How Betsy Palmer 'flipped the script' in Friday the 13th horror classic

Jorge SolisSat, October 10, 2026 at 9:00 AM UTC

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Betsy Palmer originally played Pamela Voorhees -Credit:Getty Images (Getty Images)

In under 20 minutes, actress Betsy Palmer stole the show as Pamela Voorhees, the true antagonist of the original Friday the 13th movie.

With the premiere set for October 15, Peacock will stream Crystal Lake, the prequel series based on the Friday the 13th film franchise. Freaks and Geeks actress Linda Cardellini stepped into the role of Pamela, originally played by Palmer in 1980. In the horror/drama, Pamela is left grief-stricken after a seemingly fatal accident at a summer camp claimed her one and only son, Jason Voorhees.

Just like in the original Friday the 13th, Pamela unleashes her wrath on the unsuspecting counselors at Camp Crystal Lake. This came after the Viewfinder director was ready to make viewers "laugh, cry, and scream" at the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival.

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In the first Scream installment, the Ghostface killer threatened Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore) and asked her, "Name the killer in Friday the 13th?" Casey screamed out, "Jason!" and got the answer wrong.

Unfortunately, pop culture has recognized only Jason Voorhees, the machete-wielding, hockey-masked slasher, as the franchise's antagonist, overlooking Pamela. Jason's mother is the killer in the original film that was released on May 9, 1980.

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Adrienne King and Betsy Palmer in a scene from Friday the 13th -Credit:Paramount Pictures/Warner Bros. Entertainment

Friday the 13th follows a group of young camp counselors as they attempt to reopen the abandoned Camp Crystal Lake. The camp shut down because Jason drowned when the counselors were negligent.

After a long history of unsolved murders and fires, Crystal Lake has been referred to as Camp Blood by the frightened residents, who believe the grounds are cursed. They believe Jason has risen from the grave to seek revenge.

Pamela Voorhees (Betsy Palmer) confesses to the murders in Friday the 13th -Credit:Paramount Pictures/Warner Bros. Entertainment

After the other camp counselors are slaughtered one by one by an unseen assailant, Alice Hardy (Adrienne King) crosses paths with Pamela, who confesses to committing the murders to avenge Jason's childhood drowning. Pamela is also responsible for the previous murders and fires whenever someone attempts to rebuild Camp Crystal Lake.

Palmer revealed in July 2021 that she gave a detailed backstory, which is not in the screenplay, to her character. Pamela was ostracized by her friends and family because she was an unwed teenager pregnant with a child. The actress wanted the audience to understand "why she did it."

"I approached this character as I always approach everything, as being an actress," Palmer told Joblo. "And that these people have lives before they come on the screen or before they come on stage. And you make it for yourself; that doesn’t have anything to do with whether the writers are involved or not.

Betsy Palmer revealed she gave backstory to Pamela's grief -Credit:MediaPunch via Getty Images

"You’re given some specifics with which you can make a character happen. And that was how I justified this high school pregnancy thing that I made for myself," the actress added and mentioned that Pamela "didn’t tell her family until she began to show her pregnancy, maybe in the seventh month."

She went on, "Her father throws her out and banishes her forever. She goes to the Salvation Army, because I used to do a lot of work with the Army, and so she went to a home for unwed mothers which the Army has. She has the baby and eventually came to this camp so he could be with other children.

"Why do you love her so much? They say, because we understand why she did it. You see? There you are. So it pays off to always be honest no matter what the role is that you’re doing," she finished.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”