Highlights
- Scream 7 is set to film this year, with Kevin Williamson directing; and he worked on the Friday the 13th prequel series, Crystal Lake, before its cancelation.
- Crystal Lake, a Friday the 13th prequel series, was canceled due to budget issues and disagreements over the direction of the series.
- There is potential for a Friday the 13th chase sequence in a future Scream movie; while A24 and Peacock seek a new showrunner for Crystal Lake.
Scream 7 is set to begin filming sometime this year, with Kevin Williamson set to direct the latest installment in the series he created back in the 90s. Before this news was announced, Williamson had signed on to be involved in another legendary slasher franchise from the 80s. Friday the 13th was gearing up for a comeback in the form of a series called Crystal Lake. Williamson was on board to write an episode of the Friday the 13th series, before it was canceled by A24, who were developing the project.
Jason Voorhees hasn’t appeared on-screen since the poorly received remake in 2009. Before that, he faced off against fellow horror icon, Freddy Krueger in Freddy vs Jason in 2003. There have been issues surrounding the rights to the franchise, with a long-running legal fight only recently reaching a partial resolution, which resulted in A24 getting the go ahead to develop the series. Kevin Williamson’s exciting plans for his particular episode are now left up in the air due to the cancelation, and this is a shame as it could’ve been a very exciting direction for the franchise to go in.
What happened to the canceled Friday the 13th series, Crystal Lake?
Peacock and A24 were teaming up for the Friday the 13th prequel series, Crystal Lake, with fans eagerly anticipating some brand-new content in the slasher franchise. The original plan for the series was to act as a deconstruction of the first four Friday the 13th movies, which would be partly set in the present day, with a mix of flashbacks of the origin story of Jason and Pamela Voorhees before the events of the first movie. Crystal Lake was set to consist of 8 episodes, and Peacock had given the project a straight-to-series order back in 2022.
Bryan Fuller was set to be the showrunner on the project, working alongside A24, and it was quite a long way into production, with writers being brought on board to develop specific episodes, and casting was also completed. However, a mixture of bad financial management and disagreements over the direction of the series led to A24 canceling the Friday the 13th show.
Each episode of Crystal Lake was set to cost $10 million, with a combined total of $85 million for the entire first season. It was reported that A24 thought this was criminally over budget by about $4-6 million and there were further issues with development of the series when the writer’s strike hit Hollywood. A24 had spent a lot of money in order to develop the Friday the 13th series, and they simply had to pull the plug, leaving the future of the show in doubt.
Bryan Fuller shared his views on the failed project on his Twitter page:
For reasons beyond our control, A24 has elected to go a different way with the material. We hope the final product will be something Friday the 13th fans all over the world will enjoy.
What were Kevin Williamson’s original plans for his episode?
Kevin Williamson had written an episode of the now canceled Friday the 13th prequel series, Crystal Lake, and it was set to be an hour-long chase sequence across a frozen lake. Fans of Williamson are fully aware of his ability to write engaging chase sequences in his movies, with Scream, Scream 2, I Know What You Did Last Summer and his last horror movie, Sick, all featuring memorable chase sequences. Williamson shared his disappointment about the cancelation of Crystal Lake on his Twitter page:
Bummin’ hard, so sorry I won’t be a part of what would have been an epic Bryan Fuller show. Your pilot was so beautifully realized. A gorgeous portrait of a mother unraveling in her grief. Not to mention bloody horrific! I was so looking forward to our hour-long chase episode!
The potential for an entire episode of a slasher series featuring a chase sequence was extremely exciting, especially in the hands of a master like Kevin Williamson. The fact that it would’ve existed in the Friday the 13th universe just adds to the disappointment that fans won’t get to see it play out on screen. A consolation for fans of Kevin WIlliamson is that he is preparing to direct the upcoming sequel, Scream 7, with a potential release sometime in 2025. The script has already been written by Guy Busick, but there’s every chance Williamson could incorporate his planned Friday the 13th chase sequence into a future Scream movie, if Scream 7 isn’t the final movie in the franchise.
A24 and Peacock are apparently searching for a new showrunner to take on Crystal Lake, but if this doesn’t materialize, a new movie could be the next logical step forward, but this comes with a lot of potential stumbling blocks due to continuing issues with the rights. Also, due to Kevin WIlliamson’s allegiances with Bryan Fuller, it is unlikely he will be involved in any future Friday the 13th project with A24.
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