To understand the proposed sequel, it’s necessary to look back at the original ending of “Army of Darkness,” the one Raimi wanted audiences to see. It can be seen in the Director’s Cut of the film: Ash recovers the Necronomicon, which delivers a magic potion that will return our strong-jawed hero to his own time. Six drops are all that’s needed, but just as he botched the chant to retrieve the book of the dead, the chainsaw-wielding everyman takes too much potion and overshoots his intended time. Ash emerges from his sealed cave a man out of time once again — this time, he’s the primitive screwhead in a future post-apocalyptic London. He drops to his knees and wails that he slept too long. Too much of a downer for Universal, the Deadite wasteland ending was nixed in favor of the present-day “S-Mart” ending seen in the U.S. theatrical version and on tv edits.
The finale of the Campbell-centric “Ash vs. Evil Dead” TV series would echo that ending — sleepy Ash, future, London, Deadites — but that was as close as fans would get to an “Evil Dead: Fury Road” extravaganza.