'Crystal Lake', prequel series to 'Friday the 13th' sets premiere for October 2026

A24 and the streamer Peacock prepare the small screen premiere of Crystal Lakethe prequel series from the classic Friday the 13th.

The streaming platform delights fans of the horror franchise, announcing that the highly anticipated series will premiere October 15, 2026debuting in the fall (in the northern hemisphere), just before Halloween.

The horror series explores the origins of Camp Crystal Lake and Pamela Voorhees, and consists of 8 episodes in its first season.

It is also the first project of the franchise Friday the 13th in sixteen years, since the theatrical release of the 2009 reboot.

The series has Brad Caleb Kane (IT: Welcome to Derry) as showrunner, creator, screenwriter and executive producer, and Linda Cardellini (Dead to Me, The Curse of La Llorona, E.R.) in a leading role as Mrs. Voorhees.

Her character was previously described as, “a mother who gave up her singing career to raise a child with special needs and who suffers a dark turn when she loses her little one.”

The series is a “expanded prequel” from the original classicwith the return of characters Jason Voorhees and his mother, Pamela Voorhees, and a story that will cover the life and times of these two characters.

In addition to Cardellini, the cast includes Callum Vinson (God of War, Chucky, Long Bright River) as little Jason Vorhees in a recurring guest role, William Catlett (Abigail), Devin Kessler (Godfather of Harlem), Cameron Scoggins (Nashville), Gwendolyn Sundstromcon Nick Cordileone (Warrior) como Crazy Ralph, Danielle Kotch (Director’s Cut) as Claudette and Phoenix Parnevik (Bel Air) like Barry, characters from the original film, Nancy Nagrant as Kay Christy, a relative of Steve Christy from the original installment, and Joy Suprano (Fleishman is in Trouble) as Rita.

Crazy Ralph appeared in the first two films. He is a long-time Crystal Lake resident who drunkenly rambles about the curse of Camp Crystal Lake; We met Barry in the 1980 film as a camp counselor at Crystal Lake and the first victim of Pamela (Betsy Palmer in the film). He was characterized by Willie Adams. His girlfriend, Claudette, also a camp counselor, was Pamela's second victim.

In previous statements, Kane announced that we can expect “rivers of blood” in Crystal Lake:

“In many ways, it's a psychological thriller. It is a paranoid thriller from the 70s. It has all the DNA of a slasher without being one. There are rivers of blood in the series. There are sequences of murders, deaths and very clever murders, but everything is done at the service of the character, the theme, the place and the time“.

In the first movie Friday the 13th (1980) by Sean S. Cunningham, Pamela was the murderer who terrorized the counselors of a teen camp when they tried to reopen Camp Crystal Lake. Jason drowned at that camp years before, and his mother sought revenge against the counselors who didn't pay attention to him.

The 1981 sequel reinterpreted the story to present a reality in which Jason never drowned. The character became the face of the horror franchise as its masked killer.

With this context, Kane explains how he approached the story for the prequel series:

“I tried to think of Crystal Lake and a Friday the 13th prequel like: 'What era did the first film come from?' It emerged from the time of 70s paranoid thriller. From the time of the distrust in institutions. From the time of women's liberationof the National Women's Organizationfrom the time of awareness in the United States. “I wanted to explore all those themes.”

The series was announced in November 2022. Peacock ordered a full season for the series, with an option for a second season.

The first season, 8 episodesis directed by Michael Lennox (Derry Girls), Celine Held & Logan George (Caddo Lake) y Quyen Tran (The Pitt). Lennox directs the first episode with Maceo Bishop (The Watcher) as director of photography.

Victor Miller –writer of the original film– is another of the executive producers along with Kane, Marc Toberoff, Robert M. Barsamian, Robert P. Barsamian, Stuart Manashil and A24.