As Crystal Lake brings Jason Voorhees fans to his roots, the Peacock prequel series takes the Friday the 13th franchise back to where it all began.
Series creator Brad Caleb Kane told Deadline “the amazing thing” about filming the eight-episode show — all episodes now available to stream — where the original 1980 slasher also filmed in Blairstown, NJ, is that the township “hasn’t changed in 45 years.”
“It’s still exactly the same,” explained Kane. “The structures are the same, maybe some paint jobs are different, and we had to do a little bit of that. But basically, it’s exactly the same town intact as it was 45 years ago, which is amazing.”
Fans of the original Sean S. Cunningham-helmed horror film might remember one of the opening scenes, in which camp counselor Annie Phillips (Robbi Morgan) hitchhikes through Crystal Lake, crossing a small bridge and cutting a corner in downtown Blairstown with a noticeable round red payphone on the sidewalk and visiting Trudy’s diner before meeting her demise.
In episode 4, “A New Beginning,” writers Evan Endicott and Josh Stoddard re-created the scene with a hitchhiking hippy named Willow (Oona Roche), even rebuilding the interior of Trudy’s diner on a soundstage.
Kane also emphasized the importance of filming in New Jersey, “because honestly, like trees look different in Jersey. You can’t recreate that feel anywhere else, so we wanted to re-create that feel and the only way to do it is in the same state.”
Although the nearby Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco, which is still an active camp and horror fan destination, was not available to stand in for Camp Crystal Lake as it once did in 1980, Kane and directors Celine Held and Logan George were able to rebuild the camp’s boathouse on a soundstage in order to “faithfully” recreate movie’s opening kill with his own twist in episode 5, “The New Blood”.
“It’s still there and it’s still intact, and we walked through it, because we couldn’t shoot there,” explained Kane. “And obviously now that you’ve seen the show, you know that we recreate a scene in that boathouse, shot-for-shot from the movie. Our great production designer Lester Cohen rebuilt it from scratch to the exact specifications at Camp Ocawasin in New Jersey, which was our campground that we created for the show.”
In addition to recreating some memorable scenes and locations in the series about Jason Voorhees’ grieving mother Pam (Linda Cardellini), Crystal Lake also revisits some fan-favorite locals from screenwriter Victor Miller’s slasher in its cast of characters, including diner owner Trudy (played by Dorothy Kobs in the first movie, Bernadette Quigley in the prequel series), police officer Dorf (Ron Millke, Cameron Scoggins) and hermit Crazy Ralph (Walt Gorney, Nick Cordileone), as well as new faces, including Pam’s romantic interest, Officer Levon Brooks (William Catlett), his reporter sister Brianna (Devin Kessler) and Pam’s single friend Rita (Joy Suprano).
Kane found it “exciting” revisiting Crystal Lake and its residents through the series, which he envisions through a “Twin Peaks-y vibe.”
“I mean, this is a world that I return to over and over and over again,” he said. “I return to these movies, we all do, somehow. They became iconic for a reason. But there’s a lot we don’t know about the town. We meet these really colorful characters in the first movie, we meet Trudy and Officer Dorff and so-called Crazy Ralph, even though he turns out to have a point. But we don’t see that much of them ultimately. Some are dispatched, some are just there for momentary common comic relief.”
Kane continued, “And, you know, with a show like this, we have the opportunity to open it up and spend a little more time with them. Everybody loves a small-town show, and within the world of Friday the 13th, that just becomes more amplified and interesting.”
With a wealth of characters to explore (and eventually slaughter), Kane hopes to revisit Crystal Lake for another season. “I do have ideas for Season 2 in mind,” he confirmed.
“Obviously, it’s not just Pam’s story, it’s Crystal Lake, so you have all of the peripheral characters who are interesting to me,” explained Kane. “You have the opportunity for this to be more of a Twin Peaks-y kind of vibe, with Ralph and with Dwarf and Trudy and all of those characters. There’s a lot more to get into with them. But obviously, the nexus is always gonna be Pam and Jason and their story.”
After giving fans “a little dopamine hit” with his nods to the original movie, Kane noted that the show “could run into the events” of Friday the 13th (1980) if Peacock gives them enough time.
“It wouldn’t happen in a second season,” Kane clarified. “There’s more story to tell, for the residents of Crystal Lake and to the extent that Linda wants to continue the journey with us, with Pam. So, we’ll see.”
As for Cardellini, she joked that she’s game to continue the show until Pam “kills every resident.”