Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash Almost Featured a Surprising Simpsons Cameo

The multi-franchise mash-up Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash, originally planned as a feature film before being cancelled and revived as a comic book, almost featured a cameo by yet another massive franchise…but rather than a slasher, this would have been a cartoon character. In a recently-unearthed 2011 interview, Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash writer Jeff Katz told the now-defunct Comic Related that the comic almost featured a very special Channel 6 news report from The Simpsons newscaster Kent Brockman. Katz did not go into detail as to what the sequence entailed, but said that it had been cut for space.

The conversation came up in a “commentary track”-style interview for Booster Gold #8, in which the this writer noted that in addition to that issue, a reference to The Simpsons had recently popped up in a novelization of Crisis on Infinite Earth, a comic that took place well before The Simpsons debuted.

“We had Kent Brockman getting killed in Freddy Vs. Jason Vs. Ash, but had to cut him for space,” Katz told me.

Based on the original Freddy vs. Jason 2 film treatment by Katz, Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash was published as a cooperation between DC’s Wildstorm imprint and Dynamite Entertainment. The comics themselves were written by James Kuhoric and illustrated by Jason Craig. The pair reteamed on Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: The Nightmare Warriors, a sequel comic, a year later.

After dozens of drafts of Freddy vs. Jason, the movie finally got made in 2003, and was a huge box office success. New Line Cinema immediately started developing a follow-up, with the idea of adding Ash Williams form the Evil Dead franchise to the mix. It went into development, with recurring characters from all three franchises showing up to support the slashers, but ultimately failed to come together. The official story is that there were creative differences between New Line and actor Bruce Campbell, who plays Ash, although even Freddy vs. Jason barely happened as a result of constant changes ordered by the various cooks in the corporate kitchen. 

In the years since, both A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th had poorly-received reboots. The Evil Dead got a reboot that did alright, and a follow-up TV series set in the continuity of the original Evil Dead movies and starring Campbell as Ash Williams.

The Simpsons, of course, is eternal. Watch it Sundays on Fox.