Casting around for a convincingly square jaw from which Bruce Campbell could burst forth, fully formed, Sam Raimi and company have tapped former Six Million Dollar Man Lee Majors to play Ash Williams’ father on Ash Vs. Evil Dead. Majors—whose more recent career includes some light TV work, a lot of little indie films, and the occasional dip into the lucrative-if-murky waters of Christian filmmaking—will appear on the Starz show’s second season, which it was renewed for before its first blood-soaked chapter had even begun to air.
Deadline is also reporting another addition to Ash’s backstory, one that probably took Raimi and showrunner Craig DiGregorio a bit less work to line up: Raimi’s brother Ted, probably best known for his role as Joxer on Xena: Warrior Princess (not to mention various extremely unlucky people in the original Evil Dead films.) The younger Raimi will play Ash’s childhood friend in the TV show, a character that we’re just going to assume will go on to live a long and happy life, and not get decapitated, tortured, or yelled at by J. Jonah Jameson in any way.