Few horror franchises have had as tumultuous a history as Army of Darkness. Ironically, Evil Dead has covered almost every other type of artistic medium, including comic books, video games, a television show, and even a musical, not to mention the remake released in 2013. However, Sam Raimi, who has retained control over the franchise, has had difficulty in procuring the budget, cast, and legal rights to create a true follow-up to Ash Williams' misadventures with the Deadites.
The entire Evil Dead franchise has embraced fluid continuity ever since Evil Dead II, which retcons the events of the first film and thus is as much a remake Ash vs. Evil Dead, he was unable to refer to events in Army of Darkness until he had worked out the legal details. Finally, there were the rumors of how director Fede Alvarez's 2013 remake fit into the larger Evil Dead universe, bolstered by a post-credits appearance by Ash. Unfortunately, rumors of a sequel that would merge narratives were shot down by Alvarez.
Thus, making a fourth Evil Dead movie was always an uphill battle. Originally, Raimi had intentions of continuing the series in show never got canceled, but the story was once again stopped in its tracks from continuing on.
Sam Raimi's Evil Dead 4 Never Happened
The legacy of Evil Dead is so resilient that it's hard to imagine that Army of Darkness was a box office bomb upon its initial release. Because of this, Sam Raimi still struggled to get funding for another Evil Dead movie despite the director's career success. The healthy profits of the remake raised hopes for a potential sequel to the original trilogy, but any ideas for this were eventually incorporated into a more financially viable television show. Even that proved how niche the Evil Dead fandom was when the series was canceled by its network, Starz, due to low ratings.
Evil Dead 4 (or Army of Darkness 2) was perhaps a more viable option before Ash vs. Evil Dead, but it seems as if the rise and fall of this continuation have caused fatigue for those involved. This is especially true for beloved star Bruce Campbell, who announced that he was new film later this year, although this is not substantiated by any other information.
removing Ash from the story. He claims that he and longtime friend and producer Robert Tapert were working out ideas and that he is also still open to collaborating with Fede Alvarez to create a sequel to the remake. However, none of these plans are officially confirmed, and with Sam Raimi currently in talks to direct the next Doctor Strange movie, he probably won't be returning to the world of Evil Dead or Army of Darkness any time soon.
