Lace up your running shoes and stay out of the lake, The CW is developing a Friday the 13th series based off the beloved horror film franchise. The project originated last year when Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films and Crystal Lake Entertainment teamed up with Sean S. Cunningham, the director of the original Friday the 13th film, to develop a contemporary series that followed iconic stalker-killer Jason Voorhees throughout multiple time period.
Now, Deadline reports that The CW is moving forward on the series with a new pair of writers and a different take on the IP. Steve Mitchell and Craig Van Sickle, creators of the 1996 NBC series The Pretender, will develop the fledgling horror series for the network, reimagining Friday the 13th as a sophisticated horror/crime thriller "with a stronger feel of grounded reality". The series will follow a detective's ongoing search for his missing brother in a case that is tied to Voorhees. Long presumed dead, the masked mass murderer returns again to wreak havoc on Crystal Lake anew.
During his executive session at today's portion of the TCA press tour, CW president Mark Pedowitz spoke about the network's skill for crafting "high-concept genre" series. He also described himself as “a big believer in titles and franchises,” saying the brand recognition “makes them break out of the pack in some ways.” Friday the 13th certainly fits the bill, and the recent success of MTV's Scream reboot certainly couldn't have hurt the decision to pick up the horror series.
Paramount is also in development on a Friday the 13th feature film reboot, with Nick Antacosta (Hannibal, Teen Wolf) attached to pen the script and David Bruckner (The Signal, V/H/S) set to direct. Personally, I'm a bit more excited for the film adaptation at the moment, as Bruckner has proven himself a talented director of shorts, and Antacosta wrote some of Hannibal's stand out episodes this year. However, it's easy to see how the F13 story formula lends itself to a serialized format with it's 10 Little Indians format. In fact, if you have doubts about a series length slasher, I highly recommend you check out the fabulous and all too forgotten Harper's Island.
What say you? Do you think a Friday the 13th series is a good idea? Or is it time to leave well enough alone? Sound off in the comments below.
