It looks like next month’s Evil Dead Burn and 2028’s Evil Dead Wrath might be setting out to bring the Evil Dead Universe together in a way the last two movies were unable to.
The Evil Dead series, while one of our favourites here at FTN HQ, is a convoluted one, to say the least.
Starting out with Sam Raimi’s 1981 white-knuckle terror fest, one of the original video nasties, the series then led to Evil Dead II is 1987, which, due to rights issues, wasn’t actually a sequel (despite the name) but rather a remake, with added characters and humour, but, confusingly, once again starring Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams, the series’ unlikely anti-hero.
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Things didn’t get any less confusing when the third movie, Army of Darkness (or The Medieval Dead), arrived in 1992 and continued the adventures of Ash who found himself thrown back to 1300AD and once again fighting the undead Deadites… things go fully off the rail when we get to the end of that movie and Ash is thrown back to the future although there’s two endings, one which sees Ash come back to his own time but now it’s over-run with deadites and another which sees him fired into the far future when civilisation has full y collapsed, presumably due to the deadites and best of all? Both endings are canon.
Then, comes Fede Alvarez’s Evil Dead in 2013, which gives us a whole new cast and adventure which mirrors the original two movies but is very much its own thing… and making things even more confusing, Campbell’s Ash appears at the very end, seemingly setting up a crossover sequel which never comes.
Then, more recently, Evil Dead Rise once again has a whole new cast of characters and a story unlike any that came before, seemingly unrelated to any past movies. But, if you listen closely, you’ll hear a recorded message from decades earlier in the movie that has a familiar voice… yes, it seems it’s Ash Williams again, something confirmed by director Lee Cronin.
Oh, and in the middle of all that, a wonderfully fun series called Ash Vs Evil Dead, which chronicled another whole chapter of Ash’s life but ended in a way that contradicted the movies’ lore. I know, you’re shocked. And don’t even get me started on the additonal lore of the comics and games.
Director of Evil Dead Rise, Lee Cronin, has hinted that all these stories can happen because in Army of Darkness, in the medieval times, we see three Necronomicons, the book of the dead that lies at the heart of each movie, and that means all the movies can be loosely linked, even if they feel completely distinct… each is the result of one of the other books.
Now, one of the stars of next month’s Evil Dead Burn is going to connect to Evil Dead Rise, which I suspected it would, but also the original Evil Dead trilogy, too.
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- Evil Dead Rise
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- Evil Dead Burn trailer
We already knew that the character of Jessica (Anna-Maree Thomas), whose transformation into a deadite in Evil Dead Rise bookends the story, looks like she appears in the trailer for Evil Dead Burn, meaning her character’s story might continue in the new movie (see pics, above), but it seems there’s an even bigger connection.
In a new interview, Evil Dead Burn star Hunter Doohan has revealed that his character may be a lynchpin to the whole Evil Dead story.
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Doohan reveals that his character in the new movie, Joseph, is researching his grandfather: “Joseph is working on a book about his grandfather’s research,” the young actor says, “his grandfather knew Professor Knowby.”
Fans of Evil Dead will know that Professor Knowby, in Evil Dead and Evil Dead II, was the one who found the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis in the ruins of Castle Kandar and records himself reading from it. It’s this recording (in both movies) that Ash and his friends play in the cabin, accidentally unleashing the deadite scourge that ultimately sets up the events of, well, all the movies.
“I loved how this script not only ties back a little bit to Evil Dead Rise — but this movie connects the lore through the whole franchise, which I found really exciting,” Doohan continues.
So, we know that Evil Dead Burn, and by default, Evil Dead Rise, connect to the original movies, but it looks like next year’s Evil Dead Wrath is going to further connect to the original stories and may even go back to the very beginning of the tale… does Evil Dead Burn set up Joseph’s grandfather because we’re going to meet him and maybe even Professor Knowby, in Evil Dead Wrath?
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In a talk in April at Michigan State University, which is only coming to light now, producer of Wrath, Roger Tappert, explained how the movie will have issues with the MPAA but for reasons you think: “That one, unlike Burn, has a lot of coming-of-age sexual hijinks in it, which the Evil Dead universe is not really known for, but this one does. And it goes there… I think – it’s going to be the one since the first Evil Dead movie that may have the most difficulty with the MPAA.”
However, this wasn’t the most intersting thing Tapert said.
He revealed that director Francis Galluppi’s Evil Dead Wrath will take place a decade before the events of the original Evil Dead, taking the series back to 1972.
He said Wrath will ‘predate everything’ (presumably not Army of Darkness, but I understand what he means) and will be shot in period look that will give it the same grimy look at the original movie, that almost forbidden, dirty look that makes it feel like you’re seeing something you aren’t meant to.
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Now, I have speculated in past posts the the new naming convention of these three new Evil Dead movies – Rise, Burn and Wrath – might imply that they are a new trilogy, linked in as yet unknown ways, and it seems I might be right.
If this is the case, it means that Alvarez’s Evil Dead and the Ash Vs Evil TV series are the only outliers, with how exactly they tie in still up in the air, but I get the feeling that if this new trilogy doesn’t explain it all – don’t forget, the house in the trailer for Evil Dead Burn is the same house that was Ruby’s home in Ash Vs Evil Dead (here), although we still don’t know for sure if it is in-universe – then the still planned animated series might just finally tie up the remainng loose ends.
The Evil Dead lore is dense and confusing and, if we’re honest, in many places makes now sense, but with Ash’s antics in Army of Darkness changing future events (whichever endign you like), it means that all the madness can be explained. Although, maybe the best explanation for all of this, is the explanation we fans personally create in our heads.
Thoughts? I know you have them and I wanna hear ’em all.
After the loss of her husband, a woman seeks solace with her in-laws in their secluded family home. As one by one they are transformed into Deadites – turning the gathering into a family reunion from hell – she comes to discover that the vows she took in life live on… even in death.
Evil Dead Burn stars Souheila Yacoub, Tandi Wright, Hunter Doohan, Luciane Buchanan, Errol Shand, George Pullar, Maude Davey, and Greta Van Den Brink.
The film is directed by Sébastien Vaniček and written by Florent Bernard & Sébastien Vaniček. It is produced by Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi. The executive producers are Romel Adam, Bruce Campbell, Lee Cronin and Jose Canas. Vaniček is joined behind the camera by director of photography Philip Lozano, production designer Nick Connor, editor Maxime Caro, and costume designer Sarah Voon.
New Line Cinema and Screen Gems present a Ghost House Pictures production, Evil Dead Burn.
Evil Dead Burn opens in cinemas from July 10, 2026.
Evil Dead Wrath is set to open in theaters April 7, 2028.
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Source: Dreadcentral,
Marc
Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….
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