With the Army of Darkness-laden second season of Ash vs. Evil Dead set to premiere October 2, fans of the hit Starz show have been left wondering who the new baddie is. Aside from the evil released by Ashley “Ash” J. Williams’ (Bruce Campbell) latest misreading of the Necronomicon, Ruby (Lucy Lawless) served as the first season’s big villain. According to all the press materials put out thus far, however, it seems she and Ash have brokered some kind of an alliance against an even bigger threat. Today we finally know what that threat is, and who’s playing it.
Turns out everything bad that’s about to rain down upon Ash’s hometown of Elk Grove, Michigan is partly due to Baal (Joel Tobeck), a character who sounds altogether unpleasant:
When Baal is released from the underworld, our team will face an enemy more powerful than any that have come before. One with bigger plans than just destroying Ash as well as a secret link to Ruby.
If Tobeck looks familiar, that’s because the New Zealand-born actor made a name for himself during the third season of Sons of Anarchy as the villainous Donny. Before that (for those of you in need of some decent pub trivia material), he played Strife, Deimos and Lucifer on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess, both of which shot in New Zealand during the late ’90s and early 2000s and featured Lawless in her breakout role.
There’s so much New Zealand happening here, perhaps Ash vs. Evil Dead will throw in a Flight of the Conchords cameo or two.
(Via Screen Crush)
