'Evil Dead' Sequel "Not Going to Happen" as Fede Alvarez Exits

After the Evil Dead reboot proved to be a surprising hit, it seemed to jumpstart all of those long dormant plans to expand Sam Raimi's cult favorite franchise. An ambitious plan to develop an Army of Darkness sequel that would crossover with a new Evil Dead trilogy which writer/director Fede Alvarez said script work had already begun on. But now it turns out all of those plans may have been scrapped because Alvarez is no longer involved.

Co-writer Rodo Sayagues revealed on Gorosito that he and Alvarez exited Evil Dead 2, but the most surprising thing is just how long ago it happened....

"Look, I am sorry to tell you this but that movie won’t happen. Evil Dead 2 is not going to happen, at least not with us involved. We left that project many months ago because we preferred to put our energies on other things. I don’t know if the producers still have intentions of making it. But what I can tell you is that we are not part of that project."

 It's possible that the entire crossover idea has been scrapped, or Raimi could find another up 'n coming director to take over. But this also throws some cold water on Alvarez's claim over the weekend that it would be Raimi directing Army of Darkness 2, because if he's been gone for months then he's probably not in the information loop. In fact this kind of throws everything out the window, despite Bruce Campbell's sudden enthusiasm about returning as Ash Williams. Raimi has been notoriously flaky about making more of these movies, and when these rumors started surfacing again he was still sounding wishy-washy about it. Here's what he said earlier this year....

Raimi: Those guys made me say that. I am thinking about it but a crowd goes “Come on Sam, do it!” so I said “Okay, I guess I was talking to my brother about it.” But I feel like I was pushed into saying that, a little bit. In the hallway today I joked with Ivan [his brother] “Get working on that script!” but I really don’t know.

I’m afraid that every time I talk about it people get really mad at me when I don’t follow through with it. I would like to work on the script over the summer, that much is true. But the reason to come back and do it again is only that they’re making me, those fans.

I was saying to Ivan “Why do they stay on this thing? Why do they keep at it?” and he said “They want to make a movie. You’re a filmmaker and your fans are asking you to make the movie. What are you, an idiot? Make the movie!” I guess there’s something I don’t see. It makes sense when Ivan says it… but I didn’t have a tremendous amount of passion until right now to bring to it.

I love working with Bruce Campbell and Rob Tapert, I have so much fun making those movies, so… but the fans are really forcing me into it.

Who knows if he's taking it more seriously this time, but all we really have to go on that this is definitely happening are the words of Alvarez and Campbell. So it may be wise to take a "wait and see" approach.