Peacock and A24 showed off the first official trailer for Crystal Lake, the Friday the 13th prequel series, over the weekend. What I thought would have been the talking point was just how good the series looks, but people online have instead latched onto a couple of seconds in the trailer showing off a government facility and questions about Jason and Pamela Voorhees. The theories are that Jason has a connection to a research project before his death, which could explain why in adulthood, that he has superhuman strength and endurance. Oh, and why he can come back from the dead.
Well, it turned out that enough loudmouths on the internet started screaming about it, that Showrunner Brad Caleb Kane had to respond and weigh in on the matter.
He posted a picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze on Instagram and captioned the post:
“It’s not the CIA. He’s not a gov’t super soldier or an Eleven. He’s probably just a Chud. Or at worst a Trog. In any case, all will be known Oct. 15. Y’know, they called Copernicus a heretic at first, too. And look how that turned out! 🤔 Well, bad for him, I guess. Nevermind. Enjoy!!!”
The reference to “an Eleven” in that post is about Millie Bobby Brown’s character from Stranger Things, who is a telekinetic child/teen who saves the world. Kane also listed some other horror monsters in the post, so while this could be a redirect from the showrunner, the jovial tone of the post makes me think it’s not.
Is Crystal Lake Even A Worthy Story To Tell?
Crystal Lake is a prequel series that tells the story of Pamela Voorhees before the events of Friday the 13th. That begs the question with any prequel, is this worth telling? Judging by the look and what I’ve heard about Crystal Lake, the answer should be yes. People speculating and getting this worked up about even the hypothetical questions about whether Jason is a supersoldier or a government experiment are already proving that it’s worth it for fans. If there were no reaction or no questions, this would be a different story.
This is all just from a trailer, so we can only guess what the fan reaction will be once the entire series drops on Peacock on October 15th, 2026. It does make me wish that they were doing a weekly episode drop instead of a binge model, but that’s not changing. The post from Brad Caleb Kane only makes my conviction about the hype I have for the series stronger.
We haven’t had a new movie in the Friday the 13th series since 2009, and the only other thing we’ve had that was an official release was the short film Sweet Revenge from last year. So a new TV show, even if it’s a prequel, with talent like this involved, is something to be excited about.
And no, Jason is not a government supersoldier. But really, even if he was, the dude went to space and traveled through time in Jason X. So maybe check the whiny attitude at the door.
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