Hailing The King: Six Things I'd Like To See In The Evil Dead Television Series

After years of false starts, declamations by star Bruce Campbell, and a successful-in-the-short term but ultimately unmemorable reboot, the original Evil Dead franchise is about to spin off into a series.  Starring Campbell, who will reprise his role as the single-handed, wisecracking demonslayer, the series is currently in the process of being written.  The Guardian helpfully offered a series of suggestions recently, and this blog’s determined to offer a few more.  Here are six suggestions, shouted out into the sweet internet, 

1: Give us a sense of what Ash has been through over the past twenty years.  That doesn’t mean we need a ton of episodes lingering over past history, but give us a sense of what sort of life Ash has led over the past decade. Is he a loner or does he have a family?  Does he juggle pets and hobbies with Deadite killing?  The narrative abhors a vacuum. 

2: Make those supporting characters compelling: The Guardian encouraged producers to keep Ash front and center, something that should be paramount, let’s face facts – unless the series takes place in the total isolation of the director’s cut, we need to create some original characters for Ash to bounce off of.   The obvious idea is to hook them back into the series somehow –give us Annie Knowby’s brother or the like.

3: Don’t go monster of the week on us: We already have a series where men battle against their angst-laden pasts and deal with a different demon every week.  It’s called Supernatural.  Ash’s adventures should focus on the Necronomicon and their evil, twisted spawn somewhat exclusively to avoid feeling overtly repetitious.

4: At least once before the series ends, take Ash back to 1300: And show us what Sheila and Arthur and Henry have been up to!

5: Ted Raimi, please:   As I stated above, Ash is going to need supporting players to make his story compelling on a weekly basis, and why look further than your own back yard for assistance?  Ted Raimi has natural chemistry with Campbell borne of a long friendship that stretches back into their shared youth, and he already has a living character in the franchise – Anthony the skeptical S-Mart stockboy.  Now imagine them years later, Anthony still the unwitting assistant to Ash’s rollercoaster life, though perhaps he’s been moved up the ladder and is now Ash’s boss.

Oh, and lie a little less egregiously than Fede Alvarez, but that's a given.

6: Keep the violence playful.  The big dividing line between the Evil Dead remake and what the franchise is generally known for was how heavily it layered on the gore in a so-super-serious-it-turned-silly manner (And yes, I know the original Evil Dead was as serious as a heart attack, but the other two movies in the series are standard bearers of comedy horror, and majority ought to rule).  Ash should be menaced, but we should also laugh as the odds stack against him – and  cheer when he eventually triumphs.