Who is the killer in Sean Cunningham's iconic 1980 slasher Friday The 13th? It's a question that's proven the undoing of many a pub quiz team over the last 45 years, but the answer, as we expect anyone reading this will know, is not Jason Voorhees: it is, of course, his deranged mother Pamela Voorhees (originally played by Betsy Palmer). And, courtesy of Deadline, we now know who'll be playing Jason's vengeful ma in Peacock and A24's upcoming, long-gestating franchise prequel series Crystal Lake — Dead To Me and Scooby-Doo star Linda Cardellini. Jinkies!
In Cunningham's original 70s set movie, we learn that Mrs. Voorhees has been turning the counsellors at Camp Crystal Lake into claret-pouring cadavers to avenge the death of her son Jason, who drowned in the lake as a young boy back in the late '50s. It's only in the subsequent *checks notes* nine sequels that the franchise's more familiar hockey mask wearing, machete toting avatar of evil takes the reins from his dear old mummy. According to Deadline's reporting though, we may be in for something of an expansion of the Voorhees family legend with Crystal Lake, on which Brad Caleb Kane (Tokyo Vice, Fringe) serves as creator, writer, showrunner, and executive producer. Apparently, Cardellini's Pamela Voorhees will be introduced as "a mother who has given up a singing career to raise a special needs child and takes a dark turn when she loses her son."
The actual plot of Crystal Lake — which was originally being helmed by Hannibal creator Bryan Fuller before the showrunner left due to creative differences with producer A24 — is being kept firmly under wraps at this stage, with no shooting schedule or release timeframe locked down at this stage. Still, with Jason having enjoyed a sixteen year break from killing following 2009's poorly received remake/update, both Ghostface and Michael Myers having enjoyed the benefit of fresh blood in recent years, and last year's slasher walking simulator In A Violent Nature prompting renewed interest among genre fans in the idea of revisiting Camp Crystal Lake's own lumbering vessel of destruction, consider us curious to see how Kane, Cardellini, and co broaden the horizons of a true horror icon. Ki, ki, ki! Ma, ma, ma! Ki, ki, ki! Ma, ma, ma!