As the Friday the 13th movie series wore on, Jason Voorhees found himself in some rather bizarre situations ranging from Manhattan to outer space. Still, nothing we’ve seen from the franchise would be quite as crazy as these five nearly-made sequels, which were all abandoned prior to production – for better or for worse.
5Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning: Part 2
Plans were constantly changing behind the scenes from one Friday the 13th sequel to the next. When Jason was killed at the end of The Final Chapter, Paramount was serious about keeping the character deceased. Director Danny Steinmann was told by the studio when he signed on for the fifth movie that he could not bring Jason back, leading to the controversial twist ending which reveals paramedic Roy Burns to be the real killer. This workaround kept Jason dead while still having a man in a hockey mask dicing up teenagers just as the real Jason would have.
Another stipulation given to Steinmann by the studio was that the film needed to set up Tommy Jarvis as the new killer of the franchise. This is why the epilogue for A New Beginning shows Tommy donning the hockey mask on himself, preparing to murder Pam. Originally, the plan from Paramount was to start Part VI where Part V leaves off, with Tommy now serving as the full-fledged antagonist of the film.
According to Pam’s actress Melanie Kinnaman, Paramount had spoken with her about reprising the role of Pam for the sequel. While full details on the plot aren’t clear, Kinnaman says the film would have focused on Tommy going completely insane as a psychopathic killer, with Pam “trying to bring him back from the brink.” It’s not clear if Tommy would have also worn a hockey mask like Jason and Roy before him, but considering the ending of Part V, that seems rather likely.
Of course, A New Beginning didn’t quite reach the levels of success the studio had been hoping for. Fans were very unhappy about Jason Voorhees being replaced with a copycat killer, and plans then changed to bring back the real Jason for Jason Lives. While the film could have been an interesting foray into psychological horror, resurrecting Jason was undoubtedly the most profitable decision for Paramount to make.
Related Article: The Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning Quiz
