Although it may be hard to believe Sam Raimi did originally intend the first sequel to be his medieval epic. Through a series of restrictions (detailed below) he had to put those plans on hold until 1991 when AoD began filming.

In 1983 Renaissance Pictures sales agent Irvin Shapiro suggested making a sequel to 'The Evil Dead' and took out ads in the local trade papers advertising 'Evil Dead II: Army of Darkness'. Raimi, Tapert and campbell went on to make 'Crimewave', after which Raimi wrote a new version of the film with the focus less on the more expensive 13th century storyline.

In 1985 Sam Raimi and Scott Spiegel submitted their second draft for a sequel titled 'Evil Dead II: Army of Darkness'

Why the movie was changed:

- Raimi planned to use footage from the original film to suplement the films new 13th century plot and to explain the the orignal film's plot in flashbacks
- The company that owned the rights to the original movie, Films Around The World, failed to allow footage from the original film to be used in the sequel.
- Original footage had to be re-filmed.
- In light of the fact that original footsge had to be re-shot, Raimi scaled down the 13th century aspect of the script.
- Raimi changed the story of the film to accomodate the budget given by the films financers opting to end the film in the 13th century instead
- Irvin Shapiro took out an ad in 'Variety' promoting 'Evil Dead II: Army of Darkness' as early as 1984 (Pic 1.)

The ad from 'Variety' (Pic. 1)

It was initially because of budgetary setbacks and the lack of creative control that Raimi that led to the 'Evil Dead II' that we know and love today. Funny how life can turn out eh?!