Fuller specifies the in-development series as a “pre-remake-uel,” effectively closing off the events of Marcus Nispel’s 2009 reboot “Friday the 13th.” Notably, the Jason Voorhees of that Platinum Dunes-backed installment is one of the most physically intimidating, galloping towards his victims with wild berserker energy. Fans have been clamoring for more, but following a teaser image that turned out to be a false alarm, /FIlm’s Ryan Scott estimates that the best feature-length sequel we can hope for is a legacy one like David Gordon Green’s 2018 “Halloween” – something that discards the middle sequels and only addresses the canon of the original.
Fuller confirms that New Line Cinema, who have held the film rights since 1989, are entangled in legal muck thicker than Crystal Lake algae. But for the streaming series to happen, original screenwriter Victor Miller and original production entity Horror Inc. joined forces as executive producers, enabling the right to use Jason, his murderous mother Pamela, the mask, Crystal Lake, the whole shebang – they just can’t make a movie about it. For more on the film rights mayhem, Lindsay Traves has a legal breakdown at the ready.
Fuller further promises that “we’ll be dropping bodies every episode,” keeping the kill count high and true to the franchise’s slasher spirit. Finally, fans of “Jason X” can rejoice: though Fuller has mapped out three seasons’ worth of material, he’s eventually aiming to “rationally and dramatically” justify sending the masked menace back into space. Pre-2009 canon enables a body-possessing Jason (as seen in the ninth entry), a copycat killer posing as Jason (as seen in the fifth one), and departures from Crystal Lake entirely (the eighth one). Wherever he goes, we’re just thrilled to see that the man behind the mask is back.