Remember yesterday when Evil Dead writer Rodo Sayagues was quoted in an interview saying that both he and Fede Alvarez left the Evil Dead 2 sequel months ago, most prominently because they have a slew of other projects to work on? Remember how I said we should wait for Fede’s confirmation before officially freaking out? Well, just as I suspected, Fede Alvarez has come out himself to comment on Sayagues’ comments, setting the record straight on this new rumor.
Taking to his personal Twitter account, Fede posted the following Tweet:
“@MikeMcCabeSad Apparently @fedalvar won’t be working on Evil Dead 2, very ungroovy” Don’t believe everything you read online…
— Fede Alvarez (@fedalvar) October 31, 2013
In addition, Bloody Disgusting writer Evan Dickson spoke to Fede Alvarez personally in September, with Bruce Campbell standing right next to him, and Fede showed no indication of being off the project – which Rodo said the duo had left months ago.
According to Dickson:
While this morning Sayagues was quoted as saying they had been off the project for “months,” the last time I spoke to Alvarez (in late September) he indicated that he was still attached to the sequel, but said that Sam Raimi wanted to tackle Army Of Darkness 2 first. Not only do I trust Alvarez, but Bruce Campbell was by his side the entire time I spoke to him and I feel that Campbell is perfectly comfortable correcting someone in public at this point.
Honestly, I thought it a bit fishy that Fede had been off Evil Dead 2 for months now, because he’s been one of the most outspoken voices about where the franchise is heading. He’s even the one who confirmed Sam Raimi as the director of Army Of Darkness 2 – something I doubt he would have known if he wasn’t part of the franchise universe.
News is news though, and since we’re unfortunately part of the Hollywood hype machine, we had to treat such comments as somewhat factual – but it looks like Rodo’s words were just lost in translation. What Rodo apparently meant to say is that they’re not working on Evil Dead 2 right now, as Sam Raimi wants to solely focus on Army Of Darkness 2, reviving Bruce Campbell’s character Ash with the most fitting return his fans deserve.
The only thing I’ll mention is that Fede never actually confirmed whether he’ll be writing, directing, producing – whatever. We do know he’s still a part of Evil Dead 2 though, and for now, that’s enough. We’ve got some time to wait before the sequel moves ahead anyway, as we don’t even have any idea where Army Of Darkness 2 will go, but c’mon – we all saw what Fede and Rodo did with Evil Dead. You think they don’t want a full crack at the sequel, too?