You really can’t get much better than the original Evil Dead trilogy. A trio of progressively deranged horror comedies that had about as much faith to a straightforward tone as they did to rules of genre consistency. The first was a low-budget horror film, the second was a slapstick horror-comedy, and the third was a Looney Tunes inspired fantasy-action-comedy hybrid. The progression itself starts to resemble a joke when you put the movies alongside each other, but that’s what makes them so good. Despite only achieving a cult fanbase and after a 2013 film reboot which sought to modernise the franchise with a grungy, grotesque aesthetic, abandoning any notion of the comedy-horror that grew to define the films, the series was followed up in 2015 with the show Ash Vs Evil Dead, a complete return to form. 

The series reunited franchise creators Sam Raimi, producer Rob Tapert, and star, the B-movie legend Bruce Campbell for a true narrative follow-up to the original trilogy. It continues from where Army of Darkness concludes (by completely forgetting to acknowledge it for the first two seasons) following Ash Williams as he navigates his ho-hum, underwhelming life after returning to the present day from medieval England (this series is completely ridiculous) and accidentally resurrecting a deadite plague. The show was the perfect continuation. Matching the original trilogies penchant for audacity and gore, in many cases, even surpassing it, with numerous gag-inducing set-pieces that came from the furthest depths of the deranged human imagination. Despite the show’s consistent quality, it was not mirrored by the show’s ratings, which seemed to be gradually decreasing from season to season. 

Fans have debated on whatever the reason may be. The primary suspicion was the network the show aired on. ‘Starz’, a pay television network was the show’s home, and without many notable shows for the network to boast about, it’s no surprise that the show was experienced more through dodgy piracy cites which unfortunately don’t correlate to viewership numbers, ultimately resulting in the shows cancellation. Many fans, myself included, believe that the show would be more at home on streaming services such as Netflix. This led to a fun turn of events where Ash Vs Evil Dead found a new life after finally joining the Netflix family. As with many cult-favourite television programs Ash Vs Evil Dead found a new life on the streaming service, it gave many new fans an opportunity to discover the show and its many morbidly hilarious pleasures. Fans often debated the merits of Netflix reviving the show to follow-up the relatively, almost uncharacteristically bleak cliff-hanger. 

Unfortunately, after all this consideration, Ash Vs Evil Dead is about to leave Netflix. This now brings up the question: What will the fate be for the show? Is it something that the fans can preserve in their own exclusive mutual cannon or is it something that will be fondly regarded and referenced in the future. Will it become something that gets forgotten, a figurehead for shows that were doomed from the very beginning. Unfortunately, this fate will always remain up in the air. It falls primarily to the creators and writers to decide upon a way they intend to keep the show alive, if they even have anything in the works. With Bruce Campbell’s announcement that he had officially retired the role of Ash Williams, the future seemed solidified. In 2022, however, it was announced that there would be an animated revival of the show with Bruce Campbell reprising his role, this time, a voice role. This is precisely the update fans love to hear, and while animation may not be as respected of an adult medium as live-action is, adult-oriented animated television has become much more impactful lately. Shows like Arcane and Bojack Horseman have provided animation with a solid backbone that supports their appeal to an adult audience. Given Ash Vs Evil Dead’s penchant for surreal outrageousness, animation may be a fitting medium for the show. 

There have been no updates on this revival since its announcement however, which does form a cloud of doubt over the outcome of this revival, but one thing that I can always be sure of is that I love Ash Vs Evil Dead. It’s a perfect continuation of the trilogy and if it’s truly over, it will be a fitting send off. 

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