also grew up a little bit and became interested in other films and other themes in films, and I wanted to bring all of that cinema love to my love for Friday the 13th. So I was really given carte blanche.”
Still, Kane promised that fans of the franchise will have plenty of Easter eggs to gnaw on throughout the sreies. “I wanted also to honor the fans of those original movies and myself as an original fan of those movies by giving as many Easter eggs as made sense within the context of this story as possible, and I think we did that a lot…. We do more than give you Easter eggs going into [Episodes] 5 to 6. We re‐create things, which I won’t spoil here.”
Trae Patton / NBCUniversal
Cardellini, while discussing whether she borrowed anything from Betsy Palmer‘s portrayal of Pamela Voorhees in the first Friday the 13th movie, shared at least one familiar costume item that will come into play.
“I have, of course, have seen what Betsy Palmer did. And then, you see a little bit more of it in [the sequel when] she comes back as a severed head; but, no, of course, and the fans love her so much. And we toyed around with the idea of the short hair, but we figured she has 10 years to get there. You can’t duplicate what Betsy did, but what she did is play this devoted mother, and so, for that, I can take that and sort of bring that to the early childhood years of Jason’s life. I also think that you don’t get to where Betsy is without really truly loving Jason and getting to know him. So that was really important to us, too, going in. And, no, you can’t be another Betsy, but I do a little bit of an homage to a certain sweater, I think, that makes an appearance,” she said.
“Oh, it’s in there,” Kane confirmed.
Crystal Lake, Series Premiere, October 15, Peacock