'Friday the 13th' TV Series in the Works

By Nick Roman ·

You can't keep a good man down. Nor, apparently, a bad one. Yes, Jason Voorhees is coming back to kill more teenagers of Camp Crystal Lake. You know, the ones too overcome by hormones in the middle of scenic nowhere to notice the giant, hockey mask-wearing murderer standing behind them.

Friday the 13th is now heading to the small screen, as Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films and (ironically) Crystal Lake Entertainment are pairing up to reboot the film franchise as an hourlong TV series. Original director Sean S. Cunningham will serve as executive producer on the reinvented franchise, which kicked off in 1980 with the original Friday the 13th, and followed with nine sequels and a face-off film (2003's Freddy vs. Jason, which was actually better than it had any right to be). Joining Cunningham as EP are Randall Emmett and George Furla, Atmosphere Entertainment's Mark Canton, Diversion3 Entertainment's Steve B. Harris, and Ted Fox, all of whom are people well-versed in this sort of thing. Television, I mean. Not reinventing franchises. Although I see no reason why they shouldn't be able to make this into something special, particularly given the premise.

The proposed drama would be set at (where else?) Crystal Lake "over multiple time periods, where secrets about the deeply disturbed Voorhees family will be revealed," which sounds...not bad at all, actually. Looks like Bates Motel has convinced TV execs that there's value in exploring the backstories of popular horror thrillers. And if it approaches that same level of quality, there's no reason this shouldn't be a hit. Even if it does end up airing on Fridays (because, really, what other night would it air?).

This project is part of a revival for the Jason Voorhees character, as he will be resurrected in Paramount's upcoming big screen reboot to be released in 2015. No word on if the narratives will overlap like, say, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but they might as well. It's certainly worked for that show.

Via: HitFix

Credit: Crystal Lake Entertainment

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