Bruce Campbell teases more Evil Dead, says he hasn't fully retired Ash Williams

Groovy!

Thanks to Sam Raimi's highly influential Evil Dead films, Bruce Campbell was able to cement himself as a genre icon via his role of Ash Williams. Following the cancellation of Starz's Ash vs Evil Dead, Campbell announced that he'd be retiring his interpretation of the character for good. He even endorsed another actor taking over the reins of the franchise. But we may not have seen the last of Campbell yet: Speaking to Inquisitr, the actor revealed that he's only finished doing certain incarnations of Ash.

"I’m still doing video games, I’m doing voices for Ash. I’m just not going to grovel in the blood anymore," he said. "I’m retiring from certain types of roles, ones that require looking at tennis balls on sticks... [Fans are] going to see different versions, they’re going to be seeing more Evil Dead, too. We’re not done with the Evil Dead saga, [there are] more stories to tell."

Credit: Universal Pictures

Ash isn't the only character Campbell is set on "retiring." He's also done playing the apocryphal version of Elvis seen in 2002's cult favorite Bubba Ho-Tep, a movie based on Joe R. Lansdale's novella of the same name. In the film (directed by Don Coscarelli), Campbell's take on "The King" teams up with a man claiming to be a post-assassination JFK (played by Ossie Davis) in order to take down an ancient mummy spooking a retirement home for senior citizens.

"I’ve retired that character as well. I’ve notified Don Coscarelli and Joe Lansdale. You know, it’s Don Coscarelli’s project, he’s more than welcome to forge ahead," Campbell added, alluding to a possible sequel. "We couldn’t crack the script the way I saw it and we were going to come to loggerheads. I didn’t want to do that, so I backed out because I know now if the script isn’t where it needs to be, the movie will not get there either."

Fans of that movie can still get their fix in the prequel comic from IDW, Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers, in which Elvis fights aliens at the behest of President Richard Nixon.

"I loved the original film, so the idea of doing a prequel seemed really compelling," the book's artist, Tadd Galusha, told SYFY WIRE last March. “This project was not only an opportunity to do that with a character that’s already incredibly layered, both in fiction and real life, but for a film that I completely adored. Come on, man, who doesn’t want to ride shotgun with the King?!”

A comic crossover between Ash Williams and Bubba Ho-Tep was announced by IDW and Dynamite Entertainment back in October.

Campbell's next TV role is as the host and producer of Ripley's Believe It or Not!, the latest incarnation of a series that dates back to the late 1940s. More information on that program, arriving on the Travel Channel this summer, can be found here.