Crystal Lake Showrunner Defends Controversial Jason Voorhees Twist In Friday The 13th Series

This article contains major spoilers for "Crystal Lake."

The "Friday the 13th" franchise is finally back. "Crystal Lake" is a new prequel series focused on Pamela Voorhees and Jason Voorhees, the boy who eventually becomes the machete-wielding killer slasher that fans such as myself love. The Peacock series takes some wild turns, with one particular twist changing everything we know about Jason. Now, showrunner Brad Caleb Kane has come out of the woodwork to defend said twist.

The series follows single mother Pam Voorhees (Linda Cardellini) after Jason drowns at Camp Crystal Lake. Without getting into the weeds, we eventually meet Jason's father, Elias (Hamish Linklater), who works for a mysterious corporation named Bellflower. The big Jason Voorhees twist in "Crystal Lake" is bound to leave many "Friday the 13th" fans furious, because Elias used him to see if humans could survive nuclear war by infusing him with cockroach DNA (or at least imbuing him with cockroach qualities somehow). Yes, Jason now seems to canonically be a human/cockroach mutant.

Speaking to Dread Central, Kane confidently defended his decision to explain Jason's unique abilities with this cockroach business. Here's what he had to say about it:

"It's important to understand that it's not science fiction. It's science fact. In this case, this isn't the government doing all this. It's corporations. It's companies that work to extract pharmaceutical gains and all that kind of stuff...I just applied it to the Jason Voorhees origin story. It seemed like a very natural place to go with this."

It's worth remembering that the "Friday the 13th" TV show lost showrunner Bryan Fuller ("Hannibal") in May 2024. What he had in mind largely remains a mystery, but A24 and Peacock opted to go with Kane's "Jason is a resilient part-human-part-cockroach" plan instead.

The larger point of this show is to help fill in gaps in our understanding of this 46-year-old horror series. We have a much better understanding of Pamela Voorhees, who was revealed to be the killer in the original movie. "Crystal Lake" even explains the origin of Jason Voorhees' machete. But there have always been questions about why Jason is essentially immortal.

Later entries, most notably 1986's "Jason Lives," went the full supernatural route in trying to explain it away. For his part, Brad Caleb Kane is arguing that his explanation is a little more grounded. He's also aware that it's going to draw the ire of fans. Speaking further, Kane explained that he's willing to take the heat:

"I know that some fans will have their machetes out because they like Jason to be a revenant, mysterious, and supernatural. I grant them that, and that's fine. I'll take the slings and arrows. I took a swing, but I didn't send him to Hell. I didn't send him to space. I didn't put him up against Carrie White — all things that people have done in this series. I took a much more grounded swing."

Carrie White is the telekinetic protagonist of Stephen King's "Carrie," and a character named Tina in "Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood" basically served as a stand-in for Carrie with a different name, using her superpowers to fight Jason. Kane's point is that this series hasn't been afraid to take wild swings. "Jason X" sent him to space, for example. Still, the cockroach thing is a tough pill to swallow, despite Kane's explanation.

Jason Voorhees is arguably the greatest horror movie slasher of them all. He's beloved and enduring. This show completely reframes our understanding of him, for better or worse. However it's viewed, the man behind that decision is standing firm.

"Crystal Lake" is streaming now on Peacock.