As production continues on Evil Dead Rise in New Zealand, The Hollywood Reporter brings word that young actors Gabrielle Echols (Reminiscence), Morgan Davies (The Girlfriend Experience), and Nell Fisher (Northspur) have been tapped to join New Line Cinema’s forthcoming fifth installment to Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead franchise. Further details about their respective characters are still being kept under wraps, but the outlet’s sources note that the young trio might be playing siblings in peril.
This marks the first time that an Evil Dead film will feature such young characters. In addition, franchise lead and executive producer Bruce Campbell also took to Twitter to confirm their casting by describing them as “new horror heroes.”
Your new horror heroes. https://t.co/85LUah18cB
— Bruce Campbell (@GroovyBruce) June 16, 2021
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Evil Dead Rise is expected to tell a modern-day urban horror film that will take the franchise out of its classic woods setting and into the city for the first time. It will be led by Australian actresses Alyssa Sutherland (Vikings) and Lily Sullivan (Picnic at Hanging Rock), who are set as the new female leads. The next installment will tell the twisted tale of two estranged sisters, whose reunion is cut short by the rise of flesh-possessing demons, thrusting them into a primal battle for survival as they face the most nightmarish version of family imaginable. Campbell previously confirmed that the upcoming film wouldn’t have any ties to the previous films.
The fifth installment is being written and directed by The Hole In The Ground filmmaker Lee Cronin, who was handpicked by franchise creator Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell, and Robert Tapert. Executive producers are Raimi, Campbell, Tapert, Romel Adam, John Keville, and Macdara Kelleher.
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Written and directed by Sam Raimi, The Evil Dead franchise began with 1981’s The Evil Dead and was then followed by two more sequels, 1987’s Evil Dead II and 1993’s Army of Darkness, which all centered on Bruce Campbell’s Ash Williams. The original trilogy had amassed a massive cult following that spawn into video games, stage musicals, and a comedy horror series titled Ash vs. Evil Dead, which ran on-air from 2015-2018. Director Fede Alverez directed a soft reboot of the first film, which served as the fourth installment to the film franchise.
