While Evil Dead Rise might not feature an onscreen cameo from Bruce Campbell’s Evil Dead hero Ash, the sequel still leaves the door open for unlimited future appearances from the iconic character. Bruce Campbell’s Evil Dead hero Ash Williams has been through a slew of different iterations over the years. In the surprisingly dark original Evil Dead, he was an unlikely survivor trapped in a nightmarish scenario. In 1987’s wilder sequel Evil Dead II, he was a broader, sillier version of this character and his campy antics showed off Campbell’s considerable comedy chops. In Army of Darkness, he was a full-blown action hero, and, in Ash Vs Evil Dead, he was an older, more comedic antihero.

As a result of this gradual tonal change, it was no shock when Evil Dead Rise’s many surprises didn’t include an in-person appearance from Ash. Like 2013’s Evil Dead reboot, Evil Dead Rise was a self-serious horror movie more interested in scares than silliness. As such, a cameo from Ash Vs Evil Dead's mugging main character would have felt tonally jarring. Moreover, Campbell already retired the character of Ash back in 2021. The actor announced that he was done with playing Ash Williams back then, but Evil Dead Rise found a way to work around this problem.

Evil Dead Rise's Time Travel Tease Means Ash Can Return On More Past Recordings

Ash Williams and the Evil Dead Rise poster

Since Ash was sent back (and forward) in time during the Evil Dead movies and Ash Vs Evil Dead, he can always still be part of the franchise’s lore through his time travel exploits. Recordings from the past are huge aspects of the series ever since the original Evil Dead movie, and Ash could always come back through voice cameos. Campbell doesn’t have to actually don his iconic chainsaw hand and wield his shotgun to bring back Ash in future Evil Dead movies. Instead, he can still retire Ash physically but lend his voice to the character just as he anticipates doing for the potential animated series.

Evil Dead Rise director Lee Cronin teased that the "priest" who Campbell voices in the sequel could be a time-displaced Ash. This sort of approach could be applied to endless voice cameos from Ash, and it wouldn’t even be hard for the series to justify this in-universe. Ash spends the entirety of the Evil Dead movies and Ash Vs Evil Dead attempting to put the monstrous forces of the Necronomicon back where they belong, so it makes sense that he would be present whenever there is a Deadite breakout. Thus, any recordings of people reading from the cursed tome are likely to feature Ash.

Ash Williams' Voice Cameos Don't Break Bruce Williams' Retirement Claim

Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams in Ash vs Evil Dead and Alyssa Sutherland as Deadite Ellie in Evil Dead Rise.

While Evil Dead Rise’s clever reinvention of the franchise was a major box office success, this is not the only frontier that the Evil Dead series is currently continuing with. Campbell has already confirmed that he is up for voicing Ash in a potential animated Evil Dead series according to an interview at Comic-Con 2022. Whether this animated show is ever produced or not, the fact that Campbell is happy to voice Ash Williams for this project further proves that the actor doesn’t consider voice roles to be a violation of Ash’s character retirement.

Ash Williams Can Become The Evil Dead Universe's Biggest Easter Egg Connection

Ash holding his hand in Evil Dead II, Beth holding a chainsaw in Evil Dead Rise, and Mia sitting on the Delta 88 in Evil Dead 2013

If there are more standalone Evil Dead movies, these franchise outings could each be connected through images, voice recordings, or references to Ash Williams, especially if he keeps leaving more relics through his time travel exploits. Already Evil Dead Rise’s Necronomicon established that there are multiple versions of the dangerous book lying around across the world. Thus, it is no big stretch for viewers to assume that Ash might also have left a lot of clues in his journey through time, and future stars of Evil Dead movies are likely to stumble across these eventually.

This would be a great approach for the Evil Dead series to take for two reasons. For one thing, Evil Dead Rise and 2013’s Evil Dead are so unlike Ash Vs Evil Dead and Army of Darkness that it is worth clarifying that all the franchise's stories take place in the same fictional universe. Beyond this tonal disparity, there is also the fact that the Evil Dead series began with Ash. Therefore, it makes sense to keep him a part of the series as long as Campbell is still available. As such, Evil Dead Rise’s clever recording trick could ensure that the iconic Evil Dead hero gets a new lease on life.