Bruce Campbell recently announced he's done playing the iconic role of Ash Williams, so what does that mean for the future of the Evil Dead franchise? Hopefully, not much, at least if Campbell gets his way. The actor knows that franchise reboots are all the rage these days, and he'd be totally fine with seeing a younger actor take over the role of Ash. According to Campbell...
I'd be perfectly fine if they find some young Ash, do some new incarnation, let some other poor bastard get covered in blood. It's all good.
While not every actor gets excited when it turns out a character they once played is being recast, rebooted, or whatever, Bruce Campbell tells Entertainment Weekly that he has no problem if that happens to Ash. Campbell has been attached to the role for decades. Even during the period between the third film and the TV series Ash vs. Evil Dead where not much happened, the actor was still synonymous with the role, but he's clearly done with it now and if he's not using it, there's no reason somebody else can't.
In fact, not only is Bruce Campbell ok with somebody else taking over the Evil Dead universe, he's strongly in favor of the idea. He sees the potential of multiple new Evil Dead projects, including not just something new for Ash, but something more from the Ash-less Evil Dead remake from back in 2013.
I hope there are very many variations of Evil Dead. You've got the leftover characters from the series, you've got the characters from the remake that we did a few years ago. You can intersect universes.
It's a pretty safe bet that, one way or another the Evil Dead franchise will continue. It's a popular name with a lot of fans and those brands don't just disappear off the face of the earth. The only real questions are how long will it remain dormant and what form will it take when it comes back? The Evil Dead remake went with a somewhat different plan a couple years back by taking the basic premise of the original Sam Raimi horror movie and filling it with a new cast of characters. This was likely done, at least in part, to avoid having to recast Ash, especially when fans were still hoping to see Bruce Campbell in the role again. Now the handcuffs are off and recasting Ash Williams could very well happen.
Could we see a sequel to the remake that introduces Ash, or another reboot entirely? The former could theoretically happen quickly if somebody was so inclined, while the latter would probably need to wait to get some space between it and the 2013 remake. Either way, it sounds like it all has Bruce Campbell's blessing.
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