This is not uncommon for a franchise, and is often part of what researcher Henry Jenkins termed a transmedia storytelling strategy<\/a>. The fundamental idea of this strategy is that one singular story is told over multiple different media forms. These integrated narratives can be seen in contemporary franchises such as the Matrix<\/a> or the Marvel Cinematic Universe<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, while Evil Dead has certainly appeared across different media forms, it has lacked a sense of singular narrative. As a result, there are several narrative inconsistencies seen throughout the series, with scenes from previous movies reshot, recontextualised or erased from the narrative entirely in later entries. <\/p>\n This lack of a unified story ultimately comes down to the creative and financial realities of the Evil Dead\u2019s series origins. The first film, The Evil Dead (1981), was a low-budget horror, made by a group of friends with no aspirations of building a huge media franchise. It took six years for a sequel to be made. That sequel was produced by a different company entirely, meaning even if the filmmakers had wanted to reference the first film, they legally could not. <\/p>\n For decades, the crucial unifying component of the Evil Dead series has been Bruce Campbell\u2019s portrayal of Ash Williams, the protagonist across the original film trilogy. The cult fandom of around Campbell in this role has powered the series for most of its existence \u2013 Campbell became synonymous with the Evil Dead franchise.<\/p>\n Campbell has reprised his role across multiple different media forms. Though these contain the character of Ash, they are entirely incoherent as a singular narrative, often contradicting or erasing different entries to tell their specific story. While Ash seems to act as a signifier for an \u201cauthentic\u201d Evil Dead entry, his appearances do not seem to delineate which entries in the series can be seen as part of a coherent transmedia fictional universe.<\/p>\n This decision to foreground an actor and character as the foundation of a franchise could now be problematic, as Campbell announced his retirement<\/a> from playing Ash in live action after the cancellation of the television series Ash vs The Evil Dead in 2018 This left the franchise in flux. How do you move forward with Evil Dead when the main character is removed?<\/p>\n The promotional material around the release of Evil Dead Rise (2023) suggested a new franchise strategy that looked to the original trilogy for inspiration. <\/p>\n In the third Evil Dead film, Army of Darkness (1993), Ash is sent on a quest to retrieve the Necronomicon, a cursed book that has unleashed evil across the previous films. As Ash approaches the book, he sees that there are three on the podium. The two other books ultimately act as decoys, resulting in a slapstick sequence where Ash is repeatedly attacked by the decoy books. <\/p>\n Although this scene is short and played for laughs, for the promotion of Evil Dead Rise, Campbell (a producer as well as the series\u2019 former star) highlights it as centrally important to the franchise\u2019s future. In an interview with Collider<\/a> in 2023, Campbell suggested a new key focus \u2013 the Necronomicon. Campbell noted that \u201cthe only thing that connects everything now is the book. There are three of these books out there \u2026 So, this story is really \u2018where is the book now?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\nUnifying a fractured franchise<\/h2>\n
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