17 Years Later, Jason Voorhees Is Finally Returning To Camp Crystal Lake
The upcoming prequel has been tiptoeing around the fact that slasher Jason will appear at some point.
The Golden Age of the slasher film probably lasted from 1978 (with the release of the original Halloween) and tapered off towards the late 80s/early 90s, and yet it’s still one of the most influential eras in the genre’s entire history. Not only did the abundance of them create a false perception of horror (that it’s a shallow genre focused on nudity and gore) that persisted for decades, but they also were responsible for creating some of the most recognizable cinematic characters in not just horror, but film in general.
There are likely very few American audience members who wouldn’t recognize Michael Myers from the stark-white William Shatner mask, or Freddy Krueger from the Christmas-colored sweater and razor-fingered gloves, or Jason Voorhees from the hockey mask – and yet Freddy and Jason both have been missing from screens for 16 and 17 years respectively. The Friday the 13th franchise will be returning sooner than A Nightmare on Elm Street, however, as the Peacock original streaming series Crystal Lake is debuting next month, a prequel following Pamela Voorhees as she descends into madness following the loss of her son. But recent statements about the show indicate that Pamela isn’t the only murderous Voorhees who will appear in the show, raising a whole new air of mystery over what the show has in store for fans.
In two separate interviews, Crystal Lake showrunner Brad Caleb Kane has indicated that, despite appearing like a prequel, the series will somehow involve a bit of Jason-as-slasher action. In the first interview, a Polygon exclusive from September 10, Kane says that fans will “see more than they think they will” in regards to Jason, specifying that while the hockey mask won’t appear “because we won’t go up through the events of Part Three,” the show will still go into “mask territory” (possibly a reference to the white bag Jason wears in Part Two). The second interview, released by Empire on September 13, includes a statement from Kane explicitly stating “all the Jason-as-slasher stuff hits much later in the season.”
Considering the fact that the mute, bloodlusted revenant (or not, considering the show will undoubtedly provide its own explanation for Jason’s return after his drowning) hasn’t been in a film since 2009’s Friday the 13th from Platinum Dunes, the promise of seeing Jason in all his murderous glory again is more than enough of a reason to be excited.
Crystal Lake is coming, and the story isn’t what we thought.
But it also adds a whole new enigma to the show’s existence, because it’s been confirmed that the majority of Crystal Lake takes place in 1972, eight years before the events of the first film – which means that the show might be rewriting the timeline of the franchise, or even more likely, one or more episodes of the show will be dedicated to a time skip that allows us to see Jason as we all remember him – hacking and slashing teenagers.
Crystal Lake was already one of the more intriguing fall shows because it's the first time a true prequel to Friday the 13th has ever seen the light of day, but the fact that it will also give fans their first official Jason appearance in nearly 20 years is another reason why it’s certainly “can’t miss” television for those who love horror.
