Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for ‘Evil Dead Burn’
Evil Dead is officially back, and with the franchise’s latest installment, Evil Dead Burn, it once again proves why it’s the best horror franchise around. Brutal kills, a near-flawless balance of drama and comedy, and one of the best third acts in the entire franchise make this another incredible chapter in the Book of the Dead. Alice’s (Souheila Yacoub) triumph over the Deadites is riveting from start to finish, but as with any Evil Dead movie, death is just the beginning, and the jaw-dropping end-credits sequence takes things to a whole new level.
In a truly shocking turn of events, the final post-credits scene of Evil Dead Burn resurrects one of the franchise’s all-time best villains: Ellie Bixler (once again played by Alyssa Sutherland) from Evil Dead Rise. Naturally, this raises questions about whether Ellie is primed for a potential full-scale return to the franchise, and Collider’s Perri Nemiroff had the chance to ask director Sébastien Vanicek about what this thrilling return might mean for Ellie’s future in the franchise. Vanicek didn’t reveal too much but did say that the addition was made at the request of the studio, which he was happy to do:
“I don’t know what they will do in the future. I don’t know what’s going on. I did my own piece and, of course, it’s a studio movie, and they asked for something. I was glad to put it in my movie, but that’s their story.”
Alyssa Sutherland’s surprise return to the franchise is a bombshell for fans, but she’s not the only series regular to make a cameo in the new movie. After making a voice-only appearance in Evil Dead Rise, Vanicek officially confirmed that Bruce Campbellappears in several photos throughout the film (one a Polaroid and the other a framed photo by the staircase), implying he could be the primary family’s estranged grandfather. Considering the grandfather’s research into the Book of the Dead, this could be a further implication that the missing figure is none other than Ash Williams himself, and that theory hasn’t gone unnoticed by Vanicek, saying, “That’s something that fans will work on, and there will be Wikipedia things and connections, and they will do their work.”
Collider Exclusive · Horror Survival Quiz Which Horror Villain Do You Have the Best Chance of Surviving? Jason Voorhees · Michael Myers · Freddy Krueger · Pennywise · Chucky
Five killers. Five completely different ways to die — if you’re not smart enough, fast enough, or self-aware enough to avoid it. Only one of them is the villain your particular set of instincts gives you a fighting chance against. Eight questions will figure out which one.
🏕️Jason
🔪Michael
💤Freddy
🎈Pennywise
🪆Chucky
01
Something feels wrong. You can’t explain it — you just know. What do you do? First instincts are the difference between the survivor and the first act casualty.
02
Where are you most likely to find yourself when things go wrong? Setting is everything in horror. Where you are determines which rules apply.
03
What is your most reliable survival asset? Every survivor has a quality the villain didn’t account for. What’s yours?
04
What kind of fear is hardest for you to fight through? Knowing your weakness is the first step to not dying because of it.
05
You’re with a group when things start going wrong. What’s your role? Horror movies are brutally clear about who survives group situations and who doesn’t.
06
What’s the horror movie mistake you’re most likely to make? Honest self-assessment is a survival skill. Denial is not.
07
What’s your best weapon against something that can’t be stopped by conventional means? Every horror villain has a weakness. The survivors are always the ones who find it.
08
It’s the final scene. You’re the last one standing. How did you make it? The final survivor always has a reason. What’s yours?
Your Survival Odds Have Been Calculated Your Best Chance Is Against…
Your instincts, your strengths, and your particular way of thinking under pressure point to one villain you actually have a fighting chance against. Everyone else — good luck.
Camp Crystal Lake · Friday the 13th
Jason Voorhees
Jason is relentless, but he is also predictable — and that is the gap you would exploit.
He moves in straight lines toward his target. He doesn’t strategise, doesn’t adapt, doesn’t outsmart. He simply pursues.
Your ability to keep moving, use the environment, and resist the panic that freezes most victims gives you a genuine edge.
The Crystal Lake survivors were always the ones who stopped running in circles and started thinking about terrain, water, and distance.
