Ash vs. Evil Dead is one bloody show. You can’t go a single scene without seeing a drop (or buckets and buckets) of gooey, sticky, red blood. But just how much fake blood does the Starz fan-favorite horror comedy series use per episode?

To give you an idea, Dana DeLorenzo who plays Kelly on the show revealed to the room of reporters at the 2016 Summer TCA press tour that for the first scene of season two alone, there were 26 gallons of fake blood set aside … just for her character. Stars Bruce Campbell and Lucy Lawless also had 26 gallons of fake blood each. Yeah, that’s a lot of blood.

But executive producer Robert Tapert explained that for season two, they had to up their game in the fake blood department, as well as the acting, the shooting and the writing. “We do it better,” Tapert said. “Better stories which means we hit more points and we learn as you go along so we’ve been able to exceed expectations from a production point of view and story point of view. For this season, we’ll deliver to the audience everything they enjoyed from the first season and take it to the next level.”

Something that Campbell couldn’t wait to portray in season two is more of the flawed side of the unlikely horror hero Ash.

“I like playing Ash. He’s such a troublesome hero,” Campbell said. “You don’t know if he’s going to show up and help or not. We introduced some new drugs for him to take this year. Our hero might smoke a little angel dust this show to numb the pain of being the salvation of all of humanity. Make fun of him all you want but he’s still here to save the world. But he does care. Even through the angel dust, he does care.”

Lawless, who joins season two in the role of his former enemy Ruby who now possesses the powerful Necronomicon, agreed, adding, “But you’ll be glad to know that it’s only for short bursts. Then he goes back to being a selfish, ego-maniacal … ” But she couldn’t finish her sentence without laughing.

When she joined the show, Lawless knew there would be a certain level of gore associated with the role. “I don’t mind the blood,” Lawless said. “But I’m not so crazy about brain matter and mucus. And vomit, for that matter.”

Campbell and Lawless have been longtime friends, but this is the first time they’re starring in something together since he appeared on Xena as Autolycus the King of Thieves.

“It’s fun to work with people you know,” Campbell said of reuniting with Lawless. “And even better, it’s fun to get Hollywood heavy hitters like Lee Majors to play your dad. Is that perfect casting or what? Yes, yes. It is. This guy was a player. He was a chick magnet. Who else would Ash want for his father other than Lee goddamn Majors?! He classes the joint up.”

According to Majors, while he had heard of the Evil Dead movies upon which the Starz series is based, he didn’t really know what they were about.

“I thought it was strictly a horror show,” Majors said. “I investigated further with season one. I watched the first episode and really enjoyed it. I binged the rest of it and I thought it was a hell of a show. So the chance to play that character’s father and try to bring out something good in him was a challenge. He left me in his old town, took away my daughter, closed my business. He comes back, and we have a real confrontation. I don’t like him and I don’t want him around. It gets competitive. But you’ll see that he brings a little bit of emotion out of Ash.”

As for Michelle Hurd’s new season two character Linda, there is a reason why she has the same name of an important Evil Dead character.

“My name is Linda B. so I think that solves that situation,” Hurd said with a laugh, before adding, “I think there’s a connection there.”

Tapert elaborated, “Ash has made a lot of mistakes in his life. I don’t want to give away something but he did make a fateful error in the past and now that he’s come home, he’s got a chance to correct that mistake.”

And since season two is dealing with Ash’s past as he returns to his hometown of Elk Grove, does that mean we’ll get to see flashbacks to a young Ash? “That’s classified, sir,” Campbell said. “Some things we are not able to answer.”

Image: Starz

Ash vs. Evil Dead season two premieres Sunday, Oct. 2 at 8 p.m. on Starz.