The Alien, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and of course, Ash Williams.
Ash goes on quite the journey over the course of the Evil Dead franchise, starting life as far from a hero as one could possibly be, before barely making it out of director Sam Raimi's original movie alive. Ash then battled with ancient Kandarian demons to shape him into a man of action that uses both a shotgun and a chainsaw to carve up evil. Army of Darkness evolved Ash into a cocky loudmouth a bit too confident in his own skills, but still a worthy champion of good.
While the Evil Dead franchise will continue on without Bruce Campbell, it also looks destined to continue on without Ash in perpetuity as well. Many major horror roles have been recast over the years, some successfully, but it's impossible to imagine anyone else playing Ash.
There was perhaps a small window in which the Evil Dead franchise could've successfully recast Ash. That window was sometime in the early 2010s when it had been nearly 20 years since Campbell had played the role. Even then, when producer Raimi and director Fede Alvarez set out to put together Ash vs. Evil Dead though, the true nail was put in the coffin of any attempt to recast Ash. Campbell was still excellent as Ash in his 50s, and further cemented the role belonging to him and him alone.
Going into 2022's recast Freddy Krueger did in 2010. It would do nothing but distract from the story Evil Dead Rise was trying to tell, and likely leave fans with a bad taste in their mouths, regardless of the quality of the rest of the film.
