Linda Cardellini is re-entering her villain era. The Dead to Me star has officially landed the leading role in Peacock’s highly-anticipated Crystal Lake — which will serve as a prequel series to the iconic slasher flick Friday the 13th. Leaning into her mommy dearest vibes, the actress will be appearing as Pamela Voorhees, who fans will know as the true killer behind the film that kicked off the franchise all the way back in 1980. A grieving mother, Pamela, wreaked murderous havoc at Camp Crystal Lake in the original Sean S. Cunningham-helmed film, claiming revenge on the teen counselors who she deemed responsible for her son’s death by drowning. Future installments of the beloved franchise put her son, Jason Vorhees, behind a hockey mask and tossed a machete in his hands to get his own vengeance, but the original movie was all about a very mad mama. Now, her story will be told in the A24-backed episodic telling.

The road to Crystal Lake has been an incredibly bumpy one, with the production initially announced all the way back in 2022. In those days, Pushing Daisies and Hannibal creator, Bryan Fuller, was attached as the project’s leader. Things seemed to be chugging along just fine for the project, which even landed a release date, but the wheels ultimately fell off around this time last year, with Fuller announcing his exit. Sputtering — like the broken blades of a chainsaw — the series finally started to pick up momentum again, although our last update from Friday the 13th director, Cunningham, seemed to be a troubling one. Finally, with Cardellini’s casting, we can begin to pack our bags and prep for the summer of our lives with Crystal Lake finally getting some good news.

‘Crystal Lake’ Promises To Give Fans Something Totally Different

It’s been well over a decade since the last title in the Friday the 13th franchise slashed onto screens, with Marcus Nispel’s 2009 remake being the last production to find its way out of the lake and into the light. Now, audiences can expect something completely different and fresh in the Crystal Lake series, which will center on the character first made famous by Betsy Palmer. Despite there being 12 titles in the film series, fans haven’t heard from poor old Pamela Vorhees since the original movie, so we can expect a juicy backstory to be uncovered when Crystal Lake eventually arrives on Peacock.

As of right now, no release window has been set for Crystal Lake, but stay tuned to Collider for more information.