Evil Dead Rise Director Addresses Franchise’s Future and Possible Prequel (Exclusive)

Evil Dead Rise is set to be unleashed on audiences this weekend, and with producer and original star Bruce Campbell recently claiming that he could see new installments be released every few years, fans are wondering about what the future holds for the franchise. Director Lee Cronin recently addressed that he loved working on the new film and that he already has some ideas for a possible continuation, including the backstory of the film’s Necronomicon, but that he also has plenty of his own ideas for original films unrelated to a major franchise. Evil Dead Rise lands in theaters on April 21st.

“I think everything’s on the table at a point like this. My focus right now is finishing what’s been an amazing promotional tour and whirlwind of getting to talk and share the process of making the movie and my opinions on it,” Cronin shared with ComicBook.com about the series’ future. “And I think from there it’s like, let’s see how audiences really react to it. I definitely have got stories that I feel like I could tell inside this universe. But equally, I think as I’ve proven with this, I’m also a filmmaker with my own voice. I’m not there to necessarily serve a continuing narrative all the time and probably have made a movie for me in terms of my taste that’s right at the edge, intensity-wise, because I think if I pushed it any further, it becomes something that isn’t me or that I’d want to make.”

He added, “So I may look to go and do something tonally quite different next before I go back and try and push those same buttons again. But look, I’m a fan and a filmmaker and I feel a sense of ownership over those characters and the new direction for Evil Dead, so I’m definitely open-minded to looking at more.”

While fans are interested in the future of the franchise, they’ll also be intrigued by the events that led to how the Necronomicon came to be in the location where it was discovered in Evil Dead Rise.

“One of the things I remember speaking about on set a couple of times, I do have this gentle notion or idea of the fact that, if you listen very closely to what’s happened with the story of the priest, with Littleton, which is he’s presented the book to his peers and the danger of it that has seen his studies be rejected and he’s carried them out in private and he’s unleashed all hell and possessed a lot of people,” Cronin expressed of a possible prequel. “I do have a dream of a movie where, after the vinyl, in terms of what Beth listens to, is Littleton’s attempt to escape the evil that he’s unleashed inside this large, archaic seminary. A place full of priests, almost like a hundred possessed Deadite priests, and then one guy trying to escape, The Raid-style or John Wick meets Evil Dead vibes was something that could be really, really fun.”

He continued, “And then also, that’s not to say that the book was instantly buried at that point in time. There could be some other points in the timeline before the book actually ended up in the vault, even though it has been there for a very long time. There’s definitely backstory as much as there’s the opportunity for continuing story out of the survivors within Evil Dead Rise, whoever might come to the building to discover the carnage that’s been there. I always think about the clean-up crew and the tough job they’d have and what might happen, because I think what I’ve set up … The idea I love about Evil Dead, evil can’t quite be destroyed and it can reformat and find its evil energy and intent again. So yeah, backwards or forwards, I think there’s definite opportunities that can lead straight out of Evil Dead Rise rather than having to jump to a brand-new place again.”

Evil Dead Rise hits theaters on April 21st.

Would you like to see Cronin develop a new film for the series? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!