Lindsay Farris and Dana Delorenzo Talk Ash vs Evil Dead Season 3
Season 3 of “Ash vs. Evil Dead” has Ash (Bruce Campbell) teaming up with two new players: Lindsay Farris as Dalton, leader of the ancient order the Knights of Sumeria, and Arielle Carver-O’Neill as Brandy, the daughter he never knew he had. The Groovy One has to fight determined Deadites, put up with The Knights, juggle fatherhood, and deal with Kelly’s (Dana DeLorenzo) return to the fold. Oh, and his dad (Lee Majors) is back from the dead and Pablo (Ray Santiago) develops powers of his own.
“Join us,” won’t you, for our recent chat with Farris and DeLorenzo on what we can expect in the third season of the campiest horror series on television.
DC: So, for those not in the know, what’s this ancient order you head up, Lindsay?
Lindsay Farris: You’re talking about the Knights of Sumeria. And the last time we heard of them was in the original Evil Dead film franchise where they were wearing play armour and riding horses and using spears. He’s upgraded a little bit. He uses a motorcycle and a shotgun amongst a myriad of other weapons. That’s the order of which he is. If you imagine that, in real day, he’s been told all of these legends about this prophetized one that is coming back to stop evil and while I imagine all the other knights of Sumeria are now going off and becoming lawyers and doctors and physiotherapists Dalton has kind of held onto it and it forges his identity really. So he’s travelling across the countryside on his motor bike, going from town to town and that’s when he meets this one and it ratifies everything he’s been told over the years.
DC: What’s Kelly’s relationship dynamic to Dalton?
Dana DeLorenzo: You know, they are kindred spirits. I feel they are cut from the same cloth in terms of who they are as people. They’re doers. And I think they both give each other what they need at the start which is why we don’t necessarily see this unfold on camera, but it’s pretty obvious they instantly have a chemistry, that Kelly we learn, just from once the dialogue starts between her and Pablo, because Pablo’s holding a grudge against her that she just basically left without saying goodbye because it was one of those things as we’ve seen for two seasons – Kelly’s the brains of the trifecta and she’s saying Ash, I was there when you made the deal, evil is coming back and you can’t just sit here and set up shop and think this is fine. She can’t live that life. She’s not – normal is not her modus operandi. So she goes, and looking for the fight and wanting to stay in the fight and becomes this over aggressive bar tender at this dive bar.
So the idea is that she met Dalton and because his whole life he’s been looking to validate his family and his identity and his history, that’s exactly why Kelly is in this. This is the only thing that gives her purpose in life, this is it. That’s why we’ve like hinted over the seasons, when Pablo says do you really not want to find the book, do you not want this to be over – and even season two when he has that speech with her at the bar, he says you don’t need anything to make you happy. And that’s been a real struggle because she’s an orphan, this is her adopted family, these boys – they’re her boys because they fight evil. So I think what Dalton does for her is gives her this new lease – oh you believe in evil but you’ve never seen a Deadite! Oh you stick with me kid, it’s comin’. She makes this call in the beginning, you’re right, evil’s coming back – and together because they both have agency and they’re both after the same goal, I think that’s why they work together. And have this great – it’s a different type of chemistry than what she has with Pablo, that’s all. But Pablo resented that a little bit too much which creates a great conflict between him and Dalton because Dalton doesn’t trust Pablo, Pablo doesn’t trust Dalton. Kelly’s like, you’re both pretty, you both have good hair, calm down, let’s keep our eye on the prize. It adds to that. It adds to that juicy conflict you know, because when the stakes are raised and something bad happens – which you can guess is probably going to happen – we’ll see how that unfolds then as the stakes become pretty high.
DC: Lindsay, how did you prepare for working with so much blood and gore? I mean, “Ash Vs Evil Dead” takes all that to another level.
LF: Nothing prepares you for having a cannon go off in your face full of blood splatter. I mean, because I was familiar with the franchise – it’s film days – like, my grandmother introduced it to me as a kid on betamax, before VHS, so she used to show it to me along with the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
DC: Did your parents know Granny was showing you that stuff?
LF: They did but they hated horror. They didn’t mind, so this was my upbringing. It was kind of the scars of that, that were my raw material for the show. But yeah, there’s nothing quite like a blood cannon going off in your face but this sort of show probably rivals, if not takes the cake for, the most amount of blood, gore and viscera you can cram into a twenty-four-minute show.
DC: Have you gotten used to the goop and gore yet, Kelly?
DD: Sort of. I mean, the splatter matter in general that our writers and or our crew comes up with – the black goop that was a ball – I’m like, ‘what was that!?’ And by the way, they all have their own different consistency. We have a blood cart – they yell bring out the blood cart! – and depending on what kind of matter it’s going to be… well, nothing can prepare you.
