With Saber Interactive's Evil Dead game having just come and Evil Dead: Rise set to release later this year, interest is returning to the Evil Dead franchise and its protagonist, Ashley J. Williams. Actor Bruce Campbell has played Ash across three movies, a three-season television series, multiple videogames, and the stinger from the end of Evil Dead (2013). Much to the delight of fans, he's set to come back as Ash one last time for Evil Dead: Rise.
Ash Williams is an absolute icon of pulp horror, and he's beloved by many who partake in all things bloody and violent. However, there are some things that less-entrenched Evil Dead fans may not know about Ash Williams. Thankfully, there is a groovy remedy for that.
8 The "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 of Ash 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 the Marvel Zombies. In many of these instances, Ash's middle initial is changed with the alternate universe.
7 Ash's Dad Is Played By Lee Majors
Ash's dad makes his first on-screen appearance in the second season of Ash vs. Evil Dead. His name is Brock Williams, and he is played by veteran actor Lee Majors.
Lee Majors is primarily known for his role as the Six 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 as Fall Guy and The Big Valley and made a brief cameo in the Bill Murray black comedy, Scrooged.
6 Ash's Sister And Girlfriend Were Both At The Cabin In The First Movie
When one is enjoying Evil Dead II, Army of Darkness, Ash vs. Evil Dead, or any of the other spin-offs to the Evil Dead franchise, 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 had one of the more horrific deaths at 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.
5 Why Evil Dead II Retconned Ash's Experiences In The First Movie
For those who have followed Evil Dead through its various stages of evolution throughout the years, one of the most perplexing things about the franchise has to be why the Evil Dead II recap 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 first Evil Dead movie while making Evil Dead II. To avoid any legal issues, they shot a different version of events from the first Evil Dead and changed Linda's actress from Betsy Baker to Denise Bixler.
4 Ash Actually Has A Daughter From A Woman Whom He Briefly Married
Ash vs. Evil Dead is 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.
3 Ash Died And Came Back
Evil came back during the third season of Ash 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.
2 You Can Play Poker With Ash In Poker Night 2
Telltale Games released Poker Night 2 in 2013 as a sequel to Poker 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 from Borderlands, Brock Samson from The Venture Bros., Sam from Sam & Max, GLaDOS from Portal, and Ash Williams from Evil Dead.
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.
1 He Was Canonically Last Seen Driving Off Into A Post-Apocalyptic Future
Season Three of Ash vs. Evil Dead takes 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 main Evil Dead canon.
Evil Dead: The Game is available now on Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S