After 17 Years, Friday The 13th Is Officially Back With A New Release Next Week

Published Oct 7, 2026, 7:30 AM EDT

Adrienne Tyler is a movies & TV features writer, with a focus on horror. She has written for Netflix, FanSided, & more. She was a regular guest on the Netfreaks podcast and was a YouTuber at some point. Guillermo del Toro said “hi” to her once.

The Friday the 13th franchise is officially back after almost two decades, and it could be the successful revival it deserves. The horror genre is home to some of the most popular, extensive, and profitable franchises in entertainment, of which some have delivered some of the best movies of all time. Franchises like A Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre shaped the genre and have had some revival attempts, and rejoining them now is Friday the 13th.

Created by Victor Miller, the Friday the 13th franchise began in 1980 with the movie of the same name, directed by Sean S. Cunningham. Although initially it wasn’t the critics’ favorite, Friday the 13th was a huge box office hit, and it spawned a franchise that, at the time of writing, has 12 movies (including a remake and a crossover with A Nightmare on Elm Street), various novels, video games, and more. The world of Friday the 13th also has TV shows, and it’s through one that it’s coming back in 2026.

Titled Crystal Lake, the show was developed by Brad Caleb Kane, and it’s intended to serve as a prequel to the original Friday the 13th movie. Crystal Lake is the second TV show in the Friday the 13th franchise, but it’s the first one directly tied to the movie series. Crystal Lake is the franchise’s first release in 17 years, and if all goes well, it could be the successful revival that the world of Friday the 13th needs and deserves.

All 8 Episodes Of Crystal Lake Release October 15th On Peacock

As mentioned above, Crystal Lake is a prequel to the first Friday the 13th movie, and so it takes the audience back to 1971 to meet Pamela Voorhees (Linda Cardellini). Pamela works as a cook at Camp Crystal Lake, and she brings her young son, Jason (Callum Vinson), with her. However, Jason is frequently bullied due to his physical appearance, and one day, he drowns in the lake.

Pamela struggles to process her grief and the loss of her only son, and grows increasingly convinced that Jason is alive and might be somewhere in the woods. However, when bodies begin to appear in the area surrounding Camp Crystal Lake, the community grows suspicious of Pamela, uncovering her darkest and most disturbing secrets. The trailer for Crystal Lake teases not only the origin story of Pamela’s villainous turn, but also the origins of Jason.

Crystal Lake is ready for an October 15, 2026, release on Peacock, and unlike other horror shows that have opted for a weekly release, all eight episodes will be ready to stream that day, so those looking forward to it can binge-watch the show.

Crystal Lake Could Be The Start Of An Exciting New Chapter For Friday The 13th

Crystal Lake marks the long-awaited return of the Friday the 13th franchise after the 2009 reboot. Also titled Friday the 13th, the movie was directed by Marcus Nispel, and though it succeeded at the box office, it was a critical failure. The 2009 Friday the 13th movie failed to revive the franchise, which later spent years in the middle of a legal battle that prevented it from expanding with more movies.

Crystal Lake feels like a fresh take on the Friday the 13th franchise while staying true to it, its essence, and adding to a story everyone (even non-horror fans) knows but can still use an expansion. Thanks to it being set a couple of years before the events of the first movie, Crystal Lake could go on for a couple of seasons, going deeper into Pamela’s crimes and how Jason ended up becoming the classic horror villain everyone now knows.

Crystal Lake will inevitably renew interest in the Friday the 13th franchise, which can be greatly beneficial to the ongoing plans for a new movie. In March 2026, Cunningham revealed that a treatment for a new Friday the 13th movie is ready, that the dispute with Miller had been resolved, and that the Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures merger could be key to its future. If all goes well and Crystal Lake succeeds, a new Friday the 13th movie could finally happen.

Crystal Lake has a lot of potential, and it could be the project that successfully revives the Friday the 13th franchise, so it’s to be seen where the franchise could go after the show’s release.

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  Linda Cardellini

  Pamela Voorhees

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  William Catlett

  Levon Brooks

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  Cameron Scoggins

  Dorf

• Danielle Kotch

  Claudette