Yesterday, Variety broke the mind-blowing news that Hannibal creator Bryan Fuller is teaming with Friday the 13th franchise rights holders Victor Miller and Rob Barsamian (plus Miller’s lawyer Marc Toberoff), A24, and the Peacock streaming service to bring the world a Friday the 13th prequel TV series called Crystal Lake. Now Fangoria has caught up with Fuller to see what he can say about the show at this point. He couldn’t say a lot – but he could confirm that they can use anything they want from the entire Friday the 13th franchise, and he described the show as a “pre-remake-uel” rather than just a prequel.
Here’s what Fuller had to say about the rights situation: “We can use everything. We can go to Hell, we can go to space. That’s not to say that we will do those things … although if we do go 10 seasons, I will be lobbying hard to go to space. (laughs) A24 and Marc Toberoff, who is Victor Miller’s lawyer, have beautifully and excruciatingly assembled all of the Friday the 13th rights. As a streaming series, we have the rights to do everything underneath the Friday the 13th umbrella. The movie rights are a completely different thing. They are tied up at New Line and are super, super messy and probably won’t be untangled anytime soon, but as far as us chickens in the television industry, uh, roost, we have access to anything and everything that Friday the 13th has done up until this point.“
Fuller couldn’t say how far back into the Voorhees timeline the show will be going, which is when he said it would be more like a “pre-remake-uel”. He said Jason will be in the show, and “I think over the course of the series you will see many familiar manifestations of Jason!” He also mentioned that Peacock has given them a full-season commitment with a penalty if they don’t do a season 2, so it’s basically a two season commitment. Thinking ahead, he has already mapped out the first three seasons of the show. Much like Hannibal, the show will have a distinctive look – and they’ll also have roughly five times the per-episode budget Hannibal had.
Fuller also said the Crystal Lake series will be appropriately murderous, probably “dropping bodies every episode”.
Personally, I would rather get a straightforward sequel featuring Jason Voorhees than a Friday the 13th TV series that could be described as a “pre-remake-uel” – but I love this franchise, so there’s no way I’m not going to be watching Crystal Lake. I hope Fuller and his collaborators are going to bring us something awesome.
In addition to Hannibal, Fuller’s previous credits include Pushing Daisies, Mockingbird Lane, American Gods, Star Trek: Discovery, and Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror.
To read the fuller interview with Fuller, click over to Fangoria. To let us know what you think of the Crystal Lake plans, leave a comment below.
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