New 'Friday The 13th' TV Series Will Feature Jason Voorhees And "His Wacky Family"

Jason Voorhees isn't just getting a new movie; he's getting a TV series, too. While there was a Friday the 13th TV series in the '80s, that show didn't feature Jason. Instead it was about a group of people seeking to find and preserve magical artifacts — like a haunted Antiques Roadshow. (David Cronenberg even directed an episode!) This new Friday the 13th TV series, however, will be oriented squarely around Crystal Lake, the people who live there, and Jason. Oh, and Jason's "wacky" family.

Deadline reports on the show, which is envisioned as an hour-long drama, and comes from Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films and Crystal Lake Entertainment, with original Friday the 13th director Sean S. Cunningham as executive producer.

Here's where it gets weird, and seemingly very derived from Sleepy Hollow, not to mention primed for the CW. Bill Basso and Jordu Schell are scripting, and the basic mandate is a story that "re-imagines Jason in multiple time periods." And Deadline says this, which really has the Friday fan in me giving the side-eye:

The series is contemporary, focusing on the eclectic characters of Crystal Lake who are forced to confront the return of the killer, as new secrets about his wacky family are revealed.

"His wacky family." Is that a phrase that Deadline just cooked up, or one which came from conversations with producers?

That said, the idea of looking at Jason as a recurring phantom that terrorizes multiple generations of Crystal Lake residents could be fun, so long as we don't see too many secrets of the Voorhees family. Frankly, I don't want to know that stuff. I see Friday the 13th movies to see Jason kill people in inventive ways, and that's about it. The "mythology" that has built up over many sequels is fun, but it's not really the point.

Roy Knyrim (Gods And Monsters) of SOTA FX will oversee makeup effects for the show.