The Evil Dead TV show is officially a reality.  We learned a few months ago that Sam Raimi was writing a version of Evil Dead for television, and Starz announced today that it has indeed ordered a TV iteration of the classic horror franchise straight-to-series for a debut in 2015.  Bruce Campbell will be reprising his role as Ash in the show, titled Ash Vs. Evil Dead, as the story finds the character having spent “the last 30 years avoiding responsibility, maturity, and the terrors of the Evil Dead.”  He’s essentially forced out of retirement when a Deadite plague threatens to destroy all of mankind.  More after the jump.

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Image via Renaissance Pictures

Per Starz, Ash Vs. Evil Dead is a 10-episode series that will be doled out in half-hour installments.  Sam Raimi will co-write the script for the pilot with his brother Ivan Raimi and Tom Spezialy (Chuck), and he will direct the first episode.  Raimi will executive produce the series alongside Campbell and Evil Dead producer Rob Tapert, which is the same trio that was behind last year’s Evil Dead remake directed by Fede Alvarez.

While Raimi previously indicated that he was planning on making Army of Darkness 2/Evil Dead 4, a jump to series television might make more sense for the continuing adventures of Ash.  The TV landscape is more creatively freeing, and one imagines Raimi might have had trouble getting a studio to properly finance a sequel to the 1993 film which made only $11.5 million a the box office.  Speaking about the prospect of bringing Ash to the small screen, Raimi had this to say:

Evil Dead has always been a blast. Bruce, Rob, and I are thrilled to have the opportunity to tell the next chapter in Ash’s lame, but heroic saga. With his chainsaw arm and his ‘boomstick,’ Ash is back to kick some monster butt. And brother, this time there’s a truckload of it.”

Starz is an interesting choice of venue for Ash Vs. Evil Dead, but it makes sense given that Raimi and Tapert executive produced the network’s Spartacus.  Regardless, I’m very interested to see how this continuation of Ash’s story comes together, and to see how Raimi makes the transition to television after working on such large-scale feature films.  If it's something more akin to Drag Me to Hell, then sign me up.

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