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Linda Cardellini was “Crystal Lake” creator Brad Caleb Kane’s only choice to play Pamela Voorhees – the mother of iconic horror villain Jason Voorhees.
“It wasn’t challenging to find the right Pamela. I knew from the beginning that the only person that I wanted was Linda Cardellini,” Kane exclusively told The Post.
He added, “I was very fortunate that she said yes. I didn’t know what I would do if she hadn’t!”
Premiering Oct. 15 on Peacock, “Crystal Lake” is a prequel to the “Friday the 13th” franchise.
In the twelve slasher flicks released from 1980 to 2009, the villain Jason Voorhees supposedly drowned at Camp Crystal Lake as a child. He returned for bloody revenge as an adult, donning a hockey mask and wielding a machete.
In the first movie, his mom Pam Voorhees (played by Betsy Palmer) was the original killer.
“Crystal Lake” follows Pam in the ‘70s, shortly after Jason’s (Callum Vinson) drowning. She’s convinced that her son is still alive since a body was never found.
Kane said he wanted the “Freaks and Geeks” actress for the role because “she has this effortless likability.”
He noted, “It makes her somebody that – despite all of these terrible things that Pam has to do to survive – you want to take that journey with her.”
Similar to the movies, “Crystal Lake” is brimming with blood and guts.
“It was like a gallon of blood per kill,” Kane recalled.
The showrunner noted, “We do spend a lot of time on character, on nuance, on an emotional journey. But when we have the kills, I wanted them to be really visceral and gory.
“I wanted the audience to go, ‘Oh, there’s my ‘Friday the 13th!’ For that, you needed gallons and gallons of blood.”
The onscreen murders aren’t for the faint of heart. Characters get butchered in kitchens, bathrooms, and even during sex.
“You have to go to extremes, because these do come from hack and slash movies,” Kane explained.
He added, “You want the audience to be thrilled, the same way that they are in the theater…You want them to marvel at the creative ways that the killer kills.”
The show focused on coming up with “fresh new ways to dispatch with bodies,” but also aimed to “focus on what gives you the most emotional bang for your buck. [The kills] shouldn’t just be random,” he said.
Across the twelve “Friday the 13th” movies, Jason’s mythos is inconsistent.
“I know the Jason lore very well,” Kane said. “I’ve collected all the information, put it in the pot, and just sort of made the story I wanted to make.”
Kane is also an executive producer on HBO’s hit horror series, “It: Welcome to Derry,” based on the Stephen King novel “It.”
“We’re actively writing [Season 2] right now. We’re starting to shoot in the summer of next year,” he told The Post.
The producer explained that “Welcome to Derry” Season 2 is set twenty-seven years before the events of Season 1.
“We’re in Depression-era America. It’s a very different set of circumstances. New kids, new characters, maybe some old characters, and the same old Pennywise.”
He teased that Season 2 will be, “as terrifying,” as the first season, “if not more.”
“Crystal Lake” premieres Oct. 15 on Peacock.