Despite his recent health issues, cinematic legend Bruce Campbell is currently making the press rounds, promoting his new (and sweet-looking) independent comedy Ernie & Emma. (Which Campbell wrote, directed, and starred in.) As with every press engagement he’ll do for the rest of his life, though, that has included fielding some inevitable questions about Ash Williams and the Evil Dead franchise—which Campbell is sounding pretty happy to be firmly behind the camera on these days.
For one thing, Campbell made it clear that his tiny voice cameo in 2023’s Evil Dead Riseis the most fans should expect from him at that point (even if director Lee Cronin has stated that he believes the character in question is a time-displaced Ash). Campbell (in conversation with the Detroit Free Press) noted that the franchise’s current goals, in the wake of TV series Ash Vs. Evil Dead ending back in 2018, have been pretty straightforward: “We moved away from the cabin, we’ve moved away from Sam Raimi, we’ve moved away from Ash and Bruce Campbell.” (Both Raimi and Campbell continue to serve as producers on the series, along with long-time collaborator Rob Tapert; Raimi has been instrumental in finding up-and-coming horror directors to induct into the series.) Given that Rise was the series’ most successful entry so far, Campbell sounded genuinely happy that “It validated the fact that we can get away from those main elements. You’ve got to find a new audience, because the original Evil Dead fans, you get some of them, you’re not going to get all of them, because they like those original elements. They like me and Sam and Ash and all that sort of crap.”
Campbell’s comments mirrored those he made to The A.V. Club back in 2023, when he noted that, when it came to long hours in the makeup chair or on set for grueling horror work, “I’m done. That box is so checked you can’t even imagine.”
Evil Dead currently has two new installments in the works: Evil Dead Wrath, directed by Last Stop In Yuma County‘s Francis Galluppi, reportedly wrapped filming last month, but won’t be in theaters until April 2028; Evil Dead Burn, from Infested‘s Sébastien Vaniček, hits theaters next month.
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