On Halloween of 2022, it was announced that original Friday the 13th screenwriter Victor Miller – fresh off winning the U.S. copyright to the 1980 film after a lawsuit that stretched on for years – was teaming up with his lawyer Marc Toberoff, franchise rights holder Rob Barsamian, production company A24, the Peacock streaming service, and showrunner Bryan Fuller (whose credits include Hannibal and Pushing Daisies) to develop a new Friday the 13th streaming series called Crystal Lake. Things were moving ahead at a good pace, but then the project hit a speed bump at the end of April with the firing of Fuller and his frequent collaborator Jim Danger Gray. Last week, an article published by The Wrap sought to figure out why Crystal Lake fell apart just a few months before filming was scheduled to begin (the production start date was July 22nd, to be exact). Their sources gave a lot of conflicting information, but it seemed to boil down to concerns about Fuller’s vision, late scripts, a ballooning budget (it was surpassing the $85 million being provided for the first season), unpaid writers… and possibly A24 executives’ lack of TV experience. In that article, it was mentioned that Charlize Theron was being eyed for the role of Pam Voorhees, the vengeful mother of Jason. Industry scooper Daniel Richtman has since added, “While they eyed Charlize Theron, Claire Danes had the offer to play Pam Voorhees but she passed. Another interesting bit is that it was only a one-year deal. Meaning the main character would change in season 2.“

This goes along with what The Wrap had heard: Fuller’s approach to the material was to make each season a deconstruction of the first four Friday the 13th films. “The series would incorporate lore from several sequels but remix that material in a way similar to Fuller’s Hannibal, which interpolated the Thomas Harris novels for three seasons.” So season 1 would be set “in the immediate aftermath of the drowning of a young Jason Voorhees,” and it would center on his mother Pam as she goes on a homicidal rampage of revenge. That rampage doesn’t turn out well for Pam, opening the door for Jason to return and start his own killing spree.

Each episode of Crystal Lake was set to have a budget of $9.6 million, but A24 reportedly wanted to cut that in half. They’re currently searching for a new showrunner who will be able to take the series into production – and maybe they’ll find somebody who will be able to help them make those budget cuts. It remains to be seen if they will use the original Fuller scripts and outlines, or start over completely. Nick Antosca – a co-producer on Hannibal and an executive producer on Chucky – is said to be one of the contenders for the showrunner job, but it’s believed that Antosca (who wrote the screenplay for an unmade Friday the 13th reboot back in 2015) would scrap Fuller’s work and rebuild Crystal Lake from the ground up if he signed on.

What do you think of the idea of A24 aiming for the likes of Claire Danes or Charlize Theron to play Pam Voorhees? Who would you like to see play the character? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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