Bryan Fuller has scored a straight-to-series order from Peacock for a prequel series set in the Friday the 13th universe. It comes from A24.

The move follows a fascinating legal battle between the team behind the original horror film.

Crystal Lake comes from Star Trek: Discovery co-creator Bryan Fuller, who has been developing a Friday the 13th project, originally as a feature film, since 2013. He will serve as writer, showrunner and exec producer.

A24 is the studio, while Victor Miller, who wrote the original screenplay of the 1980 movie, Marc Toberoff, Miller’s copyright attorney, and Rob Barsamian, who produced the original movie, will exec produce.

It’s worth remembering that Mrs. Vorhees was the original camp killer, a fact that Drew Barrymore’s character in the original Scream film would have been wise to have known.

The original Friday the 13th movie, which starred Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Laurie Bartram and Kevin Bacon, follows a group of teenage camp counselors who are murdered at summer camp.

Palmer plays Mrs. Vorhees who initially kills a pair of counselors in 1959 at Camp Crystal Lake after her son, Jason, supposedly drowned, before going on a murder spree in 1979 when a group tries to reopen the camp. Jason turns up at the end to attempt to kill King’s Alice after she killed his murderous mother.

It was directed by Sean Cunningham.

Full details of the plot of the series are being kept under wraps but the legal battle, which was decided in September 2021 may shed some light on what can and can’t appear.

The case, which was decided by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and you can read here, saw Miller win the rights to the character that he created after a copyright termination battle. The producers of the original film – Horror Inc., which includes Barsamian, had argued that Miller’s involvement was work for hire but a judge ruled that it wasn’t.

The case meant that Miller is now able to license a prequel series. The fact that Barsamian is one of the exec producers alongside Miller, suggests that a deal has been worked out between the groups.

It’s been suggested by sources that this also opens the door for future feature films in the franchise.

Whether this means that the team behind the series can use Jason’s famous hockey mask, which didn’t show up until Friday the 13th: Part III is unclear. Jason does show up at the end of the first film, as seen above.

There are also question marks as to the international release of such a project, as outlined in the case. Given that Peacock is only in the U.S. that is perhaps not an immediate issue, but whether it can be sold to or air on broadcasters outside of the States is unclear.

Crystal Lake is not the first television series based on the classic horror franchise. Friday the 13th: The Series aired for three seasons in syndication between 1987 and 1990 from Frank Mancuso Jr. and Larry B. Williams. The series, which followed a pair of owners of a cursed antiques store, does not feature Jason or any characters from the films.

Deadline also revealed in 2014 that Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films and Cunningham’s Crystal Lake Entertainment were developing a series with Cunningham exec producing alongside Power exec producer Mark Canton with Barsamian also producing, but that project never made it to air.

Bryan Fuller said, “I discovered Friday the 13th in the pages of Famous Monsters magazine when I was 10 years old and I have been thinking about this story ever since. When it comes to horror, A24 raises the bar and pushes the envelope and I’m thrilled to be exploring the camp grounds of Crystal Lake under their banner. And Susan Rovner is simply the best at what she does. It’s a pleasure and an honor to be working with her again.”

“Friday the 13th is one of the most iconic horror franchises in movie history and we were dying to revisit this story with our upcoming drama series Crystal Lake,” added Susan Rovner, Chairman, Entertainment Content, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming. “We can’t wait to get to work with Bryan Fuller, a gifted, visionary creator who I’ve had the pleasure of being a longtime friend and collaborator, along with our incredible partners at A24, in this updated version for Peacock that will thrill long-standing fans of the franchise.”

Yesterday, the news broke that Bryan Fuller (Hannibal, Queer for Fear, Pushing Daisies) and A24 would be bringing a Friday the 13th prequel series, to be called Crystal Lake, to NBCUniversal's streaming service, Peacock. As you can imagine, this announcement went off like a bombshell within the horror community. It's a series rather than a movie? And a prequel, at that? Would Jason Voorhees even be in this thing?

Well, as it happens, Bryan Fuller is a regular guest on THE KINGCAST, the Stephen King-themed podcast I host for the FANGORIA Podcast Network, and I knew if I wanted to get some straight answers on what he and his collaborators might be planning for Crystal Lake, the easiest (and, quite frankly, most reliable) thing to do would be to give him a ring.

And so, without further ado, here's what he was able to share on the record.

FANGORIA: The rumor mill was churning within seconds of the Crystal Lake news dropping, and I figured I'd just come straight to the horse's mouth to get some answers.

Bryan Fuller: (making horse noises; neighing and such)

Excellent. So, for starters, what characters and locations and whatnot are you allowed to use from the Friday the 13th franchise?

Everything. 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.

This has been pitched as a prequel series, so how far back in the timeline will we be when Crystal Lake begins?

I don't think I'm allowed to say just yet, but I would say it's less a prequel series than a ... pre-remake-uel series.

Can you describe what "pre-remake-uel" means in this context?

For now, no. Not on the record, I can't.

Very well. But denoting it, even in part, as a prequel would tend to indicate that the series will revolve more around Pamela Voorhees than Jason. Will Jason be in it?

I wouldn't count Jason out.

OK, but you could be dancing around this. Could be that "Jason" is in it, but he's a kid rather than the masked killer everyone's imagining.

I think over the course of the series you will see many familiar manifestations of Jason!

