Robert Englund Reveals ‘Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash’ Winner

Freddy vs. Jason was very close to getting a sequel with Bruce Campbell’s Ash involved, and Robert Englund has revealed who was supposed to win!

I, for one, am a fan of Freddy vs. Jason. I still think it’s an incredible feeling seeing Freddy and Jason both together in one movie. We have seen plenty of crossover films since then, sure. But none of them seem quite as intense as finally bringing Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger together.

Even before Freddy vs. Jason had even come out, rumors were swirling for years about another potential film. Horror fans held a love for Evil Dead protagonist Ash Williams and were calling for him to be involved. Freddy and Jason both are horror’s most unstoppable monsters, and it’d have been awesome to see Ash going after them.

It was so close to becoming an actual movie. Sam Raimi, still hot off of his Spider-Man success, wanted to return to his Evil Dead roots by directing. Bruce Campbell himself has spoke about the movie, confirming he was negotiating with New Line Cinema. But Campbell and Raimi ultimately couldn’t come to an agreement with New Line, and the film was dead in the water. What happened?

FREDDY VS. JASON, Robert Englund, Ken Kirzinger, 2003, (c) New Line

Ash is literally the only thing that could make this battle more epic.

At a recent Emerald City Comic Con appearance, Robert Englund, who was set to reprise his role as Freddy in the film, dished tons of new details. Apparently the moment when negotiations were toast came at a standstill over the ending. Raimi and Campbell naturally thought Ash should win, while New Line balked at the thought of having Freddy take the loss. Here’s what Englund says about it, courtesy of ScienceFiction.com:

"“Sam Raimi wanted Ash to win. He wanted him to win the match. Which I thought was a great idea. New Line Cinema was against it because I had just had my ass kicked by Jason; they were afraid, cause I was the most successful of the three franchises, they were afraid. ‘We can’t have Freddy killed twice in a row.’ And I was like, ‘Wait a minute, guys. You revived me, you resurrected me with dog urine! It’s real easy to bring Freddy back. Come on. That’s not that hard to do.”"

So New Line had Raimi, Campbell, and even Englund himself vying to make the film. And all of them agreed that Ash should be the winner. But New Line was too worried about Ash defeating Freddy killing off the Elm Street franchise. As if a scuffle with the badass Ash was going to be more humiliating than being thwarted by teenagers.

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So, instead, they put Freddy Krueger on the shelf until the 2010 remake, which is the absolute worst movie ever created — I guess New Line themselves wanted to be the ones to flush Freddy Krueger’s legacy down the toilet.