There hasn’t been a new Friday the 13th movie since 2009, but Peacock’s prequel series, Crystal Lake, was slated to revive the franchise. Indie studio A24 untangled the complicated rights situation and lined up Bryan Fuller and Jim Danger Gray to serve as co-showrunners. But just a few weeks before production was supposed to begin, Fuller and Gray were fired and the future of Crystal Lake became murky. Now, a new report sheds some light on where Crystal Lake went wrong.
The Wrap has an extensive account of what happened, and two dueling narratives have emerged. One narrative shifts the blame to Fuller and Gray for a ballooning budget and delays in the writing process, while the other points the finger at mismanagement from A24. The only things that both sides seem to agree about is that bad decisions were made and that there was a lot of conflict between the showrunners and the executives.
The Wrap’s sources contend that there are four writers that worked on the series each still owed $100,000, while also noting that the studio refused to open a formal writer’s room in violation of last year’s new WGA contract. Conversely, other sources The Wrap spoke with argue that because Fuller and Gray weren’t producing scripts on time, it set the project back and had a domino effect on the show’s budget. There are even back-and-forth arguments about whether A24 tried to shortchange the series that had been budgeted for approximately $85 million for the season.
Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the report is the glimpse of what the show could have been. Fuller and Gray reportedly wanted to use the episodes to deconstruct and remix the original Friday the 13th movies, and Charlize Theron was the top choice to play Jason’s mother, Pamela Voorhees. Additionally, Scream screenwriter Kevin Williamson was writing an episode that would have been set entirely on Crystal Lake when it was frozen during the winter. The report compares that episode to Game of Thrones’ Red Wedding.
Regardless of the issues facing Crystal Lake, sources linked to A24 say that the show will still happen. But given that the project doesn’t currently have replacement showrunners, it’s anyone’s guess when the series will go forward.
