Spanning across decades, various platforms, and at least two different universes of continuity, the Evil Dead franchise is still well beloved by the fandom that made it popular in the ‘80s, and kept it alive into the modern day.
Series’ creator Sam Raimi, knows this fact extremely well. And just like those fans that helped rocket his career into horror genre history, he too would like to see a sequel in some shape or form. Raimi revealed this intention, and the talks he’s currently having, below:
I’d love to make another one. I don’t think TV is in its future but we’re talking about – Bruce[Campbell], Rob [Tapert] and myself – one or two different ways to go for the next movie. We’d like to make another Evil Dead feature and in fact we’re working on some ideas right now.
Sam Raimi is certainly busy at the moment, what with his producer duties on Crawl bringing him into the spotlight to discuss this current film. That almost seems like an open invitation to discuss the man’s legacy horror title, which not only gave his career a boost, but also saw Bruce Campbell come into prominence as a genre favorite actor.
It certainly isn’t the first time that the Evil Dead series has been talked about in terms of how it would continue in a more modern context. Recent experiences certainly support Raimi’s ruling out TV as a possible avenue, as the Starz show Ash vs. The Evil Dead has already worn that path down with its cancellation after three seasons.
Another interesting possibility that was brought up during his interview with Bloody-Disgusting is the fact that Sam Raimi mentioned Bruce Campbell as an involved party in these Evil Dead talks, and that he’s pretty much prepared for any contingency that could be offered. Which leads to those various options that were mentioned at this particular Crawl junket.
Those two different paths are pretty obvious, with Raimi also interested in trying to bring back director Fede Alvarez into the realm of the Evil Dead saga. With his 2013 legacyquel giving the franchise a much needed shot to the arm, there’s plenty of room to return to Jane Levy’s Mia, after the events of her run in with the Deadites. The director, who also saw success working with Levy in Don’t Breathe, certainly isn’t against jumping back in, as he’s said in the past.
Indeed, Fede Alvarez’s series would be a fantastic world to follow up on, but even Sam Raimi himself admits that the director’s career has taken off to such heights that it might not be easy. With Don’t Breathe 2 still on Fede Alvarez’s plate, and his first taste of tentpole franchise work coming in last year’s The Girl In The Spider’s Web, there’s certainly a demand for the man’s work. Which allows the second possibility to emerge, in which Bruce Campbell somehow rescinds his retirement notice, and comes back to the role of Ash once again.
That’s a scenario that’s a bit wishy, washy, despite the newer Evil Dead film closing on a post-credits stinger that would saw Bruce Campbell’s Ash returning to say “Groovy” to the delight of fans far and wide. The cancellation of Ash vs. The Evil Dead seemed to break his heart in such a way that unless it was in a much less intensive context, like say a video game DLC character, he wouldn’t want to return to Ash any time soon.
Yet Bruce Campbell’s friendship with Sam Raimi seems strong enough that, should the right idea come along, he’d probably want to jump in and do justice to the character he originated in 1981’s The Evil Dead. Again, Bruce Campbell has made remarks that sound like he’d easily hand the role over to another actor, but when your good friend is trying to get the band back together for another ride into the sunset, it’s kind of hard not to at least hear them out.
Should either the Campbell or the Alvarez options not work out, there seems to be a third, more secretive option to resurrect the Evil Dead franchise. No details were given on what that would entail, however Sam Raimi did drop this final juicy tidbit as a closer:
So I think you may see some action on the Evil Dead movie in the next six months.
Six months would mean that by time 2020 is ready to get rolling into a new year, we might just have a new evil to look forward to in the future of the Evil Dead universe; no matter who it sees as its lead. With Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert this excited to get things off the ground, it sounds like nothing in Heaven, Hell, or Earth will be able to stop them. Though Hollywood may have something to say about that, so we’ll keep our ears open for any further developments.
Crawl is in theaters now, with 2013’s Evil Dead currently on all home video platforms.
This poll is no longer available.
