Evil Dead Star Bruce Campbell Has One Condition To Return As Ash Williams

Director Sam Raimi and actor Bruce Campbell have worked on four "Evil Dead" film and TV projects together. I needn't reiterate "The Evil Dead" and "Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn," as the cultists know them well. However, something happened after Raimi and Campbell made "Army of Darkness" in 1992, completing Ash's arc in the process. That film was distributed by Universal, which positioned it to gain a crossover audience. Sadly, though, it didn't do well at the box office, but became a massive cult hit. It was deeply beloved by many, eventually attaining the same canonized status as its immediate forebear.

In his autobiography "If Chins Could Kill," Campbell laid out the difference between a "cult film" and a "blockbuster." A blockbuster is a million people seeing a film 10 times, and a cult film is 10 people seeing a film a million times. It seems that the low-profile nature of cult movies was a little disheartening to Campbell, especially after "Army of Darkness" failed to break through. Campbell understood that he was well-known, but he was always candid about how cult stardom is very different from mainstream stardom. He had to start asking that fans stop calling him "Ash."

For years after "Army of Darkness," Campbell would appear at horror conventions and cult fan gatherings, fending off questions about an "Evil Dead 4." He was asked so often if he would return to play Ash, Campbell began developing stock answers. ("I'm too old for it!") Eventually, he and Raimi did re-team for the TV series "Ash vs. Evil Dead" ... in 2015. That series lasted three years, and it seemed to be the final, final word on Ash. Are you happy now?

Campbell has since said that he would indeed return to play Ash one more time, and listed his stipulation for such an event in an interview with Fangoria. Sam Raimi, he clarified, would have to return at the helm.

Campbell's comments came in the wake of two more "Evil Dead" movies. There was a proper remake of Raimi's original, directed by Fede Álvarez, released in 2013, followed by a mostly standalone entry, Lee Cronin's "Evil Dead Rise," in 2023. Apart from a short cameo after the credits of the 2013 "Evil Dead," Campbell only served as a producer on those films. "Ash vs. Evil Dead" was intended to be the final time he would ever play Ash.

Now, however, Campbell is of the mind that if Raimi is down, he is down. Only Raimi, he feels, understands how to properly direct Campbell as Ash. The actor has also admitted that another director would likely make him lose his temper, while Raimi would make him lose his temper ... in a good way. To quote Campbell directly:

"If Sam says, 'I, Sam Raimi, will direct another 'Evil Dead' movie,' then I, Bruce Campbell, will consider being in it. I don't want to be Ash, tended to by other people. Sam's the meanest director I've ever worked with, and Ash needs a little bit of that to shine. And I think Sam's the only director now who I won't punch in the face making an 'Evil Dead' movie! I'm just saying, I've called [longtime 'Evil Dead' producer] Rob [Tapert] and Sam out, I'm not the coward that they think I am; I just want the right circumstances."

Campbell then joked that Raimi, who began helming major blockbusters in the 21st century, is still a good director, actually. Since 2000, of course, Raimi has called the shots on the Marvel Cinematic Universe film "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" and the Disney tentpole "Oz the Great and Powerful," in addition to a trio of very successful "Spider-Man" movies starring Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker. Raimi, though, has come to focus more on producing than directing since making "Ash vs. Evil Dead" and hasn't shown much interest in helming another "Evil Dead" film. Time will tell.

Regardless, don't call Campbell "Ash."