Interview: Lucy Lawless is Absolute Worst in ‘Ash vs. Evil Dead’ Season 3

Interview: Lucy Lawless is Absolute Worst in ‘Ash vs. Evil Dead’ Season 3

The home video release of Ash vs. Evil Dead, Season 2 is just around the corner. In celebration of that fact, we got to speak with the cast of the show who let us in on their characters’ respective journeys during this season and in the season to come. Warning: There is a slight spoiler warning for those of you who have yet to catch up on Ash vs. Evil Dead, for some reason.

In Season 2, Ash and the gang are forced to leave Jacksonville and travel to Ash’s home town of Elk Grove, Michigan where its citizens have run him out after the events of Evil Dead 2. There, he confronts Ruby, only to find that she too is now a victim of evil and in need of Ash’s help. The former enemies become reluctant allies as Elk Grove soon becomes the nucleus of evil.

In this article, Lucy Lawless talks about how Ruby goes from ambiguously evil, to a reluctant ally, and back to the absolute worst person in the entire universe!

Related: Read more interviews from the cast of Ash vs. Evil Dead.

Legion of Leia: How does Ruby really feel about Ash being the Chosen One? He’s a bit of a bumbling hero.

Lucy Lawless: Yeah, she can’t stand it. She has another candidate in mind. We’ll just say that.

LoL: What exactly is Ruby’s connection with the Necronomicon? Did she really write it, or was she just being shifty?

Lawless: No she was one of the Dark Ones, but she betrayed them. They’re out for blood. They want to get her back, but she’s trapped them in the Netherworld. The problem is that [Ash] is going to unleash them, and then I’m screwed. So I’m going to enlist some help, I’ve got another candidate in mind. It’s not Ash, but I need him in order to produce a new candidate. I need a little sumthin‘ from him.

Ruby has always had her offspring. She had all of those little babies, but then they grew up to be horrible little bastards. She’s got somebody else in mind to replace Ash to become the Chosen One. If she doesn’t do that, he is going to unleash the Dark Ones. And [Ruby] will be obliterated from existence. That, as an immortal, is an enormous threat to her.

But! On the way, much hilarity ensues.

LoL: As for Good Ruby, was there any resemblance of that plan going into action when she was with Kelly? Was that why she said Kelly could be stronger than Ash one day?

Lawless: I just think that was a lovely development between her and Kelly. Good Ruby had a great gal pal relationship with her, but that’s over now. This Ruby killed Good Ruby, and now she’s in the 80s waiting for Ash. She’s embedding herself in the bosom of his family because she has something she needs.

She’s as BAD as every Ruby that has come before. This one is a sadist, truly evil. Utterly amoral. Amoral is much more dangerous that immoral. One has some ties to morality, and the other just has none.

This Ruby is pure ambition, and yet she has a kind of charm. She has some skills that make her come across as feeling/caring human being.

LoL: Ooooooh. That’s so awesome. Now, when I talked to Bruce earlier, he said that the demons were like a mafia in Season 3. They’re going after families. Does that make you the Godfather?

Lawless: Ooh, I like that! Yeah! The Godmother. Ruby’s a terrifying spider of a woman.

LoL: What did you have the most fun doing while shooting Ash vs Evil Dead: Season 2?

Lawless: Season 2? Gosh, that was so long ago. We already finished filming a whole other season by now. Y’know, I was surprised how much I liked doing the fight scenes. I never used to like doing them on Xena. But then, all of a sudden, all that muscle memory came flooding back. The fights now are actually quite enjoyable. [Laughs] I liked the fight against my own children. It was such an interesting physical experience. All of that muscle memory from years and years ago, it felt like I was transported back in time and I’m back on the Xena set. But it was a totally different type of fighting.

We always try to make sure that Ruby had no Xena in her, none of the sounds that she made, none of the punches. We tried to completely build the fights away from Xena. It was easy because the stunt coordinator also worked on Xena. All the kids that I started out with are all running the business. [Laughs] Also Dayna Grant is my stunt woman on Ash vs Evil Dead. She was one of the last Xena stunt doubles, and she’s now an international world class stunt woman just like Zoë Bell, who also started out on Xena.

Where was I going with this? Oh yeah! I really enjoy fight scenes now, for the first time in my life. [Laughs]

LoL: I’ve asked the others this question as well, but how much blood do you estimate is dumped on you in a single episode?

Lawless: I tend to be the vomit queen. I think we add a couple of new body fluids to the mix in Season 3.

LoL: Seriously? What else is there possibly to add?! [Laughs]

Lawless: There’s a couple more that we have yet to explore. They’re coming. Ooooooh, they’re comin’.

LoL: I heard you had been teaching Dana DeLorenzo Italian, is that correct?

Lawless: Dana, y’know, is full Sicilian, right? I study languages all the time because I quite like it. I got her and [Ray Santiago] into participating in a community play done by the Dante Alighieri Italian language society here — because I belong to that group. I got them to play some bit parts. It was the first Italian [Dana] has ever really done. Same with Ray, but he speak fluent Spanish, so it was quite natural to him in a way. And for Dana, she sounds so right doing it. I guess her grandma speaks Sicilian, which is a bit different…quite a lot different from Italian. But just the way [the words] form in her mouth…y’know, if she goes — she’s never even been to Italy — she’s going to meet people who’ll treat her like family. I felt like I was reintroducing her to her own culture, in a way. Out here in New Zealand, which is weird, eh?

The home entertainment release of Ash vs Evil Dead: Season 2 will be available Tuesday, August 22, 2017 on Blu-ray and DVD for $43.99 and $34.98, respectively.