The first season of ‘Ash vs. Evil Dead‘ was a wild ride for fans, and the reaction was generally favorable from viewers and critics alike. The story drew on elements from the first two ‘Evil Dead’ films but, as astute fans recognized, there were no references to the third film in the franchise, ‘Army of Darkness.’ It turns out, this was intentional on the part of the creative team.
Due to legal agreements with the film studios, a different company holds the ongoing rights to ‘Army of Darkness’ than the first two ‘Evil Dead’ films, hence the primary reason for the lack of acknowledgment in the TV series. This information came to light last year, but at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, show producer Rob Tapert stated in fairly certain terms that ‘Ash vs. Evil Dead’ now does have the rights and ability to use ‘Army of Darkness’ as reference material. However, in an interview earlier this month, franchise star and general badass Bruce Campbell refuted that information, speaking thusly:
“I’ve been sort of putting that to bed. It was a random thing that Rob [Tapert] said, and you know how the internet is, if you see one sentence written, it’s real. I think Rob was more alluding to the fact that we’ve already taken stuff that would have been in Army of Darkness. He still time-travels before Army of Darkness. People have always asked, “Where is Army of Darkness?” Like, we don’t really need Army of Darkness. That was sort of our take on the whole thing. You’ve got to be careful referencing certain movies, because then you have to make deals with certain partners that might own those certain movies.”
For the record, here’s what Tapert said at SDCC:
“We actually can reference [Army of Darkness], and we reference it in this coming season. We just don’t pull upon that universe, but this coming season Ash is able to talk about events that happened in Army of Darkness, although people are not likely to believe him, of course.”
Seems kind of hard to misinterpret that, but hey, what do I know?
The second season of ‘Ash vs. Evil Dead’ will premiere on Starz on October 2, 2016.
Source: Arrow in the Head via Screen Rant
Tony Schaab is bad, and that’s good. He will never be good, and that’s not bad. There’s no one he’d rather be than he! A lover of most things sci-fi and horror, Tony is an author by day and a DJ by night. Come hang out with Tony on Facebook and Twitter to hear him spew semi-funny nonsense and get your opportunity to finally put him in his place.
