Crystal Lake showrunner Brad Caleb Kane has shared a first look at a young Jason Voorhees, while announcing that some news (possibly a teaser) relating to the Friday the 13th prequel series is coming this Monday.
The behind-the-scenes image only shows Jason, who will be played by Chucky and Long Bright River star Callum Vinson, from the back, but it's clear that the creative team went with a similar look to the badly deformed youngster we saw leaping from the lake at the end of the original movie.
After spending over 15 years lying dormant due to complicated rights issues relating to the character, the news broke last year that Jason was finally set to return to terrorize a new group of teenage camp counsellors. But before the undead killing machine gets to don his signature hockey mask and machete combo, his mother will be the one doing the slaying.
This take on Pamela Voorhees (Linda Cardellini) is described as "a mother who had given up a singing career to raise a special needs child and takes a dark turn when she loses her son."
The cast also includes Nick Cordileone (Warrior), Joy Suprano (Fleishman is in Trouble), Danielle Kotch (Director’s Cut), and Phoenix Parnevik (Bel-Air) as future Voorhees victims Ralph, Rita, Claudette, and Barry.
"In many ways, it's a psychological thriller," Kane said in a recent interview. "It's a paranoid '70s thriller. It has all of the DNA of a slasher without quite being a slasher. There are rivers of blood in the show. There are very, I think, ingenious kill sequences and deaths and murders, but it's all done in service of character and theme and place and time."
"[Friday the 13th] out of the paranoid '70s thriller era. It came out of the mistrust-of-institutions era. It came out of the women's lib era, the National Organization for Women era, this consciousness-raising awakening era in America. I wanted to go and play with all of those themes," he added. "[Cardellini is] gonna shock and surprise a lot of people."
Kane shared the following statement when he took over as showrunner.
“From the moment I watched Jason Voorhees squeeze a guy’s eyeball out of its socket (in glorious 3D!) at the tender age of 8 years old, I knew my creative path was someday destined to converge with The Man Behind The Mask. Nothing defined my childhood more than growing up in the golden age of the slasher flick, and nothing’s defined the genre more than Friday the 13th. I couldn’t be more excited for the opportunity to contribute a chapter to this iconic franchise, particularly with such fearless partners as Peacock and A24.”
From what we can gather, Crystal Lake will focus on Pamela Voorhees plotting her revenge against the camp counsellors who weren't paying attention when her son drowned. Whether Jason will be revealed to have survived his accident or return as a resurrected killing machine (the later movies introduced supernatural elements) remains to be seen.
Either way, we assume Jason will eventually pick the mask should the series continue beyond a single season.