Ash vs. Evil Dead‘s unjust cancellation put the future of the Evil Dead franchise in doubt. But, as any fan will know, you can’t keep a good Deadite down. Now Evil Dead Rise is shooting in New Zealand, with Lee Cronin directing and Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell producing.

The synopsis reveals that this will be a departure for the series, taking the action “away from the cabin in the woods and into the city”, with a story centered on estranged sisters whose reunion is ruined by the unwelcome arrival of flesh-consuming demons. The cast includes Gabrielle Echols (Reminiscence), Morgan Davies (The End), Nell Fisher (Splendid Isolation), Alyssa Sutherland (Vikings), and Lily Sullivan (Picnic at Hanging Rock).

For the last few weeks, Cronin has been posting behind-the-scenes images to his Twitter that are reassuring fans that this new entry isn’t holding back. A common theme is buckets of the sticky red stuff, which are getting all over the kitchen counter, staining the carpet, and ruining Cronin’s white sneakers (which proved to be a bad color to wear while making an Evil Dead movie). Check them out:

But for fans the coolest nod is the “Henrietta’s Pizzeria” box, which invites their customers to “Come get some!”. This is of course a reference to Evil Dead II, in which Bruce Campbell’s Ash tangled with Henrietta, who was formerly a nice old lady and is now a cackling, sadistic and deformed monstrosity in dire need of a chainsaw to the neck. As far as we know, Ash won’t be appearing in Evil Dead Rise but it seems they’re determined to acknowledge the past as they move forward.

Even if he’s not on screen, Campbell says he’s still “very involved” with this movie. He recently spoke to Entertainment Weekly and gave his take:

“­People can actually call it what [they] want: Sequel, remake, reimagining. It really is just another Evil Dead movie. It’s book-centric. It’s all about [the Necronomicon]. Where does this book wind up and what happens to it over the millennia?

In this case, it’s set in the city, it’s no more cabin in the woods. It’s entirely different, unsuspecting heroines who are going to save the day. It’s filming now in New Zealand, with some of their amazing crews down there and they’re well into it. Rob Tapert is the hands-on producer and we’re all very involved in the script. We all jump in at various times to chime in.”

Evil Dead Rise will premiere on HBO Max in 2022.

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