How Should 'Friday the 13th' Fans Honor Jason's Mother? Crystal Lake Team's Ambitious Push to Retire the Hockey Mask

"You need to know that Jason's mother, Mrs. Voorhees, was the real killer." That line from Scream, in which Ghostface stalks Casey (Drew Barrymore) while quizzing her on horror movies, is a reminder that for many modern audiences, Pamela Voorhees, matriarch of Friday the 13th, is more than a trivial question. Yet Peacock and […]

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"You should know that Jason's mother, Mrs. Voorhees, was the original killer."

This quote from "Scream," in which a ghostly figure confronts Casey (Drew Barrymore) while asking him about horror movies, is a reminder that for many modern audiences, "Friday the 13th" patriarch Pamela Voorhees is more than a trivia question. However, Peacock and A24 are betting on audience interest in an epic story about a murderous mother.

"Crystal Lake" airs all eight episodes of its first season today, and show creator and showrunner Brad Caleb Kane knows that slasher audiences might not be interested at first in the hours-long story of a woman on the edge of the '70s, played here by recent Emmy winner Linda Cardellini.

"I'm an old-school slasher fan," Kane says. "I certainly didn't go into Burning [1981's Summer Camp] to hear about [the killer] Cropsey's long story." "You go into it for the visceral thrills and the emotion that those movies make us — especially as kids, when most of us experience them for the first time. But in doing television, and I've done a lot of television up to this point, there's really only so much you can do about character and motivations and development."

For the uninitiated, 1980's "Friday the 13th" is about the murders of young counselors at Camp Crystal Lake who try to reopen the property years after a tragic incident. In the end, it turns out that the killer is Mrs. Voorhees (Betsy Palmer), who blamed her son Jason for his drowning years ago when they connected while they were supposed to be watching him, and she decides to teach this new batch of horny teenagers a lesson.

The "Friday" franchise has become a reliable moneymaker with 11 other films, a TV show, video games and merchandise galore following the indie slasher original. The focus shifted to Jason—now a dead, giant killer—as the antagonist, leaving Mrs. Voorhees as a footnote in the series. But with "Crystal Lake," Keane, who also helmed the horror prequel series "It: Welcome to Derry," was interested in creating a very real anti-hero with a strong sense of time and place.

"We knew we were going to do Pamela Voorhees' story, but there's very little information about her other than what we know from the first film," he says. “Betsy Palmer had her own ideas about Pamela's history if you read Pamela's interviews, and some of the 'Friday the 13th' comics did a little bit of backstory and went in different directions. But when you get into TV storytelling, people come to TV for character. We didn't get to know much about the town of Crystal Lake, even though it was fun to see in the movie. Where we started was, "What decade are we telling the story in?" And obviously, before the events of the first film, which takes place in 1980, what was happening in America during that decade? Can we start with those themes and kind of parallel the story of America in the 70s and all the changes that were happening? A lot of changes happened to Pamela Voorhees and how she became the mother of all the Slashes we eventually know."

Cardellini, who has had key roles in critically acclaimed series ranging from Freaks and Geeks and ER to Mad Men and DTF St.Louis, was excited to work on an ambitious project that had an expansive plot for her character and an opportunity for her to be a part of its success.

"It was really fun talking to Brad about the show," he says. I also felt that he was excited to talk about it with me and hear what I had to say. It wasn't something that tied me down and just told me what to do. Its collaboration was exciting. The fact that I have never played like this attracts me as well. There is a lot to show. Pam, she's a singer and a killer. She also has sex with these men. There were so many aspects that, as a woman of a certain age, there wasn't much to do in any role. There was a lot to do. There was so much to discover. It was a wild ride that was just irresistible to me."

Cardellini was also intrigued by the chance to develop Pamela's unique motivations throughout the series.

"For Pam, it's all about Jason, which is great because the franchise is about Jason, and it's great that you get to meet him and understand him because he's the original killer, but he's only doing it for Jason," he says. It's all about her joining Jason. So even what seems like a selfless act or like an act to help another person actually serves to reconnect him with him. That dangerous co-dependent relationship she has with him begins in a very vulnerable and real and relatable way. A lot of times I'm trying to figure out, "How do I connect with this person?" How do I justify what they're doing?"

A key triumph Kane had in developing the show was that "Crystal Lake" avoided the copyright complications that have plagued films in the past. For example, the ninth and tenth episodes - "Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday" and "Jason X" - cannot use the name "Friday the 13th" in the titles. Fortunately, the previous friction was gone.

"There were really no legal issues with the show," Kane says. "We weren't given any specific parameters about what we could and couldn't do. There was some discussion about the hockey mask because it's an iconic look for Jason and that's what everyone is thinking about. But we're doing a show that happened before Pamela Steder's murder in the first movie, and the hockey mask... obviously we all know that didn't happen until the third movie. This is the Star Wars of slashers... it's part three."

A key component in getting the time and place to feel right was recreating the 70s, rather than relying on a thin paste or tired visual clichés. The search for truth was essential for Kane.

"When I think of the texture of '70s films, I think of the paranoid thrillers of the '70s, which commented on the decade more than anything else," he says. I'm thinking Parallax View and Clute and All the President's Men. There was a look and feeling in them. Films like William Friedkin's "The Witcher"... I didn't want it to be religious. I wanted to feel immersed in the 70s. You can really go with the crazy things that happen in the story and not feel like, "Oh, this is a surprise. It doesn't feel real."

Ultimately, Keane believes that Crystal Lake is fueled by Cardellini, the not-so-secret weapon at the heart of the show.

"He is in one great work after another. It is because he is in them that they have been raised to the level they are." "I really believe we're doing a 'Friday the 13th' show here," he says. There is a question as to whether it should be elevated to the pinnacle of television, but he makes it. He brings gravitas, passion and authenticity to everything he does. Fortunately, he brought it to our show as well."

Watch the trailer for "Crystal Lake" below. All eight episodes are now streaming on Peacock.

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