With Saber Interactive’sEvil Deadgame having just come andEvil Dead: Riseset to release later this year,interest is returning to theEvil Deadfranchise and its protagonist, Ashley J. Williams. ActorBruce Campbellhas played Ash across three movies, a three-season television series, multiple videogames, and the stinger from the end ofEvil Dead (2013). Much to the delight of fans,he’s set to come back as Ash one last time forEvil Dead: Rise.
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Ash Williams is an absolute icon of pulphorror, and he’s beloved by many who partake in all things bloody and violent. However, there are some things thatless-entrenchedEvil Deadfansmay not know about Ash Williams. Thankfully, there is a groovy remedy for that.
8The “J” In Ashley J. Williams Stands For Joanna
Ash Williams is a very vain man. As such, he has always been pretty self-conscious about his first name, preferring to go by “Ash” as opposed to Ashley. However, he’s even more protective of his middle name than he is of his first name.
The “J” in Ashley J. Williams stands for Joanna, as was shown in the third season ofAsh vs. Evil Dead. Interestingly though, this changes depending on the version of Ash. Ash Williams has starred in countless comics from Dynamite Entertainment and Dark Horse Comics, and he has even battled it out with Vampirella, Danger Girl, and theMarvelZombies. In many of these instances, Ash’s middle initial is changed with the alternate universe.
Ash’s dad makes his first on-screen appearance in the second season ofAsh vs. Evil Dead.His name is Brock Williams, and he is played by veteran actor Lee Majors.
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Lee Majors is primarily known for his role as theSix Million Dollar Man, a mid-70s television series about a cyborg man who worked as a secret operative and protected America from various threats. However, he’s also starred in TV series such asFall GuyandThe Big Valleyandmade a brief cameo in the Bill Murray black comedy,Scrooged.
6Ash’s Sister And Girlfriend Were Both At The Cabin In The First Movie
When one is enjoyingEvil Dead II,Army of Darkness,Ash vs. Evil Dead, or any of the other spin-offs to theEvil Deadfranchise, it’s easy to forget how this all started with a group of friends hanging out in a remote cabin in the woods and a recorded reading of a cursed book.
Furthermore, it’s easy to forget how much Ash actually lost in that first movie. His sister, Cheryl Williams hadone of the more horrific deathsat the hands of Evil-possessed vegetation. This turned her into a Deadite that ultimately died when the Necronomicon Ex Mortis was burned. Ash’s girlfriend, Linda, was turned into a Deadite after being stabbed by the Deadite Cheryl, and Deadite Linda was decapitated by Ash wielding a shovel.
For those who have followedEvil Deadthrough its various stages of evolution throughout the years, one of the most perplexing things about the franchise has to be why theEvil Dead IIrecap changed the events of the original movie so much. Instead of Ash, Linda, Cheryl, and Scotty going to the cabin,it’s just Ash and Linda.
This was clarified years later in an interview with Bruce Campbell released on a now-defunct streaming service called YEAH! In one of these interviews, Bruce explains that director Sam Raimi didn’t own the rights to the firstEvil Deadmovie while makingEvil Dead II. To avoid any legal issues, they shot a different version of events from the firstEvil Deadand changed Linda’s actress from Betsy Baker to Denise Bixler.
4Ash Actually Has A Daughter From A Woman Whom He Briefly Married
Ash vs. Evil Deadis chock-full of revelations about the history of Ash Williams. Possibly the biggest of these revelations comes from the third season, where it is shown that Ash was briefly married to a woman named Candace “Candy” Barr thanks to the two going on a lengthy alcohol-fueled bender.
Ash barely remembers any of this when he’s first confronted by Candace. However, the larger reveal is that Ash impregnated Candace, and she gave birth to a daughter named Brandy. Candace is killed by a Deadite soon afterward, and Ash tries his best to connect with Brandy and show that he’s not as bad as all the “Ashy Slashy” rumors make him out to be.
3Ash Died And Came Back
Evil came back during the third season ofAsh vs. Evil Dead, and it was more deadly than ever before. Recurring antagonist Ruby Knowby (who is a demon played by Lucy Lawless) makes another Evil Ash that goes on a rampage, and Ruby tries to bring a woman named Kaya back to the mortal plane.
Over the course of the season, Ash’s daughter Brandy and his Evil-fighting associate Kelly are both killed. Ash is unwilling to let his daughter and friend remain dead though, so he has his best friend, Pablo, kill him so that he can go bring Brandy and Kelly back to the land of the living. He is successful in reviving Brandy, but Kelly is stuck in the underworld a little longer before eventually being saved by Ash and Pablo later on.
2You Can Play Poker With Ash In Poker Night 2
Telltale GamesreleasedPoker Night 2in 2013 as a sequel toPoker Night at the Inventory. This game features several characters for the player to face off against from several different game franchises. Among them are Claptrap fromBorderlands, Brock Samson fromThe Venture Bros., Sam fromSam & Max,GLaDOS fromPortal, and Ash Williams fromEvil Dead.
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Funnily enough, this is one of the few instances in which Ash Williams is in a game and not voiced by Bruce Campbell himself. Instead, Ash is voiced by Danny Webber. Unfortunately, this game was pulled from all digital marketplaces in 2018 due to Telltale Games losing the rights to some of these characters.
1He Was Canonically Last Seen Driving Off Into A Post-Apocalyptic Future
Season Three ofAsh vs. Evil Deadtakes some wild turns before it’s all over, with Kandar the Destroyer himself arriving in Elk Grove before the curtain finally comes down. Ash is trapped in a tank and seemingly perishes after killing Kandar.
However, Ash actually survives and is preserved in a lengthy coma. He awakens to a mysterious woman telling him that he needs to fight Evil again in a post-apocalyptic future with no knowledge of how much time has passed. Ash obliges, and that is the last time that audiences have seen Ash Williams in the mainEvil Deadcanon.
Evil Dead: The Gameis available now on Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S
