Sam Raimi Says Evil Dead Sequels May Still Happen

Work is underway on ‘Ash Vs The Evil Dead,’ the much-anticipated TV series which sees writer-director Sam Raimi, producer Rob Tapert and actor Bruce Campbell return to the horror franchise that launched them all: ‘The Evil Dead.’

This small screen revival would seem to take the place of a long-desired theatrical continuation of the original series, which we might have assumed had already been put to bed by the 2013 ‘Evil Dead’ reboot from director Fede Alvarez.

However, Raimi insists that further sequels to both the ‘Evil Dead’ remake and the original ‘Evil Dead’ movies (whose last entry was 1992′s ‘Army of Darkness’) are still a possibility.

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Speaking to Arrow in the Head, Raimi first addressed the lack of momentum on a follow-up film to the 2013 reboot:

“I love the Evil Dead remake, I think Fede Alvarez did a brilliant job, with Rob producing and Bruce also helping. I love that movie, and I hope there will be a sequel.

“After we made this movie, as much as the fans loved it, they also seemed to want to see Bruce again. So we thought, this is the time, if we’re ever going to do it, now is a good time and television seems like an interesting format to take it forward in.

“We chose to make Bruce's story right now, but we hope we can get Fede back to continue the new Evil Dead series once we re-establish Bruce’s story.”

Uruguayan director Alvarez made his feature debut with the ‘Evil Dead’ remake. He has since helmed an episode of 'From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series,’ and is reported to have an original sci-fi thriller in the works.

As for the chances of another cinematic outing for Bruce Campbell’s deadite-fighting hero Ash, Raimi says, “It’s a possibility no matter what happens, because I think we always want to keep that ability in the back of our minds to tell a story on the big old screen.

“Nothing will preclude anything, regardless of what happens. We made the movies over a 12 year period and the last one was over 24 years ago, but I think in the back of our minds we always want that ability to do that.”

These remarks will no doubt re-ignite fan talk of an overarching ‘Evil Dead’ cinematic universe, potentially leading to a big event horror movie in which the worlds of both the original ‘Evil Dead’ and the remake collide; after all, the brief (and rather gratuitous) post-credits coda of 2013′s ‘Evil Dead’ made it clear that Ash still exists in the story world of the reboot.

Even so, it’s clear that any such sequel talk remains purely theoretical right now. All we know for sure is that photography on ‘Ash Vs The Evil Dead’ has commenced, with actors Campbell, Lucy Lawless, Ray Santiago, Dana DeLorenzo and Amanda Fisher. Raimi is directing the first episode, and has co-written the series with his brother Ivan Raimi.

Producer Tapert says the series of 10 half-hour episodes will have “an overarching plot, but each episode is telling a self-contained story,” and interestingly hints the series exists within “a slightly altered universe,” serving more as a direct sequel to ‘Evil Dead 2′ than ‘Army of Darkness.’

Tapert says “we really kind of designed it to live outside to having to have seen any of the movies.” An appropriate enough approach, as while there is a clear series continuity through the ‘Evil Dead’ trilogy, ultimately all three work as stand-alone movies.

‘Ash Vs The Evil Dead’ is scheduled to air in the US on the Starz network this autumn.

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Picture Credit: Renaissance Pictures, Starz, Sony