The much-loved Starz horror-comedy series Ash vs. Evil Dead is back for Season 2, with Ash (Bruce Campbell) leaving Jacksonville and returning to his hometown of Elk Grove, Michigan. Although things with Ruby (Lucy Lawless) are shaky, at best, the former enemies, along with Pablo (Ray Santiago) and Kelly (Dana DeLorenzo) must form an uneasy alliance, if they’re going to survive the growing evil.

During a press conference, Bruce Campbell, Lucy Lawless and executive producer Rob Tapert talked about their fear of not living up to fan expectations, how much Sam Raimi is still able to be involved, the pressure to outdo the first season in the second season, why they think the show has gotten better in its storytelling, the incredible casting decision to bring on Lee Majors as Ash’s father, why Ash is not a good role model, how continuity is for wimps, and taking things to a whole new grotesque level.

Question: Were you ever worried that this show wouldn’t find an audience?

BRUCE CAMPBELL: I was worried, hell yeah! They could have easily gone, “Nice try!”

LUCY LAWLESS: It’s a big thing to live up to fan expectations. They’ve been demanding this for years.

CAMPBELL: It was like, “You’re bringing me back when I’m not really capable of doing it anymore?! Perfect let’s just see what happens!” Thank god, in the show, Ash wears a man girdle and has dentures, so we can get away with a lot. But, it’s been very gratifying. Fans are always very honest and very direct because they have no reason not to be, especially with social media where no one can find them. And they’ve been very accepting of the show, so we just don’t want to let them down. They were the ones who made enough noise, for so many decades. They would not shut up about these movies, God bless them. So, they put us in the position of being able to do it, and you never want to let them down. I’d rather let a studio executive down than the fans because they’re operating from a business point of view. I get where they’re coming from. But with fans, you’ve got to give little Billy what he wants. In this case, he wants carnage and mayhem, unbridled.

It took several years for Ash to resurface. What do you think made this new version of the story possible on TV?

CAMPBELL: A lot of things are coming back now because people want to put that old comfortable shoe on. People get nervous about the world, so they want things that make them feel happy, like the good old days. So, this probably has an element of nostalgia from the Evil Dead movies. I’ll do a book signing and say, “What’s your name?” And they’ll say, “Ash.” I’ll go, “Your name is not Ash.” And they’ll say, “Yes it is. My parents named me after your stupid movie. Now sign my book!” So, we’re now in the second generation with Evil Dead. Fathers and sons who did not bond until they watched blood and death together and now thick as thieves. We’re bringing families together, one beheading at a time.

How much is Sam Raimi still able to collaborate?

ROB TAPERT: Sam was very involved in the first season, and the beginning of the second season. He’s trying to get a motion picture consortium together, so he’s been doing that thing that everyone in Hollywood does, which is going to China to raise money. He’s found that it’s not one trip, but ten trips and 500 dinners. So, he was involved with the casting of Lee Majors and the original stories, and he did the pilot.

CAMPBELL: There was no question about it, we knew we would never have Sam full time. He’s a big shot movie director. So, we brought him in and got him to set the bar very high to give us street cred, because the fans would not have accepted it, if he didn’t put his thumb on this project. But it’s unrealistic to expect that he’s going to be there, directing. Television is a very different thing. We can’t afford him, is really what the bottom line is.

You had tremendous ratings with the first season. How much of that do you think was just people really excited about this world coming back?

TAPERT: The fans drove those ratings, in the first season. When I look in the mirror and honestly ask, I don’t think we should have been that high. We certainly worked hard enough to do that, but at the end of the season, we certainly saw room for improvement. I think the second season supersedes what came before, at every level. So, I’m glad for the love that they showed and it’s always nice to be loved, but there was room for improvement.

LAWLESS: We hope they love us more, this season.

TAPERT: Yeah. If they were that happy, they’re going to be happier still. Our goal is always to please the audience.

CAMPBELL: We want to keep them from squirming in their seats. That’s why it’s a half-hour. As soon as you look at your watch, it’s over.

Is there a lot of pressure to outdo yourself, this season?

CAMPBELL: Yeah. Season 1 was, “Holy crap, are people going to like it?!” Season 2 is like, “Oh, geez, they like it, so we’re screwed because we’ve gotta keep them liking it.” Thankfully, Ruby is much more integrated this season and I think it’ll be easier for fans to get behind that character, too.

In what ways do you think the show is most improved, in Season 2?

TAPERT: I think it’s slightly better storytelling. Many shows take the first season to find what it is they want to be, and figure out what worked and what didn’t work, and how we can improve on that.

CAMPBELL: You get to know your actors, too, and figure out what they can do that you didn’t know they could do and what they’re good at, so that you can give them more of that, and then give them less of what they suck at. You figure out where the characters fit and which actors are good together, and you try to capitalize on everything that you’ve learned. That’s how the shows get better. As an actor, I’ve always wanted to throw out the first couple weeks of shooting of anything because no one knows anything. About half-way through the movie, you go, “Oh, now we’ve figured it out!” My theory is that you should start shooting Episode 2 of every season first. In the second season, thankfully everybody is a little more up to speed.

