Updated: Fede Alvarez Not Returning for Evil Dead 2?

*Updated with a quote from Fede Alvarez* With a production budget of $15 million, Evil Dead earned $97 million worldwide and it seemed likely a sequel would move forward. Director Fede Alvarez previously discussed his interest in returning for a sequel, but a new report suggests that it's unlikely to happen. During an interview with Gorosito.TV, Evil Dead co-writer Rodo Sayagues revealed that they left the project months ago:

“Look, I am sorry to tell you this but that movie won’t happen. Evil Dead 2 is not going to happen, at least not with us involved. We left that project many months ago because we preferred to put our energies on other things. I don’t know if the producers still have intentions of making it. But what I can tell you is that we are not part of that project.”

He didn't provide a reason, but previous comments made by Fede Alvarez make a bit more sense now. During the release of Evil Dead, he told us that he was interested in continuing the story, but taking it in a very different direction and location. We had also heard him talk about the fact that it would be challenging, because a sequel would normally see a new group of young actors visit the cabin. Is it possible that Sony wanted to go that route and wouldn't sign off on the sequel he had in mind? Hopefully, Alvarez will shed some more light on this. In the meantime, he and Rodo Sayagues are associated with a number of projects, including Machina, an original sci-fi project, and an adapation of the Dante's Inferno video game.

On the Evil Dead front a sequel to Army of Darkness is still in the early stages of development and it's rumored that we'll see Sam Raimi return to direct it.

*Update:  Apparently, Rodo Sayagues' comments were taken out of context at the original source of the interview and Fede Alvarez said that some of it got "lost in translation:" via BD- “Rodo meant we’re not actually making ‘Evil Dead 2′ right now because the priority is Sam’s ‘Army of Darkness 2.’ But the plan of making a sequel to our ‘Evil Dead’ is very much alive.”

We'll be interested to see how this pans out. While many horror fans are probably more excited to see Sam Raimi back with Army of Darkness 2, we're surprised that a sequel to Evil Dead wasn't greenlit immediately after its box office performance. Like the Army of Darkness sequel, this could be a project that sits on the shelf for quite some time or indefinitely. As soon as we hear anything official, we'll be sure to let readers know.