Over 40 years after Betsy Palmer first portrayed Pamela Voorhees as Friday the 13th‘s original killer, Linda Cardellini is taking on the role and exploring the character’s backstory. Peacock’s Crystal Lake delves deeper into Pamela’s story than the 1980 film, focusing on her connection to Jason and the grief and rage that ultimately consume her.
During a roundtable at TIFF 2026, attended by Horror Geek Life’s Jeff Fountain, Linda Cardellini discussed honoring Palmer without imitating her iconic performance. From wearing Pamela’s knit sweater to physically unleashing the character’s suppressed rage, Cardellini revealed how Crystal Lake allowed her to honor the franchise’s past while exploring dimensions of Pamela that the movies never had the chance to.
Cardellini said she “of course watched Betsy Palmer” to prepare for the role. She added, “But you can’t do what Betsy did. That’s so her own, and I would never try to mimic her. But there are echoes of her in the performance, and there are lines that Brad [Caleb Kane] and I were sure to keep in and to reiterate… But the series goes so far beyond the little bit of time that we got to be with her… I would hope [it’s] an homage to her. But nobody can do what she did. It’s so singular and spectacular in the movie.”
That connection to Palmer’s performance became even more tangible when Cardellini put on Pamela’s unmistakable cable-knit sweater. The iconic piece of Friday the 13th history carries significance that extends beyond the original film. Cardellini said that putting on the sweater “was so great.” She continued, “Not only is that sweater important in one, but that sweater is important in [Friday the 13th Part] 2, when [Ginny] puts it on and pretends to be his mother. I mean, the sweater really has its own life.”
But taking on the role of Pamela Voorhees was more demanding than Cardellini expected. She admitted that “the release of the rage” took her by surprise, saying, “I hadn’t played anybody who had been able to release that rage like that.”
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“There’s a moment we shot — and there’s part of it on screen, but it was even longer when we shot it — after I do the first kill in the first episode,” Cardellini recalled.
“I had this scene where I just beat this bag, and every time I hit it, it was rigged to splash on me. Doing the scene, because it was so physical, and because I was so tired from shooting the scene, it was exhausting physically to do it. I never realized how much that physical exhaustion would add to the emotional exhaustion. I found myself sort of just screaming and weeping, hitting this bag because I was just physically tired. There was like a physical release at that moment that I had never anticipated.”
Cardellini’s performance maintains a clear connection to Palmer and the original film, while Crystal Lake also gives her the space to make Pamela her own.
The first two episodes of Crystal Lake premiered at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival. The A24-produced series debuts on Peacock on Oct. 15.
