Charlize Theron Could've Played Jason's Mom In The Canceled A24 Friday The 13th Series
"Friday the 13th" fans have been waiting a long, long time for something new to happen with the beloved horror franchise. It has been all quiet on the Jason Voorhees front ever since 2009's "Friday the 13th" remake became a box office hit in its day. That was all supposed to change when it was announced that Peacock and A24 had teamed up for a TV show set in the universe titled "Crystal Lake," hailing from "Hannibal" creator Bryan Fuller. Instead, after roughly two years of development, Fuller was fired and the show now hangs in limbo. It turns out, major A-list talent was being courted for Fuller's seemingly very expensive version of the show. Namely, Oscar-winner Charlize Theron ("Mad Max: Fury Road," "Monster"). Yes, really.
According to a new deep-dive report by The Wrap covering what went wrong on "Crystal Lake," Theron was being eyed to star as Jason's mom, Pamela Voorhees, in the show. While no deal was in place, this would have been some serious bombshell casting, what with Theron being one of the most in-demand A-list stars in Hollywood. But that's truly just the tip of the iceberg. The report also digs into the mess that was going on behind the scenes, the inflated budget, and the uncertain future of the project in the wake of Fuller's departure.
Fuller and Jim Danger Gray were fired as showrunners back in May just months before production was set to begin. The report characterizes the firing as a decision made by A24, but it's not so simple as that. It's unclear how much the brass at Peacock knew about the firing of Fuller and Gray. Some sources say the streamer wasn't notified ahead of time, while others suggest they were in on the decision. The report, overall, is awash with conflicting reports of what went wrong, which strongly suggests a messy situation in need of cleaning up.
The lofty plans for Crystal Lake
"Crystal Lake" was said to have its first season pick up right in the aftermath of the drowning of a young Jason Voorhees. As fans surely recall, it was Pamela who was the killer in the original movie, seeking revenge on those who let her little boy die. Jason didn't become the killer until the sequels. The grand idea, had the show lasted for several seasons, would have been to remake the first four entries in the franchise, with each season serving as a "deconstruction" of one of the films.
While most of the "Friday the 13th" movies were relatively low-budget affairs, Peacock and A24 were not going to go cheap on the show, with the budget for the first season pegged at an astonishing $85 million. Fuller had previously stated that the show was pretty much guaranteed to run for at least two seasons as well. Each episode of the show was budgeted at $9.6 million, a figure A24 reportedly wanted to cut in half. The Wrap's own reporting suggested that the season was $4 to $6 million over budget in total. So while there is some contention, there were budget concerns.
The report also notes that there were issues with getting writers paid, with A24 reportedly refusing to convert the writers who had worked on the initial development phase into paid writers following the conclusion of last year's months-long WGA strike. The report also indicates that Fuller was focused on his upcoming movie "Dust Bunny," which pulled his focus away from the show.
Whatever the case, getting the scripts in seemed to be an issue tied to budget concerns. While little is known about the show's overall plot, Kevin Williamson ("Scream") was set to write the equivalent of the infamous "Red Wedding" episode of "Game of Thrones." It was "set entirely on a frozen Crystal Lake, with the summer camp's cabins trapped under snow drifts." It sounds likely we'll never see that episode come to fruition.
What happens to Crystal Lake now?
The report, unfortunately, is a lot of "he said, she said," which makes it tough to distill what actually happened here. There were accounts that A24 was apparently unfamiliar with how a big TV show like this operated, despite having previously produced several big shows (such as "The Sympathizer" for HBO). A24 is not known for taking on big franchise fare, so this was new territory for it. What we know for sure is that things got messy, "Crystal Lake" remains without a showrunner, and a lot of money has been spent. So, what happens now?
For years, "Friday the 13th" was caught in a messy legal battle over the rights. A24 worked hard to get the rights together to make this show happen. Abandoning that after all of this money and time would be a tough beat. The report notes that Nick Antosca ("Channel Zero") is said to be in the running to take over as the new showrunner. But if he does, he would likely start from scratch. That would be expensive. Agents are said to have labeled the project as "radioactive" given all of the drama. That is sure to complicate matters.
What we know for sure is that there are a number of creators out there who would jump at the chance to tackle this franchise. "Terrifier 2" director Damien Leone feels confident he'd know how to handle "Friday the 13th." But most probably view this as a movie where Jason kills young people by a lake. The expensive, arthouse TV show version of the franchise is a tougher nut to crack. For now, we're still left to wonder when Jason Voorhees will come back from the dead.
The "Crystal Lake" TV show remains without a release date.