Fair enough! I saw a bit of eyerolling yesterday on social media about the fact that Crystal Lake will be a prequel series, so I'm wondering what you have to say to anyone who's questioning that particular aspect of the show.

The reactions I saw yesterday were very positive, but yeah, there's always gonna be a collection of naysayers. That's nothing new to me! I encountered this when Hannibal was announced. Some of those tweets looked like copy-and-paste jobs from 10 years ago. So, part of me is sorta leaning back with my arms across my chest saying, "Wait and see," and the other part is more like, "Well, folks like that may not have to make a living with their imaginations and what they can imagine must be very disappointing to them."

Pamela Voorhees is clearly a very important character to you - you've dressed up as her before, for Halloween! - and I'm wondering if you can tell me why that is?

I'll tell you something very personal, and I may have shared this with you previously. I know part of this story has been out in the public discourse - as public a figure as I am, which is not very, but some people will have heard this: I read [a detailed plot synopsis for] Friday the 13th when I was maybe nine or 10, in Famous Monsters Magazine. This was a few years before I saw the movie! It became a story I'd tell my friends around campfires, which is also where I got my first taste of storytelling and the thrall an audience can fall under when it's hearing a story as captivating as that of Friday the 13th.

So there was that, combined with the fact that - at the same time - I was working with special needs kids. I was hyper-aware of the challenges of parenting special needs children. One of the kids I sat with during most of that volunteer work, his mother simply couldn't handle him. He was amazing and unique and had a different sort of intelligence, but he was also non-verbal. His mother couldn't get far enough away from him. And so, when I read about Friday the 13th and saw the lengths Pamela Voorhees would go to for her special needs child, I found myself in this Venn diagram of influences, and I fell in love with the series. I fell in love with the first movie, I fell in love with the second movie, I fell in love with all of them - well, maybe not Jason Goes to Hell, but I'm not mad at it. At any rate, I feel that I'm in a unique space to tell this story and to make sure it is loved and cared for appropriately.

Everything you've done for television to this point has had a bold look - I mean, consider Hannibal, just for starters. Can we expect Crystal Lake to also have a similarly distinctive look?

Yes. One of the things that is super exciting and one of the many reasons that we went with Peacock is that they blew every other competitor out of the water. There was a bidding war on this, and they came in strong and gave us a full-season commitment with a huge penalty if we don't do a second season. So it's kind of a two-season commitment (laughs), but really just the first-season commitment. We're going to have roughly five times the per-episode budget that we had on Hannibal.

That kinda money buys a lot of machetes.

We also have the creative support of Susan Rovner, who is hands down the best television executive that I've ever worked with; she was the executive on Pushing Daisies and shepherded it into its final form. I've been dying to work with her again for 15 years, and we finally worked it out! Her excitement about this, combined with understanding the different emotional pressure points that I have as an audience member who worked with special needs kids (and who also had a serial killer as a camp supervisor*), well, I think it will all work in concert to spin this version of Friday the 13th on its axis a bit. It will absolutely be recognizable for the hardcore Friday the 13th fans, but will also have an appeal to people who are simply interested in top-shelf TV storytelling.

Final question: how murderous is Crystal Lake gonna be? I'm sure you're not aiming for a particular, per-season kill count, but a certain amount of slashing must be on your mind.

It will be pretty murderous! I think we'll be dropping bodies every episode, and I think there's something about the build of that, as we are hopefully in for the long haul. I wasn't kidding: if we get 10 seasons, I'm going to make a concerted effort to find a way to rationally and dramatically and, in some fashion, go to space. I can't imagine it going 10 seasons, but I will put that out there that, uh ... well, I haven't gotten past laying out the first three seasons, honestly, so I suppose it's very easy for me to say, yeah, if we get to 10 seasons, we're going to space. Wait and see!

Special thanks to Bryan Fuller for letting us pester him over the phone about Crystal Lake.

Also, regarding that * : Fuller tells that whole story (which is truly bizarre and must be heard to be believed) on this episode of THE KINGCAST.

After 14 years, the Friday the 13th franchise is finally getting set to return to the screen with “Crystal Lake,” an upcoming prequel series from A24, Peacock and Bryan Fuller (“Hannibal”) that’s miraculously able to use any and all existing elements from the franchise.Peacock has given the project a straight-to-series order, with “Crystal Lake” being described as an “expanded prequel” to the original Friday the 13th franchise.

Variety had detailed, “The show will be written by Bryan Fuller, who is also the showrunner and an executive producer. Victor Miller, who penned the original film in the franchise, will also executive produce along with Marc Toberoff, Rob Barsamian, and A24.”

At a Friday the 13th Part III screening last night, Fuller provided an exciting update on the project, announcing that Kevin Williamson (Scream, Sick) will be writing an episode!

Additionally, original Friday final girl Adrienne King will have a recurring role!

Eric Goldman tweets from the screening, “They officially start writing in 2 weeks. It will have two scores to choose from – a modern one and a classic Manfredini one. Kevin Williamson is writing an episode. Adrienne King will have a recurring role.”

“Fuller has pitched four seasons for Crystal Lake. Only one officially ordered so far though he notes Peacock would have to pay a pretty hefty penalty if they didn’t order a Season 2,” Goldman’s thread continues. “Asked if he can confirm Pamela’s role in the Crystal Lake series, Fuller replied “We’re honestly going to be covering it all. The series is covering the life and times of these two characters” (presumably he’s referring to Pamela and Jason there!).”