You think like that. Which means Jason, for all his indestructibility, would face someone who simply refused to be where he expected.
Haddonfield, Illinois · Halloween
Michael Myers
Michael watches before he moves. He is patient, methodical, and almost impossible to detect — until it’s too late for anyone who isn’t paying close enough attention.
But you are paying attention. You notice the shape in the window, the car parked slightly wrong, the silence where there should be sound.
Michael’s power lies in the invisibility of ordinary suburbia — the fact that nothing ever looks wrong until it already is.
Your spatial awareness and instinct to map every room, every exit, and every shadow before you need them is precisely the quality Laurie Strode had.
You are not a victim waiting to happen. You are someone who already suspects something is wrong — and acts on it.
Elm Street · A Nightmare on Elm Street
Freddy Krueger
Freddy wins by getting inside your head — using your own fears, your own memories, your own subconscious as weapons against you. That strategy requires a target who can be destabilised.
You are harder to destabilise than most. You’ve faced uncomfortable truths about yourself and you haven’t looked away.
The survivors on Elm Street were always the ones who understood what was happening and chose to face it rather than flee from it.
Freddy’s greatest weakness is that his power evaporates in the presence of someone who refuses to give him the fear he feeds on.
Your psychological resilience — the ability to stay grounded when reality itself becomes unreliable — is exactly the quality that keeps you alive here.
Derry, Maine · It
Pennywise
Pennywise is ancient, shapeshifting, and feeds on terror — but it has one critical vulnerability: it cannot function against someone who genuinely stops being afraid of it.
The Losers Club didn’t survive because they were braver than everyone else. They survived because they faced their fears together, and faced them honestly.
You ask the questions others avoid. You look directly at what frightens you rather than turning away.
That directness — the refusal to let fear fester in the dark — is Pennywise’s worst nightmare.
It chose the wrong target when it chose you. You are exactly the kind of person whose fear tastes like nothing at all.
Chicago · Child’s Play
Chucky
Chucky’s greatest advantage is that nobody takes him seriously until it’s already too late. He exploits the gap between how something looks and what it actually is.
You don’t have that gap. You take threats seriously regardless of how they present — and you never make the mistake of underestimating something because of its size or appearance.
Chucky relies on surprise, on the delay between recognition and response. You close that delay faster than almost anyone.
Your instinct to treat every unfamiliar thing with appropriate scepticism — rather than dismissing it because it seems absurd — is the exact quality that keeps you breathing.
Against Chucky, not laughing is already winning. You are very good at not laughing.
Will Ellie Bixler or Ash Williams Return in ‘Evil Dead Wrath’?
A seventh Evil Dead movie is already deep into development with Evil Dead Wrath, which will be one of the franchise’s most unique installments yet. That’s partially due to director Francis Galluppi‘s new movie taking place in 1972, thus making it a prequel to Sam Raimi‘s original Evil Dead movie. Taking place before the events of either the original Evil Dead trilogy or Evil Dead Rise, this makes another appearance from Ellie or Ash somewhat unlikely. Then again, the Evil Dead series is known for taking a time travel detour every once in a while, so who knows what groovy twists and turns might be in store.
Evil Dead Burn is now playing in theaters. Stay tuned at Collider for more.
![The Evil Dead’s Most Iconic Character Is in ‘Evil Dead Burn’ and You Missed It [Exclusive]](https://static0.colliderimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/sharedimages/2026/07/evil-dead-burn-poster.jpg?q=49&fit=contain&w=480&dpr=2 "The Evil Dead’s Most Iconic Character Is in ‘Evil Dead Burn’ and You Missed It [Exclusive]")
![The Evil Dead’s Most Iconic Character Is in ‘Evil Dead Burn’ and You Missed It [Exclusive]](https://static0.colliderimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/sharedimages/2026/07/evil-dead-burn-poster.jpg?q=49&fit=contain&w=300&dpr=2 "The Evil Dead’s Most Iconic Character Is in ‘Evil Dead Burn’ and You Missed It [Exclusive]")
