Stephen King’s Friday the 13th Novel Would Have Saved The Series

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Iconic horror writer Stephen King’s proposed Friday the 13th novel «I Jason» will likely never happen, but the book is one of the only original takes on the slasher franchise that could have potentially reignited interest in the series. While later entries into the sub-genre relied on meta-humor and self-referential twists, the Friday the 13th franchise was not originally the most complex slasher series. Although Jason Voorhees is beloved by many fans of classic corny horror movies, the character is not a complicated figure who necessarily needs an in-depth backstory and much of his appeal comes from his brutal, uncomplicated efficiency.

However, author Stephen King revealed that he once intended to write a novel that would have built on the mythos of the long-running slasher series, and his take on Friday the 13th franchise’s backstory sounds more intriguing than the upcoming It prequel TV series. According to a 2020 tweet by the best-selling author, King wanted to write aFriday the 13th novel titled “I Jason.” The pitch for the book is a killer one, even though issues with the rights of the Friday the 13th series mean that the novel will likely never see the light of day.

Related: How Friday the 13th Helped Shape The Scream Franchise

As pitched by King, “I Jason” was exactly what the title made the novel sound like. A Friday the 13th retelling from Jason’s perspective, “I Jason” would have reimagined the slasher series by depicting the villain’s experience of repeatedly dying and being resurrected in Camp Crystal Lake. However, King never even tried to pursue the pitch, presumably because the Friday the 13th franchise’s rights are entangled in an ongoing legal nightmare, meaning fans may never have seen this trippy