Last July, filmmaker Sam Raimi provided a bit of an update about what the future might hold in the world of his legendary franchise, “Evil Dead.” He teased a couple of new projects, and he wished for his star Bruce Campbell to return to the role of Ash. Raimi finished by saying that we’d likely hear some news in six months. Well, as we are now in 2020, it’s been roughly six months, and guess what? Raimi is back with some “Evil Dead” news. Unfortunately, it may not be as definite as fans were hoping.
While promoting the release of the new horror film, “The Grudge,” which the filmmaker produced, Raimi took the time to answer some questions over on Reddit. And as you might expect, it didn’t take long before someone asked him about the status of “Evil Dead” and what the future might bring.
“Bruce, Rob [Tapert] and I are working with a young filmmaker who is writing a new ‘Evil Dead’ story that he will direct,” Raimi replied. “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.”
As mentioned above, after the conclusion of the series “Ash vs. the Evil Dead,” the future of the franchise remained in limbo. However, it does appear that the plan of developing multiple films has been changed slightly, with the focus being whatever this new film looks like.
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Back in 2013, Raimi teamed with director Fede Alvarez to reboot “Evil Dead” and that film not only launched Alvarez into the director conversation but also provided a decent enough entry point for future films. It sure does sound like whatever this new “story” is, it’s probably something tangential to the reboot and the classic film franchise.
So, while we don’t have specifics yet, it does appear that Raimi is making good on his promise to bring back “Evil Dead” in film form. Just whether that includes Bruce Campbell or Raimi himself behind the camera, is still up in the air.