Bruce Campbell will always be associated with Ash Williams from The Evil Dead. From the series’ splattered beginnings in the 1980s through to the bizarre yet awesome medieval spoof The Army of Darkness, through various spinoff videogames and, most recently, to the sleeper hit Ash vs. Evil Dead. There’s just something about his goofy, matinee idol looks and famously prominent chin that makes him the perfect foil for the deadite hordes.
But now, if we’re reading this interview that Campbell did with SYFY Wire right, Ash might be gone for good. When the outlet asked him a question beginning with, “When you hang up that chainsaw for the last time and Ash is gone, you’re moving on…” Campbell interrupted them with, “Who says I haven’t?”
When pressed on this, he added, “We finished season three of Ash vs Evil Dead. At the end of that season, it could go anywhere or nowhere. If we don’t get renewed for season four, Ash could suddenly die of a massive heart attack. It’s happened…”
Say it ain’t so!
I’ve had a serious soft spot for Bruce Campbell’s Ash ever since a friend in school breathlessly described what he’d seen in his older brother’s VHS copy of Evil Dead II – “and then his hand gets possessed and then he cuts it off and it runs around and he shoots it with a shotgun and then makes a chainsaw hand for himself!”
It’s a rare film that could live up to that, but Evil Dead II does so and more. Ash vs. Evil Dead, meanwhile, has been a wonderful showcase for Campbell’s many talents and a great tribute to Sam Raimi’s awesome trilogy. Here’s hoping this is just Bruce Campbell blowing smoke up our collective asses. After all, I really don’t want to live in an Ash-less world – do you?
