CRYSTAL LAKE Is Rethinking Jason Voorhees’ Origins and the Showrunner Says Fans May Have Their Machetes Out
Jason Voorhees is getting a new origin story in Peacock’s upcoming Friday the 13th prequel series Crystal Lake, and showrunner Brad Caleb Kane already knows some horror fans are going to hate what he’s done with the character.
Kane has decided to take a more grounded approach to Jason’s backstory, moving away from some of the supernatural elements that have defined the hockey-masked killer over the years. He knows that messing with an iconic horror villain comes with consequences, especially when fans have spent decades embracing the mystery surrounding him.
Speaking with Dread Central, Kane explained that his approach felt like a logical direction for the character: “I just applied it to the Jason Voorhees origin story. It seemed like a very natural place to go with this.”
Of course, what feels natural to a storyteller might sound like a terrible idea to fans who prefer their favorite killer to remain an unstoppable supernatural force. Kane is well aware of that.
“Now, I know that some fans will have their machetes out because they like Jason to be a revenant, mysterious, and supernatural. I grant them that, and that’s fine. I’ll take the slings and arrows.
“I took a swing, but I didn’t send him to Hell. I didn’t send him to space. I didn’t put him up against Carrie White — all things that people have done in this series. I took a much more grounded swing.”
That Carrie White reference is a nod to Tina Shepard, the telekinetic character from Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, rather than Stephen King's famous character.
Kane makes a fair point about how ridiculous the franchise has gotten over the years. Jason has been to Hell, traveled to space, and fought characters with supernatural abilities. There's plenty of room to experiment with this franchise.
However, there's a difference between throwing Jason into increasingly outrageous situations and changing the circumstances that made him what he is. Fans might happily accept Jason slicing his way through a spaceship while drawing the line at someone reworking his origins.
Kane seems to understand that he needs to give longtime fans something familiar to go along with his new interpretation, and he's making sure the series includes moments pulled directly from the original films.
“Hopefully there’s still enough fan service and candy in there for fans like me,” he said. “We’ve got direct recreations that are shot-for-shot from the movies that fans will hopefully appreciate and grant me a little bit of grace with Jason’s origin.”
Personally, I'm all for Kane taking a different approach to Jason Voorhees. I enjoy several of the Friday the 13th movies, particularly the earlier films, but I'm not a hardcore fan who thinks the mythology needs to be left untouched.
There are things about this franchise that I really like, and plenty that I don't. I'm also not a fan of the new origin involving Jason's DNA being mixed with cockroach DNA in Crystal Lake. I'm open to filmmakers playing around with the mythology, but that doesn't mean I'm going to like every idea they come up with.
I understand why some fans might be concerned. Part of what makes Jason frightening is that he doesn't need much explanation. He's a massive, seemingly unstoppable killer who keeps coming back no matter what anyone does to him. Sometimes, explaining too much about a horror villain can take away what made the character work in the first place.
That's the challenge facing Crystal Lake. Kane wants to give Jason a new foundation while still delivering the kind of horror that made Friday the 13th such a popular franchise.
While I appreciate that he's willing to try something different rather than simply recycle everything we've already seen, there are somethings that he’s doing that aren’t working for me.
What do you think? Are you open to Crystal Lake giving Jason Voorhees a new origin story, or would you rather the franchise leave his supernatural mythology alone?