Betsy Palmer was 52 when she played Pamela Voorhees in the original Friday the 13th, filmed in 1979 just before her 53rd birthday and released in 1980. Linda Cardellini was 49 to 50 when she took on a younger version of the character in the 2026 Crystal Lake prequel series, with her 50th birthday happening during filming in 2025.
Both were nearly the same age when they stepped into the role, yet they were depicting Pamela at completely different points in her story.
Palmer, a veteran stage and television actress and longtime game-show panelist who initially took the part mainly to pay for a new car, appears late in the 1980 film with limited screen time. She delivers a theatrical, suddenly unhinged performance that became iconic, especially the chilling “Kill her, Mommy” monologue in which she channels Jason’s voice.
Cardellini is playing Pamela years earlier, in an expanded origin story set in the 1970s, tracing the grief, isolation, and rage that lead her to become the fully formed killer Palmer portrayed.
She has been clear that she watched Palmer’s performance and deliberately avoided trying to copy it, calling it singular and undeniable, while still including deliberate nods (most notably the blue knit sweater). The result is a more grounded, psychological descent that shows how that woman got there.
Palmer originated and defined the character in one unforgettable burst. Cardellini is showing the tragedy and the path that made her, treating the original as an irreplaceable foundation.
