Perhaps buoyed by the onslaught of rave reviews for its upcoming Evil Dead continuation Ash Vs. Evil Dead (including mine), Starz has opted to pick up the Bruce Campbell horror-comedy for a second season – despite the fact that the series doesn’t premiere until Halloween night.
Discussing the incredible staying power of the franchise and the dedication of its fans, Starz managing director Carmi Zlotnik announced that season 2 was already in the works:
“One season isn’t enough to satisfy the fans’ two-decade-long appetite for more Ash. The early fan and press support, along with the international broadcaster demand for more story, have made it clear that the adventures of Ash Williams can’t end with Season 1.”
Given that the first season of Ash Vs. Evil Dead is only scheduled to run for a measly 10 half-hour episodes (outside of the extra-long premiere), that’s extremely welcome news. As much blood-splattering fun as the first two episodes were, the series seemed to be taking its sweet time in connecting Campbell’s Ash and his new sidekicks to Jill Marie Jones’ dedicated cop and the mysterious Ruby (Lucy Lawless), and with a Deadite plague to combat, Ash will need every minute of groovy chainsaw-revving action he can get.
No word on an episode count for the second season yet, but it will likely be at least as long as the 10-episode freshman season, and though it’s unclear whether all of the main cast will still be breathing by the time it arrives, Starz has confirmed that at the very least Campbell and Lawless will continue to star. Behind the scenes, nothing is changing, with original Evil Dead mastermind Sam Raimi, Robert Tapert and Campbell back as exec producers, along with Craig DiGregorio, who will continue as showrunner.
Ash Vs. Evil Dead premieres on Saturday – it’s one of the best new shows of the year and very worthy of being your coveted Halloween night viewing selection.
