Evil Dead fans got some bittersweet news last year when horror icon Bruce Campbell announced that Evil Dead Rise is finally happening at the same time as he ruled himself out of returning as chainsaw-handed Deadite ass-kicker Ash Williams.
That didn’t come as a huge surprise as Campbell said he would retire from the role after Ash vs. Evil Dead was tragically canceled. Despite that, some were still holding out hope that he’d make a cameo appearance in Evil Dead Rise, as he did in the closing moments of the 2013 reboot.
But now it seems that there’s a ray of light for Campbell’s Ash. In an interview with OK! Magazine, he was asked whether he’d considered playing an animated take on the character. He responded positively: “I can do the voice.”
Sadly there’s no Evil Dead animated show in production, though the kinetic and cartoony nature of the movies means it’d be a great fit for the medium.
In the meantime, Evil Dead Rise is coming next year. The synopsis reveals that this will be a departure for the franchise, taking the action “away from the cabin in the woods and into the city”, with the story centered on estranged sisters whose reunion is ruined by the arrival of flesh-possessing demons. The cast includes Gabrielle Echols (Reminiscence), Morgan Davies (The End), Nell Fisher (Splendid Isolation), Alyssa Sutherland (Vikings), and Lily Sullivan (Picnic at Hanging Rock).
Campbell is a producer on the movie and has hyped it up in interviews, saying:
“People can actually call it what [they] want: Sequel, remake, reimagining. It really is just another Evil Dead movie. It’s book-centric. It’s all about the Necronomicon. Where does this book wind up and what happens to it over the millennia?
In this case, it’s set in the city, it’s no more cabin in the woods. It’s entirely different, unsuspecting heroines who are going to save the day. It’s filming now in New Zealand, with some of their amazing crews down there and they’re well into it. Rob Tapert is the hands-on producer and we’re all very involved in the script. We all jump in at various times to chime in.”
Evil Dead Rise will premiere on October 22, 2022. Here’s hoping we see a teaser trailer very soon.
