Bryan Fuller Out as Showrunner for Crystal Lake Series

Fans of Hannibal who were looking forward to seeing the same inspired vision brought to their favorite slasher, Jason Voorhees, in A24 and Peacock’s Crystal Lake prequel series may be in a state of distress. Showrunner and producer Bryan Fuller has announced on Instagram that he is no longer affiliated with the upcoming series.

After overzealous reports initially were posted by Jeff Sneider of The InSneider Monday night and rabid fans on social media ran with the news. This resulted in a number of false posts and crazy theories, as is the norm in today’s social media generation. Hundreds of posts were saying, with no official statement, that A24 had pulled the plug on the project — which has been met with a love/hate attitude from fans.

It turns out that most of what was being “reported” was untrue, or at least, misinterpreted. Fuller, who served as executive producer and showrunner for the series, finally decided to clear the air with an Instagram post last night.

Fuller’s exit seems to be based on creative differences, since he states the studio “elected to go a different way with the material.” Many fans were looking forward to what Fuller could bring to the Voorhees backstory while crafting an in-depth prequel series surrounding Jason and his over-protective mother, Pamela. The additional facts that original star Adrienne King was confirmed as a major cast member, as well as Victor Miller’s involvement as a producer and Kevin Williamson rumored to be writing at least one episode just fed the fan fires of excitement.

Fuller was the creator and showrunner for Hannibal, which only aired for three seasons on NBC from 2013-15. Faced with a ton of preemptive skepticism about how he could craft a world before Red Dragon for Dr. Hannibal Lecter and FBI Special Agent Will Graham to inhabit, Fuller delivered one of the best horror series in history and shocked audiences with the amount of grotesque imagery he was allowed to get away with on network television at the time. For Fuller to bring that creative vision to the world of Friday the 13th was exciting for fans, but seems to have been more of a challenge for the creators.

A24 and Peacock are currently looking for a new showrunner to take the helm of the production and lead it down the path they want to see, creatively. For now, Crystal Lake is STILL in pre-production, but we will stay alert for updates as they are available.