Evil Dead Rise: Bruce Campbell Confirms He Won’t Appear in New Sequel

With the 2013 reboot of Evil Dead, fans were well aware that the project was a revival of the original concept as opposed to being a continuation of the franchise, though star of the original trilogy Bruce Campbell made a post-credits appearance as a silhouette saying “groovy,” yet he recently confirmed that he won’t be appearing in the upcoming Evil Dead Rise. While this might be a disappointment to some fans, Campbell has been vocal about stepping away from the role of Ash Williams back since 2018, so while he’s serving as a producer on the upcoming installment, fans shouldn’t even expect any sort of cameo in the new installment.

“I won’t be appearing in it, no,” Campbell confirmed with Entertainment Weekly. “I’ll be in the upcoming Evil Dead game, which I think is due for February 2022. I just finished the voice for that. The nice thing is, your voice doesn’t age as much as your body, so I can milk that for a few more years.”

Campbell starred as Ash in The Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2, and Army of Darkness, ultimately returning to the role for three seasons of the TV series Ash vs. Evil Dead. When that series concluded, Campbell shared a photo from the set confirming he was “hanging up his chainsaw.” Despite his lack of on-screen involvement, he’s working with original director Sam Raimi and original producer Rob Tapert to develop this upcoming film, which comes from filmmaker Lee Cronin.

Cronin may have been handpicked for the opportunity, having won over the series creators, yet the setting of the film is heading into uncharted territory and will unfold in an urban setting. Despite this environmental shift, Campbell also detailed how the Necronomicon will still play a key component in the narrative.

“People can actually call it what [they] want: sequel, remake, reimagining. It really is just another Evil Dead movie,” Campbell pointed out. “It’s book-centric. It’s all about [the Necronomicon]. Where does this book wind up and what happens to it over the millennia? In this case, it’s set in the city, it’s no more cabin in the woods. It’s entirely different, unsuspecting heroines who are going to save the day. It’s filming now in New Zealand, with some of their amazing crews down there and they’re well into it. Rob Tapert is the hands-on producer and we’re all very involved in the script. We all jump in at various times to chime in. But, yeah, the three of us are very involved.”

Stay tuned for details on Evil Dead Rise.

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