It's been a while since we've heard anything regarding FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE TV SERIES. Last we heard, in fact, was the series was NOT going to be picked up by the CW (thank God). That said, today we have new info by way of the franchise's creator himself Mr. Sean S. Cunnginham.
Cunningham was recently a guest on Ryan Turek and Blumhouse's podcast SHOCK WAVES and eventually, the conversation turned to FRIDAY THE 13TH and its possible TV counterpart. Cunnigham had loads to say about the potential series so check out all of his thoughts below!
Sean S. Cunningham on FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE SERIES:
The FRIDAY THE 13TH series is still percolating and we’ve got a very good handle on how we want to do it. CBS and The CW both said, “yeah, that’s good!” I don’t quite know what I’ll do there, but I’m really looking forward to it because it’s, again, taking this thing that appears one way, but you can do it this (other) way too, and really keep it interesting.
Wait, so CBS and the CW are still interested in the series? I'm thinking he may just be speaking about what they said once upon a time. Either way, the creator of the franchise went on to spit more bullets on the possible series.
Cunningham on keep FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE SERIES fresh:
You need really smart showrunners. I think the thing about FRIDAY THE 13TH as a TV franchise, you have that problem – how the hell are you going to deal with Jason? Is he going to come out of the woods every week and smash another teenager against a tree and nobody is going to notice? Nobody knows who did it?
Whatever. I'd watch that sh*t every single week with a smile on my face. But I see what Cunningham is getting at. In all seriousness that could get old (after like a few seasons) but it turns out he has more planned for the series than just Jason hacking and slashing his way through campers.
Cunningham continues:
You have to service the fans. You can’t ignore them. FRIDAY THE 13TH, at least in part, is going to be about Jason. So, how do you make sense of all of the contradictory stories that are out there, between Jason going to space, or versus Freddy, and all these other things.
The assumption is this. Crystal Lake is a town that really exists, and a long time ago they had a series killer named Jason Voorhees, and then some Hollywood creep comes out and makes this exploitation horror movie called FRIDAY THE 13TH. And then they make another one, and another one, and it just crushes the town.
The town becomes the place that “Jason built.” And the stuff that happened, they know what really happened. The rest is Hollywood lore. There are people there that lived through it, and they’ll tell you what really happened.
And so, what you can do is set up Crystal Lake as, more or less, like the town in JAWS, Amity Island. You have the town with all its prime movers in the town, but the town is located in an area that would allow Jason to exist in whatever form. But other things as well.
I would describe it as a place where if THE X-FILES’ Mulder and Scully wandering into this county, they never would of left! There’s so much weird shit going on!
Dude, this sounds like a plan! Greenlight this sumbitch and send it to my TV right now! All jokes aside, Cunningham continued further and let slip that a serial killer in a hockey mask is the least of the worries for the TV series' Township of Crystal Lake.
Cunningham on other threats to Cyrstal Lake and town in general:
Yeah, there’s a whole bunch of stuff! And then you’re trying to balance the human stuff. And then you have the family at the core of it. You’re not (always) following Jason around. It’s (also) the town and the town politics. It’s just such a rich pallet (of storytelling). And I’m really looking forward to it.
All of this sounds good to me. Top to bottom, I am behind anything Cunningham comes up with and will be sitting on my couch for hours at a time watching FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE SERIES – or my preferred title CRYSTAL LAKE – for days and days at a time once it (hopefully) hits.
That said, you can bet once the series eventually premieres it will be in a series of seasons comprised of, yep, you guessed it, 13 episodes. Waka, waka. I want more.
What do you think of Cunningham's ideas for the FRIDAY THE 13TH TV series? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram!
FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE SERIES' Louise Robey