Sam Raimi directed the first three films in the Evil Dead series, produced the remake, and co-created the TV series Ash vs. Evil Dead, with the director recently admitting that he’d love to direct a new film in the franchise, though only if star Bruce Campbell reprises his role of Ash Williams. While these comments are surely exciting for fans, Campbell claims he has permanently retired from the role following the conclusion of Ash vs. Evil Dead, likely dashing all hopes of such a project ever moving forward. Campbell still remains invested in the series, as he, along with Raimi, is developing a new film with a new filmmaker, though it won’t be a continuation of any former entries in the series.
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“Bruce, Rob [Tapert], and I are working with a young filmmaker who is writing a new Evil Dead story that he will direct,” Raimi shared on Reddit. “As for me…. I would love to direct a new Evil Dead movie… but I’d really like to do it with Bruce. And he says he’s retired the character. I hope not.”
Raimi, Campbell, and Tapert delivered audiences The Evil Dead in 1981, igniting a sensation in the horror community. The final film in that trilogy, Army of Darkness, landed in 1992, though a series of comic books and video games continued the adventures of Campbell’s Ash. In 2013, Fede Alvarez delivered a reboot of the premise, but, despite its accomplishments, fans found it hard to connect with the adventure without the Ash character. Luckily, while we weren’t given a new movie featuring the character, Ash vs. Evil Dead earned 30 episodes, exceeding the lengths of whatever a new movie could have accomplished.
“People should be kissing Starz’s ass, because it is the only outlet that would let us have a little bit of creative control, but also, it’s unrated,” Campbell pointed out to ComicBook.com in 2018. “This is uncut. We had to probably scale down for some countries who couldn’t take the full monty, but this is unrated television, and for the uber Evil Dead fan, man, it isn’t going to get any better than that. If this was on AMC, Ash would be going, ‘Gosh golly, what’s going on over there?’”
He added, “With a TV series, they commit to doing a full season, then another full season, and so, as far as page count, time spent with Ash, this is the only way to do it, and as an actor, now we can really dig at the character. You can spend time with him. With a movie, you got to tell the plot, they get very plot-oriented, but with a TV show, you can actually go, ‘Okay, Ash has a daughter. What the hell’s that like?’ He’s like the worst dad ever, but trying to be the greatest dad ever.”
While we won’t count on a new film featuring Campbell moving forward, we can at least be excited that a new filmmaker will put their spin on the franchise.
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