[Updated] Fede Alvarez not leaving Evil Dead 2

Just a couple days after Sam Raimi was confirmed to direct Army of Darkness 2 it has been announced that Fede Alvarez will not return to direct his Evil Dead sequel. After Alvarez's 2013 reboot of the horror classic was a decent success, Alvarez and his co-writer Rodo Sayagues were tapped to return for a sequel. Sayagues is now claiming he and Alvarez are off the project.

Alvarez already hinted the sequel was at a standstill at Comic-Con in July stating that they were struggling to think of a great story to tell. Sayagues is now saying he and Alvarez left the project months ago because they had no story to present. Sayagues told Gorosito.TV:

“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.”

To me that sounds like plain arrogance that he believes that Evil Dead 2 won't happen without them. If the studio wants it bad enough they will find people to do it. Period.  However, if Alvarez and Sayagues really left the project months ago and the studio hasn't publicly replaced them yet the sequel might not happen after all.
Alvarez and Sayagues are moving their focus onto their upcoming sci-fi film Machina. The original short film, Panic Attack!,  is what landed Alvarez the Evil Dead directing chair to begin with.

I find this interesting in a way because Alvarez is the one who leaked that Sam Raimi was returning for Army of Darkness 2 and he has had no comment about leaving Evil Dead 2. Not to mention the studio has said nothing. I would classify this as rumor for right now and would advice Sayagues to shut the hell up.

[UPDATE] Changed to rumor patrol. Fede Alvarez has already taken to Twitter and is telling people, "Don't believe everything you read online."
Alvarez has said the interview Rodo Sayagues gave has been taken out of context and he meant Evil Dead 2 is not taking priority over Army of Darkness 2. He also included the sequel to the 2013 Evil Dead reboot is very much alive. 

Sam Raimi to direct Army of Darkness 2

Fede Alvarez has done the liberty of confirming some speculated news for us. The director of the 2013 Evil Dead reboot confirmed via Twitter that Sam Raimi will return to the Evil Dead franchise and direct Army of Darkness 2, the sequel to the 1992 film Army of Darkness.
In addition to Raimi returning (according to Alvarez) we got confirmation earlier this week that Bruce Campbell will be returning for the film as well.
This marks Raimi's first Evil Dead film since 1992 and puts speculation to rest that a sequel to the 2013 reboot could be considered Army of Darkness 2. There will indeed be two separate films as Alvarez is currently working on Evil Dead 2, the sequel to his reboot.  Whether the films will be tied together as a means to bring the two series based off the same story together is unknown, but I wouldn't be surprised if that happened. There is no word on which film will come first, either.

Welcome back, guys!

Evil Dead sequel to give homage to 80's horror

Back in March at the SXSW premiere of his Evil Dead reboot, director Fede Alvarez announced a sequel was in the planning stages. Since the film has been released on DVD (today to be exact) Alvarez has begun to discuss the sequel a bit more.

Alvarez said they are still working with Sam Raimi and discussing exactly what they want to do with the sequel. He also said being a child of the 80's, he likes the idea of not knowing what is going on unless you have seen the first movie. He wants to take one character and move on to continue the story, not create a brand new one based on the premise of the first movie.
However, he does understand that it is easier said than done. The reality of sequels these days is just taking the storyline concept and throwing new characters into the same kind of environment. The other idea is to throw a new group of friends into the cabin and re-introduce the book.

It is assumed that Fede Alvarez will return to direct Evil Dead 2, but that isn't confirmed. Right now he is on board purely as a writer. If he doesn't wind up directing I assume that he will also be brought on as a producer alongside Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell.

#EvilDead