‘Crystal Lake’ Promises Slasher Jason Later in the Season: “When It Hits, It Hits Hard”

Peacock and A24 have spent much of the buildup to Crystal Lake emphasizing that this is Pamela Voorhees’ story. But a new quote from creator and showrunner Brad Caleb Kane (It: Welcome to Derry) makes it clear that Jason will get his turn to spill blood.

“All the Jason-as-slasher stuff hits much later in the season. But when it hits, it hits hard,” Kane tells Empire Magazine.

That’s a pretty significant tease for the eight-episode series, which arrives in full on October 15 on Peacock.

Kane also explains why the relationship between Pamela, played by Linda Cardellini (The Curse of La Llorona), and her son is so essential.

“The series is the story of Pam in the immediate aftermath of losing the one person she considers her reason for living,” he says, “so we wanted to explore that relationship and all the love so we’d fully understand how she became the woman we know from the first movie.”

But it’s that promise of slasher Jason that has me reconsidering where this season might end.

As I discussed in our coverage of Pamela’s familiar blue sweater, I’ve been working under the theory that the finale would essentially remake Sean S. Cunningham’s original Friday the 13th. Pamela’s slaughter of the counselors would bring everything full circle and leave the door open for Jason to take over.

Now I’m wondering if we get there sooner.

In the 1980 film, Jason appears as a child during Alice’s ambiguous final scare on the lake. By Friday the 13th Part 2, he’s the adult killer wearing a sack over his head. The new trailer already appears to show a bag-headed Jason, alongside other glimpses of him in the woods. Kane’s comments suggest those images are teasing a substantial part of the season.