When Freddy vs. Jason stormed theaters in 2003, it not only gave moviegoers the death match they’d been waiting what felt like an eternity to see, but it also marked the end of a decade-long journey of making the film a reality. Despite it being a reasonable box office success for New Line though, it was never granted a cinematic sequel (more on that later) as both individual franchises had become accustomed to.
Still, that doesn’t mean there weren’t plans to do such a thing. In fact, you’re probably well aware that studios love to up the ante in followups, and in this case, the intention was to go with what pro wrestling fans would know as a “triple threat match” in the form of Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash.
Now, here’s where it gets interesting. The folks over at Bloody Disgusting recently got their hands on an old internal memo circulated between New Line Cinema big wigs dated October 30, 2003. As it turns out, it was titled, “ROUND TWO: FREDDY VS. JASON – ‘Why Ash Works,‘” and was sent by Jeff Katz and Stokely Chaffin to Toby Emmerich. Let it be known that Katz was the one who has since made these details public.
First, we’ll say that before Ash (Evil Dead) was settled on, the usual suspects consisting of Michael Myers, Pinhead, Leprechaun, Chucky and the Tall Man were all considered, but they “flat out [don’t] fit in the Freddy and Jason worlds.” While many of you could debate that endlessly, we can probably all agree that Ash would bring something to the table that the rest couldn’t.
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s discuss what’ll really knock your socks off. Apparently, Robert Englund was said to have grown tired of the Freddy role and thought this proposed movie would be a fine time to bow out, something he ultimately never got to do in a ceremonious sense.
Here’s the part of the document that stands a chance at breaking the internet:
“Per our conversations with him [Englund] in the past, he agrees that the fans will embrace and accept the idea of Ash killing off our burned villain for good, as opposed to their reaction should a 16-year-old virgin girl do the job (again).”
As you know by now, each respective franchise ended up branching in their own directions, thus this never came to fruition. Interestingly enough, the memo mentioned an Elm Street prequel being kicked around, but a full-on remake instead saw release in 2010.
Still, if you want an idea of what could have been, a Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash comic book miniseries was released in 2007, though it’s certainly not comparable to what the movie would’ve been.