Is ‘Crystal Lake’ Rewriting Jason Voorhees’ Origin? Full Trailer Teases a Potential Sci-Fi Twist

We’re almost exactly one month away from the premiere of Crystal Lake, and Peacock is celebrating the 13th with a full trailer, new poster, and fresh images from the Friday the 13th prequel series.

All eight episodes of Peacock and A24’s Friday the 13th prequel series will premiere on Thursday, October 15, filling in the bloody gap between Jason Voorhees’ drowning and Pamela Voorhees’ eventual massacre at Camp Crystal Lake.

The new poster puts Linda Cardellini (The Curse of La Llorona) front and center as Pamela, with young Jason lingering ominously in her arms. I like that he’s being kept slightly out of sight because the trailer makes one thing abundantly clear: This is Pamela’s story, even if Jason remains the driving force behind everything that happens.

Set nearly one year after Jason drowned in Crystal Lake, the series finds Pamela unable to shake the grief of losing her sickly young son. When two strangers arrive at her door asking questions about her past, they set off a disturbing chain of events that leaves the townspeople wondering who Pamela Voorhees really is.

Pamela has always been the most fascinating character in those early films, and I’ve spent years wondering why she wasn’t more of a motivation for Jason in the same way Jason was for her. It always felt like a missed opportunity. If Crystal Lake wants to indulge in a little revisionist history and make that relationship a more meaningful part of the mythology, I’m more than happy to pretend it was always there.

The trailer itself has a distinct made-for-television feel, almost like Bates Motel filtered through the mythology of Friday the 13th. It also gives us several new looks at Callum Vinson (Chucky) as Jason, including a brief shot of what appears to be a slightly older, possibly undead version of the boy.