Evil Dead: Bruce Campbell says he physically can’t play Ash anymore

When Ash vs. Evil Dead reached the end of its three season run, the show’s star Bruce Campbell announced that he was formally retiring from the role of Evil Dead franchise hero Ash Williams… which is a tough thing for some fans to accept. Some of us (including franchise creator Sam Raimi) are still hoping that Campbell might someday reverse his decision and agree to play Ash again someday. Speaking with Collider, Campbell made it clear that’s not likely to happen, as he finds it physically difficult to handle the Deadite-fighting action.

When asked if it was difficult to leave Ash behind, Campbell said,

No. Whatever the cliched phrase is, I left it all on table. I’ve got nothing else to give. The three seasons were the longest seasons of my life. If you saw the emails pleading with various directors that were like, “Hey, my knee’s not working right. Be careful about tomorrow. Let’s have the stunt guy nearby. Hey, I can’t run anymore.” It just was an endless physical struggle. I’m really glad we did it because we saw Ash’s home, we went into his bedroom, we met his girlfriends, we met his daughter that we never knew he had and that he never knew he had, and we met his father, played by the great Lee Majors. I feel we really pushed all the buttons and he fulfilled his destiny written in that ancient book. He was the guy destined to defeat evil in the past, present and future, and he took off with a hot robot chick at the end to go kick in the future. What else do you need? We knew the ratings were bad. We knew, going into the last season, that we had to have an end because we didn’t think Starz was gonna re-up us and we were right. So, thank God we did that.”

Although we’ve seen the last of Ash, the Evil Dead franchise continues. Campbell and Raimi are both executive producers on the upcoming HBO Max release Evil Dead Rise, written and directed by Lee Cronin – who was picked for the job by Raimi. That film will find the Necronomicon causing trouble for a family in Los Angeles:

A road-weary Beth pays an overdue visit to her older sister Ellie, who is raising three kids on her own in a cramped L.A apartment. The sisters’ reunion is cut short by the discovery of a mysterious book deep in the bowels of Ellie’s building, giving rise to flesh-possessing demons, and thrusting Beth into a primal battle for survival as she is faced with the most nightmarish version of motherhood imaginable.

Lily Sullivan and Alyssa Sutherland star as the estranged sisters at the heart of the story. Gabrielle Echols, Morgan Davies, and Nell Fisher play Ellie’s three kids. Mia Challis is playing Jessica, “an 18 year old girl, who is obsessed with fashion and Instagram. Jessica loves to be the center of attention, although she is smarter than she lets on”.

A collaboration between Warner Bros., New Line Cinema, and Ghost House Pictures, Evil Dead Rise was produced by Robert Tapert. Romel Adam, John Keville, and Macdara Kelleher are also executive producers.

Campbell has provided the voice of Ash for Evil Dead: The Game, which will be released in February of 2022.