Bryan Fuller says ‘Crystal Lake’ series can use ‘everything’ from 'Friday the 13th' franchise

The horror world was more than a little bit excited when news broke yesterday that Bryan Fuller of Hannibal and American Gods fame is bringing a Friday the 13th prequel series to Peacock called Crystal Lake. 

Info about the plot of the series and what parts of the Friday the 13th franchise Fuller could use, however, remained unclear. Today, however, Fuller talked with Fangoria and shared what he could about the upcoming series. 

“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,” said Fuller, jokingly (we think) referencing 1993's Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday and 2001's Jason X.

Jokes aside, "everything" being available is big news for horror fans, as one thing that wasn’t clear when the news broke was whether the upcoming Peacock show could use anything past the first film, which meant that the franchise’s major character — the hockey mask-wearing Jason Voorhes — was potentially off the table.

According to Fuller, having Jason make an appearance is definitely possible, and he hinted that he “wouldn’t count Jason out” of Crystal Lake and that “over the course of the series you will see many familiar manifestations of Jason!”

And while Fuller wouldn’t go into any more details than that, he did emphasize that hardcore Friday the 13th fans and newbies alike will enjoy the show. “I think it will all work in concert to spin this version of Friday the 13th on its axis a bit,” he said. “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.”

One way the series will be recognizable to fans is through its high kill count, with Fuller promising “dropping bodies every episode.” 

And for those worried that Season 1 of Crystal Lake may end on a cliffhanger and not get a Season 2, the odds are very good that we’ll be spending more time at that ill-fated camp beyond that first round of episodes.

“One of the many reasons that we went with Peacock is that they blew every other competitor out of the water,” Fuller explained. “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.”

No news yet on when Crystal Lake will premiere on Peacock.

Looking for more horror in the meantime? Halloween Ends is now streaming on Peacock.