Bruce, how was it to have Lee Majors play your father, this season?

CAMPBELL: It was a great moment. Out of all the miserable moments that actors suffer, throughout their professional lives, that was not one of them. That was one of those wonderful moments where you go, "Oh, now I know why I’m in this stupid business." Every so often, you can have fun things like that happen, where you get to work with someone you grew up looking up to. It was a dream come true.

In Season 1, you complained about how much action you had to do. Have they toned it down any?

CAMPBELL: No. They said, “Ash is going to get hit by a car.” Great! So, normally they have a stuntman – my stuntman, Raicho Vasilev, who is an excellent stuntman rom Bulgaria – but they thought it would be better, if the real Ash came up and went splat against the windshield. So, I volunteer occasionally, throughout the season, to do stuff like that. After the fourth take, you realize that was a stupid decision, but then you’ve got yourself into it, so you’ve gotta do it. We had a few of those this season. I tore my left hamstring fighting. And then, the last two weeks was nothing but fighting.

You’ve talked about Ash’s PTSD. Is there ever a danger in intellectualizing a genre show?

CAMPBELL: Yes, at every turn, there’s danger at intellectualizing this show, especially because it’s hard to do horror and comedy. Just don’t analyze that crap.

Do you see it as an allegory for a war drama?

CAMPBELL: Ash vs. Evil Dead is very deep. I do appreciate the fact that you are able to pull themes out of it, and I would just go with it. I think it’s good. But having joked about that, you have to give the audience enough to get behind your character. Ash can’t be a complete and utter cad. He can be about 80% cad, but there’s still got to be about 20% where he comes through, at the end. Ruby is a very despicable character, from my character’s point of view, but she’s got to make it so that the audience goes, “What’s her deal?” You have to keep them on the hook. That’s what our job is.

Lucy, did you want to step back in to another action role?

LAWLESS: That was the dream, always. This has been my cross to bear, and it’s been very good to me.

CAMPBELL: When Lucy goes to conventions, people come up to her table and cry. People come up to my table and want to smoke marijuana with me, but with her, they come up and, because of how fundamental Xena was to a lot of people’s lives, as far as giving self-worth to people of all kinds of interests and persuasions, it’s important. And Lucy has been great. There have been a lot of people who are role models, who suck as human beings. Lucy is an okay role model, and when people meet her, they’re not disappointed because she’s not rude and dismissive.

LAWLESS: You cannot disappoint the fans, especially my fans, because they’d be heartbroken.

CAMPBELL: I don’t have that effect on people. I go to a convention and my wife is like, “You have fun with those 16-year-old guys, Bruce.” No one is trying to get in my pants, or do anything with me. With Lucy, they go, “You saved my life,” and I’m like, “Wow!”

What has the addition of Lucy Lawless to this world meant to this show?

CAMPBELL: We were lucky to get her. I told Rob, from the start, “We have to get Lucy in the show. You’re married to her, so make it happen. We need ass-kickers on this show. It can’t just be Ash.” It’s television and you have to expand the universe and get more people involved. It can’t just be one guy, running around in a cabin, yelling at himself. And you have to get people that you know are going to deliver.

How have you guys adapted to the New Zealand way of life?

LAWLESS: Great, actually. Ray [Santiago], in particular, is the king of Auckland. He folded into this community perfectly. And Dana [DeLorenzo] has a bunch of friends outside of the production. You have to do that. You have to form a life outside of work.

Is Ash a good role model?

LAWLESS: Not this season, he ain’t.

CAMPBELL: It’s dangerous for actors to be up on pedestals. No one should have ever put any of us – athletes, politicians, or anybody – up there. Nobody should be treated any better than anybody else because actors start to believe that crap, and they start to feel entitled and privileged. I’m sorry that we are put in a situation where we are viewed as role models. So, in my personal life, I try to get in trouble and make people think of me as not that guy, in order to deflect that an show them that I’m not a role model. I’ll punch a little kid in the face, just to prove to people that I’m not that guy.

Because the movies don’t actually mesh with the show, how do you decide what falls into the continuity of this world?

TAPERT: Continuity is for wimps! This season, we tried to go back and pay homage to Evil Dead 1, whereas last season we concentrated on the events from Evil Dead 2. We have just taken those two movies like they were in different dimensions and blended them, as we wanted, in this dimension.

CAMPBELL: And what’s cool is that you don’t really have to worry about any of it. Just watch the show. It’ll unfold.

Has there ever been anything that you couldn’t do because it was too gory and too outrageous for you to do it?

TAPERT: No.

LAWLESS: They like things as gory as they can be. They take things to a whole new grotesque level.

TAPERT: The funny thing is that much of what goes into the script is not about gore. It’s on the set, working in the moment with the performers, that the director says, “Oh, I could do this,” and that’s what pushes it. It’s a tough show to write, for many reasons, because it’s such a unique blend of ingredients with such a special baking process. The directors certainly have their hand in pushing the envelope and wanting to put their signature on the Evil Dead franchise, in their own special way, so we allowed them enough rope and enough blood to cause all kinds of trouble.

Ash vs. Evil Dead airs on Sunday nights on Starz.