New Evil Dead film starring Ash? Sequel to Evil Dead remake still alive?
Only minutes ago, I wrote about the start of production on Ash Vs. Evil Dead, the 10-episode series debuting on Starz this fall. And while there are plenty of intriguing details to sift through there – and more to come – even more was revealed during a conference call with Evil Dead Heads Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell and Robert Tapert. The focus here is on the EVIL DEAD “cinematic universe”. (Hey, that term applies to every other movie franchise, why not here?)
One question I had for the team concerned the long-rumored sequel to the EVIL DEAD remake. Last we heard (exclusively here on AITH), actress Jane Levy was convinced it wasn’t happening. But Raimi has other thoughts:
I love the Evil Dead remake, I think Fede Alvarez did a brilliant job, with Rob producing and Bruce also helping. I love that movie, and I hope there will be a sequel. After we made this movie, as much as the fans loved it, they also seemed to want to see Bruce again. So we thought, this is the time, if we’re ever going to do it, now is a good time and television seems like an interesting format to take it forward in. We chose to make Bruce story right now, but we hope we can get Fede back to continue the new Evil Dead series once we re-establish Bruce’s story.
Raimi obviously likes Alvarez’s vision and just as obviously believes there’s still room for another EVIL DEAD flick taking place in the world he created.
But what about seeing Ash again on the big screen? Another journalist on the conference call wondered if Ash Vs. Evil Dead could potentially lead to a new EVIL DEAD film starring Ash himself. Bruce Campbell, in no uncertain terms, is definitely down with the idea, regardless if the TV show is a success or not:
It’s a possibility no matter what happens, because I think we always want to keep that ability in the back of our minds to tell a story on the big old screen. Nothing will preclude anything, regardless of what happens. We made the movies over a 12 year period and the last one was over 24 years ago, but I think in the back of our minds we always want that ability to do that.
Naturally, this is all talk right now, but fascinating talk nonetheless. It sure would be weird to live in a world where there’s an Evil Dead TV series, a new Evil Dead movie starring Ash and a sequel to the Evil Dead remake. But what a world that would be!