A24 and Peacock‘s TV series, “Crystal Lake,” a prequel story set in the “Friday the 13th” universe, is looking like a bona fide hit for the streaming service and might be enough to convince a Season 2 renewal after trade reports have zeroed in on the viewership the horror show has amassed since its debut, ranking it as the fourth most popular scripted offering.
Showrunner Brad Caleb Kane seems to be already working on some follow-up ideas for future episodes, ahead of a Season 2 announcement, which we assume is now all but assured and just a matter of time.
Kane spoke with TVLine earlier this week, sharing some minor insight into what could be next for the streaming series: “I know exactly what I want to do with it. I know the thematics we’re going to approach. I have a general framework for what I want to do, and now that he’s out there and has the baghead, you can go full ‘Friday the 13th’ in ways that you can’t when you’re leading up to that in Season 1. I feel like in many ways — since he’s out there, we know he’s out there, Pam knows he’s out there — the handcuffs are off in a good way. And there is more of an opportunity to give the die-hard fans what they want in terms of Jason carnage.”
In another interview at BloodyDisgusting (beware there are spoilers in there), Kane further teased having ideas or a wishlist for Season 2, “If we’re lucky enough to get a season two, I already sort of have a framework in my mind. I do know thematically what I want to touch on, which is a little bit different than part one…But in terms of other characters that I want to touch on, there are, and there are people that we haven’t necessarily seen in the first season, but people who might be very well known from the franchise that I do want to dig into.”
What the Season 2 timeline will cover and the scheduling for when the next season of “Crystal Lake” could shoot and release on Peacock are unanswered questions and will need some more official comments from the studio brass.
Lead actress Linda Cardellini is expected to return for future episodes, and there is a possibility there could be more deviations from the original franchise lore moving forward (depending on how long they want to make the show). We have to assume that, given there hasn’t been a feature film since the 2009 reboot of “Friday the 13th,” there is certainly a hunger from horror fans and regular audiences alike for more of the show alongside more Pamela and Jason. It also bodes well for A24’s plans to make a TV series based on “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” with director JT Mollner (“Strange Darling”) and a new feature film from Curry Barker (“Obsession,” “Anything But Ghosts”).
All eight episodes of “Crystal Lake” are currently streaming on Peacock.