DC: Even though it is a gross and scary and campy show, the female characters are really well-written and everyone has a fair amount of depth.
DD: Funny that you say that. Yes, you know the writers took Kelly in a little bit of a different direction this season, which I’m glad that – two things happen. Number one, because she – the one thing I’ve been hoping for, for her for two seasons is for her to have agency and to finally forge her path – to follow her own lead. She’s the been the only one who hasn’t gotten to say this is what we’re doing and she’s been the one with the plan, the one trying to say, we shouldn’t be drinking ketamine maybe, hey Ash, are you sure you can trust that bald guy, he doesn’t seem quite right! So finally she gets her day in the sun to get that sweet, sweet taste of revenge and because of that, because she finally gets to go after what she wants, she does so in a way to protect everybody else. She goes in alone, prepared to go down with the fight.
She’s like Quixote in that way this season. Because at the end of the day, we’ve seen her since season one, she says, I’m gonna go down flinging! Because she’d rather do that than take that chance and fail. Because that’s actually what would kill her. So because of that, Kelly – you have to wait and see how that turns out – but leading up to that and thereafter, Kelly is never the same Kelly, for better or for worse, in more ways than one and you will never see it coming but also, you’re right, she does also let down her walls a bit more. First with Brandy, she wants to show her how similar their back stories are because at first her and Brandy but heads – Kelly’s like oh good, now I have to babysit rebel without a cause over here, who’s got the stubbornness of Ash Williams! But immediately she feels a connection with her because they’re so similar.
Brandy was dragged in this fight when she lost her mother and Kelly will do anything to protect Brandy from losing Ash. So it’s Kelly being the one convincing Brandy, yes I know you’re father is an idiot and you think he is, he kinda is but he’s also the guy whose gonna save the world and you gotta stop fighting us on this and making it harder and just trust that. And because Kelly does that she lets down her own walls and show her own vulnerability to help bring out Brandy’s inner bad ass and it’s such a cool thing to see. And it also works in favour with Dalton and it also works in favour with Pablo and Pablo and Kelly take their relationship to another level and all I can tease is that body parts do touch.
DC: Are those body parts attached at the time?
DD: Cannot confirm or deny!
DC: Lindsay, what was the Bruce Campbell expectation vs. the reality, when you met him and started working with him?
LF: The last time I came across Bruce was really in the Evil Dead world and I was expecting Ash Williams. And he’s such a presence! He’s the sort of actor that walks on a set and you feel him before he’s even go there. And the first time I was on set I literally stepped into the television, it’s in Brock’s house, there’s still viscera on the walls, from season one and season two which I’ve just come from binge watching Bruce Campbell walks in. I’m very fortunate my first scene was pretty much as a fan boy moment. That was the first one we got into so it was literally a ????? not required because I was a fan for so long. Whilst Ash maybe a bit of a father figure Bruce is certainly a bit of a father figure to us or has been as we’ve gone through too. And we just try to deliver them everything that Sam and Rob and him set up when they created the original franchise so I’d say it’s a two way street except that I think the closest Ash gets to say Dalton by his right name is Dalbo, if not it’s “new guy”.
DD: In comparison with Bruce Campbell from Ash, Bruce loves Lindsay. You can just see, he has accepted him and Arielle like they’ve been …. they fit right in and it’s a testament to them as actors and human beings, they’re lovely and charming but so wonderful to work with kind of people and if Bruce Campbell has his seal of approval you know it’s legit. So we’re happy they’re part of this family and hope it continues on and on and on.
DC: Season 2 ended on a huge note – how does Season 3 continue that?
LF: Yes! On that note season two stepped it up from season one, the villains got bigger, got badder, more ruthless, got more disgusting and season three certainly doesn’t disappoint. I think it’s the biggest, baddest set of demons, culminating in something that’s a bit out of this world.
Look for Season 3 to premiere on February 25th at 9PM ET/PT.
“Ash vs. Evil Dead” is led by Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead, “Burn Notice”) in the role of Ash Williams; Lucy Lawless (“Salem,” “Spartacus”) as Ruby; Ray Santiago (“Touch,” Meet the Fockers) as Pablo Simon Bolivar, Ash’s loyal sidekick; Dana DeLorenzo (A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas) as Kelly Maxwell co-star alongside newcomers Arielle Carver-O’Neill and Lindsay Ferris. Lee Majors returns as Brock Williams to warn Ash from beyond the grave.
The third season finds Ash’s status in Elk Grove, Michigan, has changed from murderous urban legend to humanity-saving hometown hero. When Kelly witnesses a televised massacre with Ruby’s fingerprints all over it, she returns with a new friend to warn Ash and Pablo that evil isn’t done with them yet. Blood is thicker than water in the battle of good vs. Evil Dead!
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