Crystal Lake Lets the Snake Live to Right an Old Wrong

A snake gets to live this time in Crystal Lake, and that choice is deliberate.

Creator Brad Caleb Kane said the moment in the first episode is a direct nod to a trained snake that was actually killed while filming the original 1980 Friday the 13th, as reported by Deadline. It is a small scene with a long memory.

In the episode, Pamela Voorhees, played by Linda Cardellini, finds a snake in the camp pantry and sets it free. Kane said no animals were harmed in the making of Crystal Lake. That is the reversal.

The original scene played very differently. In the 1980 film, helmed by Sean S. Cunningham, campers Alice and Bill discover a snake inside a cabin. Alice is played by Adrienne King and Bill is played by Harry Crosby, who kills the snake with a machete. A domesticated bull snake was killed in real life to shoot that moment.

Crystal Lake is an eight-part prequel series, meaning a story set before the earlier films, that retells Jason Voorhees' origin story, according to Yahoo. It streams on Peacock and premieres on October 15, Peacock has confirmed. The story picks up with Pam Voorhees struggling to grieve after her son Jason drowned the summer before.

Kane created the series and serves as executive producer and showrunner. It is co-produced by A24. Kane has described the show as not "quite a slasher" and as grounded in more reality. He is also the showrunner of It: Welcome to Derry.

For fans, this means the tribute will be easy to spot. One pantry door opens. One snake leaves alive.