Jason lives... just not on TV. Today, at The CW's TCA presentation, network president Mark Pedowitz confirmed that they are no longer moving forward with the series adaptation of the horror classic Friday the 13th.
Last year, The CW picked up the pilot from writers Steve Mitchell and Craig Van Sickle, creators of the 1996 NBC series The Pretender that reportedly reimagined Friday the 13th as a sophisticated horror/crime thriller “with a stronger feel of grounded reality”. Early reports revealed that the series would follow a detective’s ongoing search for his missing brother in a case that is tied to Voorhees, the iconic masked serial killer who returns again to wreak havoc on Crystal Lake anew.
Today, Pedowitz told the press that the series was no longer in development, and following the panel, he elaborated on the decision. "We didn't believe it was a sustainable script or a sustainable series," Pedwoitz said in an interview, "It was a very good pilot, but not a sustainable series." However, while the series is dead at The CW, it isn't buried forever. Pedowitz confirmed that the writers will be free to shop the series around to other networks once The CW's rights to the script expire in January.
Meanwhile, Paramount is continuing to develop their reboot of the film franchise, which has cycled through a couple incarnations and filmmakers over the last few years of development. Initial reports suggested that the reboot would go found footage with director David Bruckner at the helm (best known for directing the standout segment "Amateur Night" in V/H/S). Ultimately, Bruckner fell off the project (sad news) and it gained Prisoners screenwriter Aaron Guzikowski (good news) on script that will reportedly delve into Jason's origin story (the worst news).
Earlier this week, we learned that Paramount is eyeing The Crazies and The Last Witch Hunter director Breck Eisner to take over the project, so while we won't be seeing Friday the 13th on the small screen anytime soon, there's still a chance we'll be headed back to Camp Crystal Lake before too long.
