‘Evil Dead’ Star Bruce Campbell Supports Re-casting Ash

During a new interview, Evil Dead franchise star Bruce Campbell told Entertainment Weekly that he would like to see a younger actor take on the role of Ash Williams if the franchise were to continue.

The Evil Dead became a cult classic, launching the careers of Campbell as well as director Sam Raimi, who would go on to make movies like Spider-Man and Oz, The Great and Powerful. Campbell used to say that he would play the role forever, but after Starz cancelled Ash vs. Evil Dead last season, he officially retired from the part that launched his career in 1981.

“I’d be perfectly fine if they find some young Ash, do some new incarnation, let some other poor bastard get covered in blood,” said Campbell. “I hope there are very many variations of Evil Dead. You’ve got the leftover characters from the series, you’ve got the characters from the remake that we did a few years ago. You can intersect universes.”

Campbell made an uncredited cameo in 2013’s Evil Dead remake, which incorporated elements of the first film into its world but followed an all-new group of protagonists. The movie was not the smash Sony and TriStar had hoped for, and after it limped out of theaters, there were rumors of an Army of Darkness 2 with Raimi and Campbell returning, potentially either instead of or running parallel to another movie starring the new Evil Dead cast. Neither materialized, although the Army of Darkness 2 idea eventually morphed into Ash vs. Evil Dead and ran for three seasons.

In terms of feature films, Campbell’s career as Ash spanned The Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2 as wel as Army of Darkness. For years, Army of Darkness 2 rumors circulated but the film never went into active development. At one point, a Jason vs. Freddy vs. Ash screenplay made the rounds in Hollywood, and while that movie did not happen, it was eventually turned into a comic by Dynamite Entertainment.

It could be argued that always holding out for more Ash from Campbell hurt the remake, as it forced the screenwriters to replace its main character, rather than recast Ash and ruin any hopes of a full-on revival.