Bruce Campbell has closed the book on any future appearances as Ash Williams, telling fans this week that his decades-long tenure as the face of “Evil Dead” has come to an end.
“It’s hard to communicate everything with everyone,” Campbell wrote in a post on X on Thursday. “Mostly, the reasons were ability and interest, in equal measure. I didn’t want Ash to be compromised by declining skills and as a borderline Geezer, my interests have diverged. I’ll always love ‘Evil Dead’ to death — literally.”
Campbell, 68, has anchored the franchise since starring in Sam Raimi’s original 1981 film “The Evil Dead,” reprising the role of the wisecracking Deadite hunter in “Evil Dead II” and “Army of Darkness” before bringing the character to television in Starz’s “Ash vs. Evil Dead,” which ran three seasons before its cancellation in 2018. His performance turned Ash Williams into one of horror’s most recognizable figures and helped launch a career that has spanned decades of cult and mainstream work.
Though Campbell stepped back from playing Ash on screen after the Starz series ended, he remained involved behind the scenes, serving as an executive producer on both “Evil Dead Rise” in 2023 and this year’s “Evil Dead Burn.” He also appeared for a fan Q&A at the South by Southwest premiere of “Rise.” His latest comments suggest that even that producing role and the character’s on-screen legacy are now largely behind him.
The announcement comes months after Campbell disclosed in March that he had been diagnosed with a cancer he described as treatable but not curable. He canceled a string of convention appearances at the time to focus on treatment, later telling fans over the summer that he was managing the disease with what he called “tons of hope,” even as he continued working on passion projects like his directorial effort “Ernie & Emma.”
The franchise itself shows no signs of slowing down. New Line Cinema has “Evil Dead Wrath” slated for an April 2028 release, continuing the series without Campbell in a hands-on capacity for the first time in its history.
