This year’s fall TV season has a slew of shows that I’m looking forward to, both new and returning, but there’s only one that stands atop the heap, and it’s got a chainsaw for a hand. Starz announced their order for Ash vs Evil Dead just last year, but it feels like we’ve been waiting for it since the 14th century. Speaking of, fans have probably been wondering if Ash’s return to audiences would take place entirely in a present-day setting, or if the show would travel through time like we’ve seen the franchise do in the past. And Bruce Campbell is here to let the world know that it’s a legitimate possibility.
To be expected, Campbell can’t exactly start going into details about where Ash vs Evil Dead will go, but he somewhat surprisingly teases that the franchise’s radical history basically means that anything could happen in the future. Here’s how he put it when EW asked if time travel would be involved.
I would just say just don’t be surprised if it does happen because it has happened. So I would say that would be on the table as well. Especially, once you get into a series, your stories have got to cover you for five freakin’ years, you know what I mean? We’re having the discussions with the writing team now where we’re like ‘Okay, season 2!’
As squee-worthy as that answer is, there’s a non-silver lining to be found there, in that we might have to wait until Season 2 to possibly see Ash and his compadres Pablo (Ray Santiago) and Kelly (Dana Delorenzo) taking a voyage to another era in time. Of course, that would definitely make for a killer ending to Season 1 if it gave a nod to how Evil Dead 2 ended, paving the way to Army of Darkness’s medieval setting. But let’s not start depressing talks about Season 1 already being over, a month before it has even started.
Now that Campbell has left the time travel door open, though, I have to wonder where the creative team of Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert would decide to take these characters. The show would presumably not head to the same timeline as Army of Darkness, although one could make the argument that the similarities between the first two Evil Dead movies wouldn’t rule out duplicating certain story elements. But I like to think that they would try something completely new by maybe heading back to the American Revolution, or to prehistoric times, or to Victorian London. Really, the options are endless, and all of them sound more intriguing if there are Deadites threatening everything.
The only place in time I’m interested in traveling to right now, though, is Saturday, October 31, which is when Ash vs Evil Dead will premiere the first of its tenhalf-hour episodes.
