Linda Cardellini Jumps Into ‘Crystal Lake’ TV Series

Fans of horror movie slasher Jason Voorhees are even more excited for the long-awaited franchise reboot now that star Linda Cardellini has officially signed on for Peacock. Cardellini has been busy in recent years with lead roles in TV series Dead to Me with Christina Applegate, No Good Dead with Lisa Kudrow, and Hawkeye with Jeremy Renner.

Prequel Series For Peacock Will Follow Jason’s Mother

Cue the creepy “Friday the 13th” theme music: Ki-Ki-Ki Ma-Ma-Ma! The popular film franchise turns 45 years old this year, and although there have been a few failed attempts to bring the hockey masked killer to television, there doesn’t seem to be any stopping “Crystal Lake” now.

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According to Variety, Emmy nominee Cardellini has been hired to play murderous mother Pamela Voorhees in this prequel series set before the events of the original “Friday the 13th” film. Here’s a 45 year old spoiler: The actual killer in the 1980 movie isn’t Jason like characters think, but is his grieving mother Pamela (played by Betsy Palmer) avenging his death. Her son had drowned in the lake at camp when the teen counselors were distracted. Remember when Drew Barrymore‘s character got that movie trivia wrong in the opening of “Scream” in 1996? Poor Casey Becker thinking it was Jason!

Similar to dark TV dramas Bates Motel and Ratched, this new series from Brad Caleb Kane (“It: Welcome to Derry,” “Tokyo Vice”) will expand the backstory in the films and show us who Pamela was before she turned Camp Crystal Lake into a bloodbath. Deadline reports the story is about “a mother who had given up a singing career to raise a special needs child” and things take “a dark turn when she loses her son.” Although Cardellini has great comedic chops, she’s proven that she can get emotional and manic in her past roles, like in Netflix’s “Dead to Me” as Judy Hale.

‘Nothing’s Defined the Genre More Than ‘Friday the 13th’,’ Says Kane

Showrunner Kane took the reigns from previous showrunner Bryan Fuller (“Hannibal,” “Pushing Daisies”) last year, after Fuller and the company A24 had creative differences. It seems the script Fuller was working on won’t be used under Kane’s leadership. “I couldn’t be more excited for the opportunity to contribute a chapter to this iconic franchise,” Kane stated, “particularly with such fearless partners as Peacock and A24.”

No matter who the showrunner of “Crystal Lake” is, fans have been clamoring for more “Friday the 13th” since the last sequel/reboot, which was released back in 2009. Years of bad blood between original writer Victor Miller and director/producer Sean S. Cunningham led to copyright disputes and legal issues, holding up a continuation. Miller ended up being awarded copyright for the script and characters associated with the original “Friday the 13th” film only, including the Pamela Voorhees character. Let’s wait and see what he, Kane, Cardellini, and the team come up with.

There’s been no official shoot date announced yet for “Crystal Lake,” but the prequel series is likely to premiere on Peacock sometime in 2026. Until then, happy camping!