Bruce Campbell almost lost out on reuniting with his "Xena: Warrior Princess" co-star Lucy Lawless when he asked her to join his and Sam Raimi's reboot of the "Evil Dead" franchise on Starz.
"I was about to sign on to something else and they were like, 'Aaah! Stop that deal!'" Lawless told Headlines & Global News exclusively about joining "Ash vs Evil Dead." "They told me there'd be a role for me and I was like, 'Awesome. Let's go then!"
Campbell will reprise his role as Ashley "Ash" J. Williams, who has spent the last 30 years avoiding the responsibilities of the Evil Dead. That will all change when a Deadite plague threatens to destroy all of mankind.
Lawless will play Ruby, a mysterious figure who believe Ash (Campbell) is the cause of the Evil outbreaks." The character is another notch on the belt of strong female roles the New Zealand native has been fortunate to play over the last 25 years.
"I often think how many actresses would kill to be in my position, but I'm really grateful," she told HNGN at The Paley Center for Media's "Ash vs Evil Dead" panel. "I get to play these really conflicted characters often who are at odds with their own conscious but continue to go with it and that's really fun. That's pretty rich for drama."
The only other challenge facing Lawless in her new role is the amount of (fake) blood and guts flying her way during filming. So how does she feel about all the gore?
"Well as Bruce says, 'The gore, the better,'" she joked. "You end up with it in your sinuses and you get brain matter in your head and that's the 'Evil Dead' way."
"Ash vs Evil Dead" premieres tonight at 9 p.m. on Starz.
