Sam Raimi has already hand-chosen a new director for the next Evil Dead movie. Raimi created the Evil Dead franchise back in 1978, when he wrote and directed a short film called Within the Woods. Three years later the short was adapted into a feature-length film with Bruce Campbell playing the now-iconic character of Ash Williams. Raimi went on to helm two more films in the series: Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness. 23 years later, Raimi and Campbell returned for an Evil Dead TV show called Ash vs. Evil Dead, which was canceled after three seasons.
After the cancellation of Ash vs Evil Dead, Cambell officially retired the character Ash Williams, but the Evil Dead franchise isn’t dead just yet. Back in July, Raimi revealed that he was exploring ideas for a new Evil Dead movie, but details on the film have been incredibly scarce thus far. Raimi later explained that while they are making another Evil Dead movie, Campbell won’t be starring in the picture, but rather just producing the film. Virtually nothing is known about the movie as of right now, but Campbell has shed some light on the project.
In a video recorded by Craig Semon (hat tip Bloody Disgusting), Campbell said that Raimi has already hand-chosen a director for the next Evil Dead movie. The news came after Campbell talked about the upcoming Evil Dead project during a panel at the Rock and Shock festival in Massachusetts. Campbell not only revealed that the film will have a new director, but also talked about the franchise continuing without Ash. Campbell’s full quote can be read below:
Ash has always been a big part of the Evil Dead franchise, but the series also got a reboot in 2013 from director Fede Álvarez. The film received mostly positive reviews, even though it focused on an entirely new set of characters. Despite the success of the film, a sequel was put on the backburner, likely because of the development of Ash vs. Evil Dead. However, Álvarez has remained optimistic about the sequel over the years. This new Evil Dead project could be a sequel to the 2013 reboot, but based on Campbell’s comments, it doesn’t look like Álvarez would be returning to direct.
“It’s okay to pass it along to another idiot to try and stop evil from destroying the world. One idiot tried – he did pretty good. It’s time to let other innocent people with no skills try to save the world. And there’s more stories to tell. So we think we have a cool premise. We have a new filmmaker that Sam Raimi has hand chosen. So he’s very involved in it. Will be involved in the story. And we’ll try and make sure the actors don’t completely suck. And then we’re gonna make another one, yeah. There’s lots of stories…creepy books…lots of people to torment.”
While Evil Dead 2 might be in the cards, it’s also possible that Raimi could be creating a story with an entirely new set of characters or even a tale about a different possessed book. Raimi could even remake the original film with a different actor playing Ash, but that likely wouldn’t go over well with long-time fans of the franchise. Regardless of what Raimi is planning for the next Evil Dead movie, horror buffs will certainly be happy to be getting more deadites in the near future.
More: What Happened Between Army Of Darkness And Ash vs. Evil Dead
Source: Bloody Disgusting (via: Craig Semon)
