In 2022, A24 Films and Peacock teamed up with showrunner Bryan Fuller (“Hannibal“) to tackle a prequel streaming series set within the universe of “The Friday The 13th” franchise. However, ahead of its production, Fuller has exited “Crystal Lake,” following rumors that the series was falling apart or hitting pause, depending on who you believed. According to Variety, A24 aims to replace Fuller with another showrunner and continue on as key things like casting hadn’t even started.
Fuller confirmed creative differences and his exit on Twitter, “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.” He shared some optimism that the show, even without his participation, would be able to please the hardcore horror fandom.
We’re not entirely sure what the reason or details for the exit is, but Fuller had been accused of sexual harassment in the workplace in 2023 on a queer horror docuseries, which could have been a factor for the change in showrunners.
“Crystal Lake” was expected to include the mother of Jason Vorheese, Pamela, who was the original killer in the first film, taking revenge on the camp staff for neglecting her special needs son, leading to his drowning death at Camp Crystal Lake. Of course, this was before the undead/full-grown adult incarnation of Jason took over as the main antagonist.
This update on the project was a bit shocking because we had previously learned that production on “Crystal Lake” was gearing up to shoot in the Toronto area with an early July start and was planning to wrap up sometime in November. “Crystal Lake” had been crewing up with a production designer, Rory Cheyne, from Apple TV+’s “Foundation” assigned to the slasher series.
Victor Miller, the first film’s screenwriter who spared in court to regain the rights, is attached as an executive producer on “Crystal Lake,” we’ll have to wait for further information on who could end up replacing Fuller. This kind of exit isn’t too uncommon for a showrunner shake-up on TV shows, and it tends to be less of a headache if the switch-up takes place before any significant filming has occurred.