‘Friday the 13th’ television series still a possibility

Friday the 13th producer Sean S. Cunningham says he’s still hopeful for a TV series based on the films, and shared his ideas for what it’d be like.

Jason Voorhees just won’t die in the Friday the 13th movies. And, apparently, attempts to develop a TV show out of the franchise aren’t either.

In the past, the CW network had given the green light to a Friday the 13th pilot. However, after difficulties behind the scenes, the project never got off the ground. Ultimately it was given the axe, sinking Jason’s hopes for a TV series like a drowning boy in Crystal Lake.

Despite this, producer Sean S. Cunningham, who’s been with the franchise since the first film, remains hopeful. He reveals as much in a new interview on the Shock Waves podcast. Cunningham says that the series could still happen one day, offering this vision on how it could be:

"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 wandered into this county, they never would have left! There’s so much weird shit going on! 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.”"

Honestly… I’m not sold on Cunningham’s idea. The bottom line is, Jason hits hard and fast — something that works for 90 minute movies. That also translate well for intense matches in Friday the 13th: The Game. But stretching the story out over the course of a TV series would be a disservice to Jason.

Next: Discussing the films of shock rocker Rob Zombie

While I don’t know about a TV show, the new video game has consumed my life. If you’re not playing yet, you really should be. But if you’re not a gamer? Just stick to the movies.