Bruce Campbell Announces Retirement from His Portrayal of Ash

Through three feature films and three seasons of a TV series, Bruce Campbell showed us that even on your worst, limb-losing, blood-spattered days, life can still be groovy. Now, after nearly four decades since he first played Ash Williams, Campbell has announced his retirement from the portrayal of the iconic chainsaw-revving character.

In a heartfelt letter to his fans on Facebook, Campbell announced his retirement from playing Ash, the ultimate Deadite slayer. The announcement comes in the wake of Starz's cancelation of Ash vs Evil Dead after three seasons (the series finale airs on April 29th).

Even though Campbell is retiring from his portrayal of Ash Williams, that doesn't mean we won't see future stories told in the Evil Dead universe, although no announcements of future projects have been made. In the meantime, though, you can read Campbell's message to his fans below (via Facebook), and be sure to take time to reflect upon and say farewell to one of the most iconic character portrayals in horror history.

"Good people, Evil Dead fans everywhere, I bid you a heartfelt farewell playing Ash - the character I took acting lessons with for 39 years.

I am hereby retiring from that portrayal. It’s time. I followed Ash from his formative years thru his mid-life crisis and decline. What a thrill! What a privilege!

We had a great resurgence with the help of Starz (kudos not jeers, folks). They made it possible for 15 more hours of Evil Dead-ness in your life - the equivalent of 10 more features!

Is Ash dead? Never. Ash is as much a concept as a person. Where there is evil in this world, there must be one to counter - man or woman, it matters not.

Thanks for watching.

Love,

Bruce"