Joiiiin uuuussssss! The king is back and more badass than ever. Bruce Campbell returns in the hugely-anticipated Starz TV series “Ash vs Evil Dead” where present-day Ash is a washed-up womanizing drunk who still works at S-Mart. That however changes when the Deadites invade the world once again and he’s the only man to stop them along with a cast of supporting characters including ass-kicking babe Lucy Lawless. For the panel itself today, Bruce, Lucy, Sam Raimi and more were there to talk about the upcoming show and here are points on what happened and what was said in order:
– The first thing that happened was they played the official series trailer for us and my god did it absolutely blow our primitive screw-head minds! See it for yourself below.
– After the insanity of the trailer, the cast and crew took to the stage with a massive round of applause in Ballroom 6A.
– Once the crowd finally settled, Bruce was wise-cracking about the whole thing as he is well-known for and the first thing they announced is that the opening release of the series will be October 31st so we all get a special Halloween treat.
– The moderator asked about why they went with a TV series and Sam Raimi answered that it gave them more creative control to do it as a series instead which seems to be the normal thing these days.
– When asked about the plot of the series, Sam and Bruce confirmed that it is present-day Ash and all the events of the prior “Evil Dead” trilogy are taken into account.
– Sam and Bruce tease each-other consistently on their work and you can tell that they’ve been the closest of friends for such a long time.
– When asked if it was a difficult shoot so far, Bruce responded “Yes my stunt double is doing a wonderful job!” which got a big laugh. For real though, he then said that this is by-far the most demanding shoot he’s done in terms of physicality. No more of him breaking stuff over his own head though.
– After some more joking around, the topic of Bruce’s sex appeal came up to which Bruce asked for a show of hands around the panel for how many women would sleep with him after the panel in the parking lot. There was quite a few hands and he couldn’t have been happier, even Lucy Lawless was impressed.
– When asked about the use of Ash’s classic weaponry from the original trilogy, Bruce confirmed that of course he would have his boomstick (which we see him putting to good use in the trailer) and of course the legendary hand chainsaw.
– Then the panel turned to the lovely Lucy Lawless who returns to the Sam Raimi realm a couple decades after her “Xena: A Warrior Princess” days. Lucy was thrilled to be back and plays a character in the new show that believes that Ash is the true source of the Deadite plague and wants to “annihilate his ass”. Bruce in proper fashion says her character is obviously “full of shit”.
– Then it turned to Sam Raimi and his involvement to which he announced that he did in fact direct the pilot episode of the series and wouldn’t direct more of it goes into further seasons.
– When asked about the series leading into yet another movie, there was a bit of hesitation to reveal details but Sam said because of the success of the recent “Evil Dead” remake, it’s possible that Ash and Jane Levy’s Mia character could come together in a future movie and battle evil.
– Bruce then held a fun little cosplay competition as he definitely loves hanging with the fans. After some flirting with a female Ash and getting in debates as to the authenticity of their costumes, the female Ash won from an audience vote and Bruce rewarded her with a $20 in her cleavage. Oh Ashley.
– When asked about the use of physical blood and squib effects over the much detested CGI blood, both Bruce and the new trailer assured that they stay as physical as possible throughout the series which is a big relief.
– Original composer Joe LoDuca is heavily involved with the score of the series which is about to begin recording.
– An audience member then asks Bruce if Ash will face Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees. Bruce says “Only if I can kill those losers!”
– After some more joking around between Sam and Bruce, another fan asked if there’s another part from his past that he wants to explore when someone shouted “BUBBA HO TEP”. The audience broke out in applause and Bruce confirmed that he would love to re-visit that character for sure.
– Finally to wrap it up, they showed the trailer once more and the panel finished. Groovy.