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Peacock is finally speaking up about Crystal Lake’s success, and these numbers give Jason fans a reason to get excited.
According to Variety, the Friday the 13th prequel amassed 1.3 billion minutes watched in its first 11 days, landing as Peacock’s fourth-biggest scripted original debut. Those figures come from NBCUniversal’s internal reporting.
The company is celebrating the online conversation, too. TheWrap reports 1.8 billion earned social impressions in the first 24 hours and more than 7.6 million video views across its first 11 days, citing Sprout social data.
You’re welcome, Peacock and A24.
We’ve talked about Crystal Lake at length here on Dread Central, with several of our stories going completely viral and helping keep the conversation going. And there has been plenty to argue about.
I’ve said this multiple times, but you’re allowed to dislike the new origins and mythology injected into the series and still enjoy it. Crystal Lake is pretty good. It has some wonderful performances, especially Linda Cardellini (The Curse of La Llorona) as Pamela Voorhees, and I’d quite like to see these characters evolve through another season.
Our own Daniel Kurland gave the first season 3.5 out of 5 in his review, calling it “a campy, cruel love letter to ‘80s slashers.” We might disagree on some of the bigger swings, but there’s plenty here worth continuing.
So, is a Season 2 announcement imminent? That’s the hope. These numbers are encouraging, and Peacock making a point of celebrating them feels like a good sign. It isn’t a renewal announcement, though.
As we reported today, showrunner Brad Caleb Kane believes a second season could deliver more “Jason carnage,” telling TVLine that “the handcuffs are off in a good way.” With the origin established, there’s room to let Jason loose.
Spoilers for the first season follow.
What interests me most is watching him eventually work his way toward the hockey mask. Crystal Lake takes place before the main events of the original Friday the 13th (1980), but it has rewritten enough of the history, deaths, and characters that I wouldn’t approach it as a completely faithful bridge into that movie. It feels like they’re starting anew and taking the story in their own direction.
That means Jason’s path to the mask could look very different this time. Whatever my problems with the first season’s mythology, I’m curious to see how they get there.
So let’s tell Peacock and A24 that we want more. Hopefully, the renewal comes as quickly as it did for Carrie. I’d love to spend October 2028 having a whole new batch of Jason conversations. That’s a wish, not a release date.
All eight episodes of Crystal Lake are streaming on Peacock.
Categorized:News Streaming / Home Video