Its official: Cult horror classic The Evil Dead will rise again as a TV seriesnext year on Starz. The show, Ash Vs. Evil Dead, will play out over 10 half-hour episodes.Movie director Sam Raimi, who made the original movie in 1981 and its two sequels (Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness), will executive produce the series, according to Entertainment Weekly, and will write and direct its first episode. Actor Bruce Campbell, who starred in the three movies and made a cameo in the 2013 Evil Dead reboot, will reprise his role as Ash Williams.
Im really excited to bring this series to the Evil Dead fans worldwide its going to be everything they have been clamoring for: serious deadite ass-kicking and plenty of outrageous humor, Campbell said in a statement.
Evil Dead has always been a blast, Raimi said. Bruce, Rob [Tapert, executive producer] and I are thrilled to have the opportunity to tell the next chapter in Ashs lame, but heroic, saga. With his chainsaw arm and his boomstick, Ash is back to kick some monster butt. And brother, this time theres a truckload of it.
The show will find Ash, complete with his chainsaw arm, facing off against a plague of Deadites, the demonic creatures from the movies. Ash is finally forced to face his demons personal and literal, the shows logline said. Destiny, it turns out, has no plans to release the unlikely hero from its Evil grip.
Raimi teased fans with the notion of a show at San Diego Comic-Con this past July. At the time, the director said he was working with Campbell and his brother, Ivan Raimi, on scripts. Ivan co-wrote Army of Darkness with Sam.
Sam Raimi, who directed the Spider-Man movies in the mid 2000s and Oz the Great and Powerful last year, previously executive produced Starzs series of Spartacus shows.